Hillary gets more from lobbyists than any candidate in either party
If Clinton denied at the Yearly Kos Convention that she took in money from lobbyists, this story would make her look even worse. It was going to eventually come out, now we will see whether this has any effect on her in the polls.
's Sam Stein and Michael Isikoff noted on which kinds of lobbyists have already donated to Hillary Clinton's campaign:
An upcoming study by the watchdog group Public Citizen finds that atleast 16 of her campaign's "Hill-raisers"—elite fund-raisers or"bundlers" who have pledged to bring in at least $100,000—areregistered D.C. lobbyists who represent corporate interests thatinclude financial, airline, defense and pharmaceutical firms. Among theplayers: Matthew Bernstein (whose client list includes Raytheon andMerrill Lynch), James Blanchard (Bristol-Myers and an Indian gamingtribe), Steve Ricchetti (Eli Lilly and General Motors), RichardSullivan (Delta and Freddie Mac) and John Merrigan (Starwood Hotels).Figures compiled by another group, the Center for Responsive Politics,find Clinton has raised $668,250 from registered lobbyists and"government relations" officers—far more than any of the otherpresidential candidates, including the GOP contenders (who openly seeklobbyists' cash).
So what about Obama and Edwards? They did receive donations from some individuals that were lobbyists during their previous careers. But neither of them took money from current lobbyists:
The Public Citizen study also found that, despite their campaigns'public disavowals, five top Obama bundlers had been registeredlobbyists, and one of Edwards's major fund-raisers had run a lobbyingfirm. Both campaigns say none of these fund-raisers is currentlyregistered to lobby.
The groups (founded by ) and the have been exposing lobbyist-driven campaigns for the last several years. Now progressive candidates think twice before polluting their wallets with special interest money.
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