Hillary Clinton: U.S. presidential election, 2008/campaign finance

Political action committees

 * Friends of Hillary: Federal Election Commission (FEC) ID#: S0NY00188; Political Action Committee (PAC) ID#: C00358895.
 * Hillary Clinton for President Exploratory Committee Inc. FEC ID#: P00003392; PAC ID#: C00431569.
 * Hill PAC FEC ID#: C00363994; Jan-Jun 2007 FEC report; next report due no later than 1/31/08 for Jul-Dec 2007.

Lobbyists
Speaking at the August 4, 2007, Daily Kos convention in Chicago, Clinton "drew boos and hisses from liberal bloggers when, unlike Edwards and Obama, she refused to forsake campaign donations from the special interest industry," the Associated Press reported.

"I don't think, based on my 35 years of fighting for what I believe in, anybody seriously believes I'm going to be influenced by a lobbyist,... A lot of those lobbyists, whether you like it or not, represent real Americans," Clinton said.

"Edwards and Illinois Senator Obama say they don't accept lobbyists' money, arguing that it has a widespread corruptive influence on the political process."

"Obama and Edwards showed up at the national convention of the lobbying group for the trial lawyers, the former Association of Trial Lawyers of America (who now call themselves the American Association of Justice)," Ted Frank commented August 5, 2007, in the Overlawyered Blog. "There, they gave speeches (as did Clinton, Biden, and Richardson). A look at the largest donors for Obama and especially Edwards shows a disproportionate number of active members of that lobbying group. Indeed, John Edwards's finance chairman is Fred Baron, the former president of ATLA. If Obama and Edwards want voters to believe that Clinton is influenced by lobbyist money, what should we think about these two candidates' debts to trial lawyers? Are we to believe that the critical difference is the lobbyist registration papers, at which point money becomes tainted and dirty?"

"So, when will Sen. Edwards stop taking money from hedge funds? When will Sen. Obama stop taking money from Wall Street banking bundlers?" one blogger asked August 6, 2007.

Lobbyist endorsements
Roll Call reports the following lobbyist endorsements for Hillary Clinton.


 * Cory Alexander (Fannie Mae)
 * Michael Anderson (AndersonTuell)
 * Don Auerbach (Investment Company Institute)
 * Lyndon Boozer (AT&T)
 * Bill Broydrick (Broydrick & Associates)
 * Gerry Cassidy (Cassidy & Associates)
 * Steve Elmendorf (Elmendorf Strategies)
 * Janice Enright (Ickes & Enright Group)
 * Vic Fazio (Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld)
 * Holly Fechner (Covington & Burling)
 * Jeff Forbes (Cauthen Forbes & Williams)
 * Adam Gluck (Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal)
 * Richard Goodstein (Goodstein and Associates)
 * J. Eric Gould (Tew Cardenas)
 * Fred Graefe (Law offices of Frederick H. Graefe)
 * Charles Hansen (Hansen Government Relations)
 * Tom Hebert (Ogilvy Government Relations)
 * Harold Ickes (Ickes & Enright Group)
 * Peter Jacoby (AT&T)
 * Joel Johnson (Glover Park Group)
 * John Jonas (Patton Boggs)
 * David Jones (Capitol Counsel)
 * Tim Keating (Honeywell International)
 * Alison Kutler (Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal)
 * Reta Jo Lewis (Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge)
 * Joel Malina (Wexler & Walker Public Policy Associates)
 * David Marchick (Carlyle Group)
 * Tama Mattocks (Strategic Health Care)
 * Chris McCannell (Quinn Gillespie & Associates)
 * Mike McNamara (Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal)
 * Gwen Mellor (Hogan & Hartson)
 * John Merrigan (DLA Piper)
 * Mike Merola (Winning Strategies)
 * Linda Morgan (Covington & Burling)
 * Evan Morris (Roche Pharmaceuticals)
 * Ben Noble (Troutman Sanders Public Affairs Group)
 * Sean O'Shea (Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld)
 * Steve Palmer (Van Scoyoc Associates)
 * Peter Pappas (Pappas Telecasting Cos.)
 * Scott Pastrick (BKSH)
 * Heather Podesta (Heather Podesta & Partners)
 * Joe Pouliot (The CJR Group)
 * Steve Ricchetti (Ricchetti Inc.)
 * Mark Siegel (Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell)
 * Sandi Stuart (Clark & Weinstock)
 * Richard Sullivan (Capitol Counsel)
 * Dan Tate Jr. (Capitol Solutions)
 * David Thomas (Mehlman Vogel Castagnetti)
 * Paul Thornell (Citigroup)
 * Loretta Tuell (AndersonTuell)
 * Blair Watters (The Madison Group)
 * Anne Wexler (Wexler & Walker Public Policy Associates)
 * Marcia Wiss (Hogan & Hartson)

Check the facts
On August 4, 2007, Clinton was "taken to task by her two closest rivals for accepting $400,000 in campaign contributions from Washington lobbyists. ... However, while eschewing contributions from Washington lobbyists, Edwards has accepted about $10,000 in contributions from lobbyists in his home state of North Carolina, according to the Center for Responsive Politics," CNN reported.

"The Edwards campaign said there is no inconsistency because his pledge did not extend to lobbyists representing local interests. ... the Edwards campaign also said it would return a $4,600 donation from the Credit Suisse bank, which is registered to lobby in Washington," CNN said.

Also see:
 * "Obama's Lobbyist Cash."
 * Edwards' "Campaign finance."

Related external articles

 * Alexander Bolton, "Clinton nabs K St. backers her rivals shun," The Hill, March 12, 2007.
 * David Sirota, "Following YearlyKos Debate, Edwards Uses K Street Corruption to Frame Race as Him vs. Clinton," The Huffington Post, August 5, 2007.
 * Big Tent Democrat, "If The Media Gets It, Why Is It Not Reported?" Talk Left, August 5, 2007.
 * Tarheel, "Hillary Tells Obama/Edwards Lobbyists Work for 'Real Americans'," MyDD, August 5, 2007.
 * ihaveclintonfever, "Do Edwards and Obama take 'Dirty Money' too?" Daily Kos, August 6, 2007.
 * MissLaura, "More on Lobbyist Contributions," Daily Kos, August 6, 2007.
 * Katharine Zaleski, "Obama Copies Edwards' Line On Lobbying," The Huffington Post, August 6, 2007.

Bundlers
"Under current law, the names and fundraising totals of bundlers are not disclosed," Gary Kalman wrote July 26, 2007, in the Justice Talking Blog. "All that is required is for a campaign to disclose the individual contributions of donors which is limited to $2,300 per election. This grossly understates the 'contribution' bundlers make to a campaign and provides the public with an incomplete picture of who is building access through their fundraising activities."

"Bundlers to the Obama campaign are not recognized until they have raise at least $50,000. The Clinton campaign has asked bundlers to raise $1 million," Kalman wrote.

Criminal background checks on major donors
In the wake of the discovery of former fugitive and Democratic candidates/Clinton fundraiser Norman Hsu's tainted campaign contributions, the Clinton campaign announced September 10, 2007, that it "would begin conducting criminal background checks on major donors. Details are being worked out, but spokesman Howard Wolfson said the campaign would obtain permission from donors before conducting such a detailed check."

Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards announced September 11, 2007, "he also would start conducting criminal background checks on his top donors."

"Barack Obama's campaign, however, offered no change. The Illinois senator, a Democrat, raised $58 million in the first half of the year, more than all other candidates. Obama spokesman Bill Burton said the campaign would 'continue to update our vetting procedures to best ensure we find any problems that could exist.'

"Earlier this year, Obama donated to charities about $40,000 that was raised by his longtime benefactor Antoin Rezko, who was indicted in October on federal public-corruption charges. But that was just a portion of the Rezko money: A review of Obama's campaign finance reports shows Rezko raised at least $160,000 -- and probably far more -- for the politician's campaigns dating to 1995.

"Clinton's decision to return $850,000 and institute criminal background checks on major campaign fundraisers is likely to have ripple effects beyond presidential politics. ... Other candidates also planned to follow Clinton by returning not just Hsu's direct donations but the money he raised."


 * Kristin Jensen, "Clinton to Return $850,000 in Donations Tied to Hsu (Update3)," Bloomberg News, September 11, 2007.
 * JoAnne Allen, "Clinton campaign returning $850,000 in donations," Reuters, September 11, 2007.
 * Jim Kuhnhenn, "Clinton Returns Money, Sets Precedent," Associated Press, September 11, 2007.
 * Editorial: "Ms. Clinton's $850,000 Bundle. The candidate is returning the money, but the system still needs fixing," Washington Post, September 12, 2007.

Check the facts
Clinton released data on her first-quarter campaign fundraising on April 1, 2007. Clinton raised $26 million, almost three times as much as any politician has previously raised at that point in a presidential election.


 * Public Citizen relaunched the WhiteHouseForSale website for the 2008 elections.


 * As of July 27, 2007, Hillary Clinton had 221 bundlers for a total of $62,532,868.00 raised. Follow Hillary Clinton's total funds raised and a list of bundlers and amount raised here.


 * CQ Money Line reported on Clinton's Hillraisers as of April 25, 2007.


 * FundRace 2008, The Huffington Post's searchable database: "FundRace makes it easy to search by name or address to see which presidential candidates your friends, family, co-workers, and neighbors are contributing to. Or you can see if your favorite celebrity is putting their money where their mouth is."

Related external articles

 * Editorial: "The $1 Million Bundler. Sen. Clinton -- and her rivals -- need to let the public know the names of their campaign financiers," Washington Post, February 5, 2007.
 * Anne Michaud, "New York's African American Bundlers," The Hot Line/On Call Blog/National Journal, March 30, 2007.
 * "Political Alliances Break With 2008 Fundraising," NewsMax, April 23, 2007.
 * Editorial: "Behind the Big Haul. Who are the bundlers helping the presidential candidates shatter all those fundraising records?," Washington Post, July 11, 2007.
 * Alexander Bolton, "Democrats’ big givers play presidential field," The Hill, July 26, 2007.
 * Brody Mullins and Ianthe Jeanne Dugan, "Donors Stir 'Bundling' Questions. Clinton Campaign Vows To Check Contributions Solicited by Supporter," Wall Street Journal, September 20, 2007.
 * Patrick Healy, "Clinton Returned $7,000, Campaign Says," New York Times, October 20, 2007.

Fund-raising events

 * Jill Gardiner, "Indian Americans Raise $2 Million At Clinton Event," The New York Sun, June 25, 2007.
 * Michael McAuliff, "2M for Hil after Bam Indian dis," New York Daily News, June 25, 2007.
 * Evan S. Benn,"Bill Clinton raises money at Miami rally. Bill Clinton told a Miami audience Sunday night why he thinks his wife is the best candidate for president," Miami Herald, October 22, 2007.

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Hillary Rodham Clinton/Articles & Commentary
 * Barack Obama: U.S. presidential election, 2008
 * John McCain: U.S. presidential election, 2008 / McCain doctrine

External articles

 * Richard Wolffe, "Terry McAuliffe, On a Mission," Newsweek, October 8, 2007.
 * Michael Kranish, "PAC tries new tactic to boost Obama run. Sees way around spending limits," Boston Globe, July 21, 2007.
 * eriposte, "Is Hillary Clinton a 'Corporate Democrat?' - Part 4: The Special Interests of Obama and Clinton," The Left Coaster, November 27, 2007.


 * Also see related external articles.