124 donation bundlers for Bush's campaign are now bundling for McCain

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Submitted by Katie Schlieper on Wed, 07/23/2008

Research done by Public Campaign Action Fund's Campaign Money Watch project has revealed that though the candidates in this year's presidential race may be different than in years past, the big donors sure aren't -- at least when it comes to the migration of President Bush's best bundlers to the donor rolls of Sen. John McCain's campaign. One hundred and twenty-four bundlers for Bush's campaign are now bundling for McCain, and have brought in just shy of $26 million.

This is how the big money game works in Washington -- access to wealth gives the same people the same privileged access to the most powerful lawmakers. And we get the same policies that put the interests of this select group ahead of the interests of the rest of us. [...]

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Will John McCain have a campaign finance conscience this election season?

Public Campaign posted today that, now that Pres. Bush has recognized John McCain as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, he has forwarded his "list" of big money donors he enjoyed when he was a candidate. This is quite disturbing, as we can see the corruption and secrecy from the administration that is inherent in exuberant campaign fundraising. George W. Bush put the F in fundraising by encouraging and rewarding the bundling of contributions from politically active companies.

Where has the R gone in reformer for McCain? The following several months of candidacy shall reveal the truth.

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Presidential candidate John McCain receiving many lobbyist bundlers to finance his campaign

Public Citizen has issued a press release on the rise of the unethical practice of lobbyist bundlers supporting presidential candidates. There are already more of them than in all of 2004, the last presidential election year. Perhaps more striking is the fact that the leading candidate receiving this questionable campaign finance help is none other than U.S. Senator John McCain (Repub.).

McCain has often been on the front lines of reform in Congress, as an author or co-author of campaign finance-related bills. And now, as the second leading presidential candidate in lobbyist bundling receipts, former New York City mayor Rudy Guiliani (Repub.) is likely to end his candidacy and endorse McCain later today; the senator may subsequently receive even more lobbyist bundlers.

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Campaign finance abuse leads to mistrust with constituents

There is a dangerous lack of trust between the American people and our President. For many quarters of the political community, Bush has not earned his credentials since he first entered office in 2001. It is only after several years of kowtowing to his major campaign fundraisers at the highest levels of government that most of the nation is now at odds with him.

In effect, Bush's administration is a living case of the campaign finance abuses of his electoral campaigns for 2000 and 2004. In an attitude of a free-wheeling cowboy, he gave special names to his largest campaign donation bundlers (those who marshalled big money donations personally). In an attitude of cronyism, he enlisted these bundlers and other political hacks to high government positions. And in an attitude of executive priviledge, Bush is now justifying his cronies 'till they are thrown out of office.

There is now a year and a half left in our President's last term of office. Will the American people justify their sense of citizenship and patriotism and lose all trust with him? Only time will tell.

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Vote YES on HR 2317 lobbying ethics

HR 2317 is up for a vote in the US House of Representatives today. It would require lobbyists who bundle campaign contributions to candidates, to report their activity. This would include, for instance, purchasing food and drinks for fundraisers throughout the year; lobbyists have worked hand-in-hand with trade groups in organizing campaign dinners for chairmen of Congressional committees.

This campaign helping by lobbyists is wrong-- they should not do favors for potential lawmakers before they may get elected! It makes common sense-- future legislative work should not be contingent upon previous campaign assistance. Vote YES for lobbyist bundling disclosure.

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