The Democratic National Committee has a policy against accepting donations from registered lobbyists, but the other national party committees appear all too happy to take lobbyists’ money.

During the past two years, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, National Republican Senatorial Committee and National Republican Congressional Committee each received more than $1 million in contributions from individuals who actively lobbied the federal government for all, or at least part, of the 2010 election cycle, according to new research by the Center for Responsive Politics.

That’s at least four times more money than any single political action committee collected from active, federal lobbyists during the same time.

Federal-level lobbyists who spend their days influencing politics on behalf of various special interest groups may, like non-lobbyists, contribute upward of $30,000 to party committees each calendar year.

And many eagerly open their checkbooks for their preferred political outfits.

Here’s how much cash the four major congressional party committees collected from individuals who lobbied the federal government for at least a portion of the two-year election cycle:

The DSCC accepted more than $2.7 million from active, federal lobbyists, according to the Center’s research.

The DCCC received more than $1.8 million from active, federal lobbyists, according to the Center’s research.

The NRSC took in more than $1.1 million from active, federal lobbyists, according to the Center’s research.

The NRCC received more than $1 million from active, federal lobbyists, according to the Center’s research.

As with anything involving political influence and cash, there are conflicting views on whether lobbyists should be allowed to make political contributions and how the donations from lobbyists can, or should, be regulated.

Craig Holman, a lobbyist for Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy organization, said the organization has long opposed lobbyists being involved in fund-raising.

“Many lobbyists throughout the profession make use of this type of fundraising as part of the game for influence peddling, perhaps the single greatest source of corruption on Capitol Hill,” Holman told OpenSecrets Blog.

The organization supported the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 that requires full disclosure of lobbyists’ donations, but it continues to push for stricter legislation.

Later this summer, Public Citizen will “resume the battle to disassociate the lobbyists money and politics,” Holman said.

Although Holman said he would support a complete ban, he said Public Citizen is open to working on policies that would at least severely limit contributions, such as anything above $200, the amount at which donations, by law, are publicly disclosed in an itemized fashion by the Federal Election Commission.

“We are certainly open to various ideas on how to address this issue, but this issue does need to be addressed,” Holman told OpenSecrets Blog. “We really need to break that corrupting nexus.”

Independent of any potential legislation calling for restrictions on money from lobbyists, President Barack Obama and the DNC both have stated policies of not accepting contributions from either registered federal lobbyists or PACs.

Living up to these self-imposed rules can be a challenge, too.

As OpenSecrets Blog reported Friday, the DNC is in the process of refunding at least 10 lobbyists who donated modest amounts to the committee during the 2010 election cycle.

The policies also don’t prohibit spouses of lobbyists or individuals who terminate their lobbying contracts from donating once they are no longer registered.

For example, several registered lobbyists actively lobbied the federal government at some point during the 2010 election cycle, only to “deregister” and later make political contributions to the DNC at some point during 2009 or 2010. According to the Center’s research, such contributions totaled $6,900 to the DNC during the 2010 election cycle.

Two such lobbyists are:

John Lawson, a former lobbyist for Ion Media Networks, who “deregistered” as a lobbyist in June 2009 and gave $1,000 to the DNC in October 2010.

Vanessa Ray-Hodge, a lobbyist for Akin Gump Strauss Hauer and Feld LLP who stopped lobbying at the end of 2009 and went on to give a combined $450 to the DNC over the course of 2010.

Howard Marlowe, the president of the American League of Lobbyists, told OpenSecrets Blog that Obama and the DNC’s policies sound better than they are and these examples illustrate some of the loopholes that provide incentives to make the lobbying process less transparent.

“What the president is doing is encouraging the opposite of transparency,” Marlowe told OpenSecrets Blog. “He wants people not to be registered lobbyists.”

The American League of Lobbyists does not have an official stance on lobbyist contributions, he said.

Neither of the congressionally focused Democratic party committees have similar bans on contributions from lobbyists in place.

“House Democrats enacted the strongest ethics and lobbying reform in history,” DCCC spokesman Jesse Ferguson said in an email to OpenSecrets Blog when asked about its acceptance of money from federal lobbyists. “The committee’s fund-raising is fully transparent and disclosed.”

The DSCC did not respond to requests seeking comment for this story from OpenSecrets Blog.

Similarly, neither the NRCC, the NRSC nor the Republican National Committee have any policies in place prohibiting or limiting contributions from lobbyists.

None of these Republican organizations responded to multiple requests for comment by OpenSecrets Blog.

The NRSC, however, did issue a press release on Friday evening slamming the DNC for accepting donations from lobbyists in violation of its internal policy. The NRSC made no mention in the press release regarding the group’s own stance on the issue.

For its part, the RNC accepted about $40,000 from active, registered, federal lobbyists during the 2010 election cycle.



For permission to reprint for commercial uses, such as textbooks, contact the Center: Feel free to distribute or cite this material, but please credit the Center for Responsive Politics.For permission to reprint for commercial uses, such as textbooks, contact the Center: [email protected]

·

·

·

·

·

Support Accountability Journalism At OpenSecrets.org we offer in-depth, money-in-politics stories in the public interest. Whether you’re reading about 2020 presidential fundraising, conflicts of interest or “dark money” influence, we produce this content with a small, but dedicated team. Every donation we receive from users like you goes directly into promoting high-quality data analysis and investigative journalism that you can trust. Please support our work and keep this resource free. Thank you. Support OpenSecrets ➜

Read more OpenSecrets News & Analysis: