Sixteen lobbyists raised nearly $2.2 million to aid the presidential campaign of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in 2011, according to a Center for Responsive Politics review of documents filed with the Federal Election Commission.

Patrick J. Durkin, Sr., of commercial bank Barclays, alone was responsible for $774,750 of that sum.

Meanwhile, Romney also benefited from two lobbyist-bundlers who work for D.C. lobbying powerhouse Ogilvy Government Relations and two who work for K Street giant DLA Piper.

Eight of Romney’s 16 lobbyist-bundlers were disclosed for the first time in Romney’s fourth-quarter filings with the FEC, including Austin Barbour, the nephew of former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, who collected $210,700; Joseph C. Wall of Goldman Sachs, who bundled $30,399 for Romney; and Edward Ingle of Microsoft, who raised $30,260.

Under federal law, only bundlers who are lobbyists are required to be disclosed by campaigns — and even then there are some loopholes.

For instance, lobbyists who collect less than $16,000 in a quarter are not required to be disclosed. Additionally, hosting a fundraiser for a federal candidate in and of itself isn’t enough to warrant disclosure; the legal requirement for disclosure of the lobbyist-bundler’s identity isn’t triggered unless the lobbyist is formally given credit for the fundraising by the candidate’s campaign, Paul Ryan, an attorney at the Campaign Legal Center, told OpenSecrets Blog.

“The definition of ‘bundled contribution’ does not cover situations where the recipient committee knows a contribution was raised by a lobbyist, but does not formally credit the lobbyist” in a recordkeeping system of some sort, Ryan said in an email.

Romney has only revealed the names of lobbyists who are bundling on his behalf, unlike President Barack Obama, who has released the names of 445 bundlers who have raised money for his re-election campaign and the coffers of the Democratic National Committee. (None of these bundlers are lobbyists.)

Here is a table detailing Romney’s 16 lobbyists-bundlers. (Update, 2/1: The graph has been updated to include $2,500 that was credited to Sanchez during the third quarter of 2011, which was originally missed in the Center’s tally.)

Lobbyist Organization $ Bundled in Q2 $ Bundled in Q3 $ Bundled in Q4 $ Bundled in All 2011 Patrick J. Durkin, Sr. Barclays $167,800 $187,025 $419,925 $774,750 Wayne Berman Ogilvy Government Relations $101,600 $15,000 $162,475 $279,075 Austin Barbour Clearwater Group LLC $0 $0 $210,700 $210,700 T. Martin Fiorentino, Jr. The Fiorentino Group $102,900 $78,575 $500 $181,975 David Beightol Dutko Worldwide $54,200 $35,260 $50,915 $140,375 William Mark Simmons The Dutko Group $0 $34,000 $100,684 $134,684 Robert T. Grand Barnes and Thornburg $0 $110,150 $0 $110,150 Ignacio E. Sanchez DLA Piper $0 $2,500 $84,200 $86,700 Judi A. Rhines The Rath Group $34,200 $34,650 $0 $68,850 Drew K. Maloney Ogilvy Government Relations $56,750 $0 $0 $56,750 Joseph C. Wall Goldman Sachs $0 $0 $30,399 $30,399 Edward Ingle Microsoft Corp. $0 $0 $30,260 $30,260 Bruce A. Gates Altria Client Services Inc. $0 $0 $27,500 $27,500 Tom Boyd DLA Piper $0 $0 $26,350 $26,350 Ralph W. Hardy, Jr. Dow Lohnes PLLC $0 $0 $19,000 $19,000 David Tamasi Rasky Baerlein Strategic Communication $0 $0 $16,910 $16,910 Total: $2,194,428

Some, but not all, of the other GOP presidential hopefuls have been aided by lobbyist-bundlers.

Six lobbyists collectively raised $178,250 for Texas Gov. Rick Perry before he dropped out of the race. And one lobbyist-bundler raised $17,610 for former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty during his unsuccessful presidential run.

Former Sen. Rick Santorum’s campaign has not reported assistance from any lobbyist-bundlers, and neither has that of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. The campaign of Rep. Ron Paul says it does not utilize bundlers.



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