An elite group of lobbyists is already well-positioned to hold sway over the supercommittee. Bundlers poised for 'super' power

Every special interest wants a piece of the congressional supercommittee, but an elite group of lobbyists has already staked its ground, sitting at the nexus of campaign cash and access to powerful lawmakers on the deficit-slashing panel.

Over the past year, more than two dozen of these “bundlers” — companies and lobbyists who cut big checks and pile up scores of smaller donations — have directed $1.6 million to several members of the supercommittee and the House and Senate campaign arms, according to federal records. What makes these bundlers stand out above other lobbyists in Washington is the sheer size of their donations — bolstering their influence over the most critical issues before the supercommittee, including defense, health care and taxes.


Take AT&T, for example. The telecommunications giant is pushing for the supercommittee to increase wireless spectrum, reform corporate tax and minimize government regulation. The company, which is also in the midst of fighting for its merger with T-Mobile, bundled $71,000 for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee through the first six months of this year and $20,750 last year for Washington Sen. Patty Murray, who co-chairs the supercommittee and runs the campaign arm that is charged with maintaining a Senate majority next November.

In fact, Murray received the most bundled contributions of any individual supercommittee lawmaker since last year, also taking in $100,400 in campaign checks from Microsoft and $25,650 through Tim Thompson of Thompson & Smitch Consulting.

Veteran Democratic lobbyist Tony Podesta, founder of the Podesta Group, may be the best-connected lobbyist to the supercommittee — he bundled $96,500 for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and his firm directed $257,250 for the DSCC in the first half of 2011. Podesta’s clients include defense contractors like BAE Systems and General Dynamics and major oil and gas companies like Duke Energy and BP America — which have millions at stake if the panel slashes defense programs and eliminates oil and gas subsidies.

The political influence game is not just a Democratic phenomenon. Harry Sporidis of Polsinelli Shughart, whose clients include private health care companies and the American Society of Clinical Oncology, bundled more than $32,000 for House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) this year. The oncology group has been lobbying the panel to address Medicare physician payments, particularly the Sustainable Growth Rate formula, which it believes is threatening seniors’ access to quality oncology care.

Fundraising for supercommittee members has become a sensitive topic: Panel member Fred Upton (R-Mich.) has stopped scheduling new fund raisers while serving on the committee, and Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) says he’s scaling back.

But others — including Murray and her co-chairman, Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) — don’t see a problem with continuing to fill their coffers. Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) and Democratic Reps. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland have fundraisers scheduled this week.

The ones who are still fundraising reject criticisms that their decisions could be influenced by their campaign donors or their closest K Street allies. They insist their lone objective is to find a solution to the nation’s worsening fiscal situation that led Standard & Poor’s to downgrade the nation’s credit rating for the first time in history.

“There are a lot of members of Congress, and we all have multitasks, including all having to run for election, and so we take our responsibilities seriously,” Murray told POLITICO. “The select committee is no different than anybody else” in Congress.

A fellow Senate Democrat, John Kerry of Massachusetts, has reported two lobbyists — Robert Crowe of Nelson, Mullins, Riley & Scarborough and Nick Littlefield of Foley Hoag — who have bundled $24,000 and $16,000, respectively, for his campaign coffers. Littlefield represents a slew of health care clients, including Amgen and Eli Lilly & Co., which will certainly be watching the supercommittee’s actions over Medicare drug prices, among other issues.

Kerry spokeswoman Jodi Seth said those two bundlers were disclosed after a December 2010 event honoring Kerry’s 45 years of public service. She said the senator’s votes are strictly rooted in the interests of his state and his personal beliefs — “and nothing else.”

There remains a keen sensitivity on Capitol Hill about pay-to-play politics. The bundling law, which is part of the 2007 Honest Leadership and Open Government Act, was implemented after the Jack Abramoff scandal as a way to track lobbyists who serve as the conduit of campaign contributions to members. The provision requires campaign committees to publicly report lobbyists who bundle at least $15,000 during a six-month period.

“The public needs to be assured that this process is a fair process,” said Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.), who has co-sponsored a bill with Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) that would force supercommittee members to disclose their fundraising every 48 hours rather than every quarter.

But in an interview, Podesta downplayed that lobbyists’ history of fundraising would have a real effect on the supercommittee’s final result, saying the members won’t have a “special window for bundlers.”

Podesta’s wife, Heather Podesta of Heather Podesta + Partners, bundled $80,000 for the DCCC during the first half of 2011.

“I don’t think they’ll be tallying to see who did what for them,” Tony Podesta added.

Al Mottur, head of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, also dismissed the return bundling gives lobbyists. Mottur’s firm bundled $46,500 during the first six months of 2011 for the DSCC, according to the latest FEC records.

“These relationships are built up over years of time,” Mottur said. “Bundling for one event doesn’t guarantee you access to anything, nor should it.”

Many of the bundling companies, like AT&T, Microsoft, the National Association of Realtors, the American Dental Association and the American Health Care Association, either didn’t respond to requests for comment or declined to talk altogether.

Not every member of the supercommittee has reported bundlers — though fundraising with lobbyists will still continue.

While both Portman and Kerry have promised to cut back on fundraising, there are some exceptions. Portman appeared last week at the Capitol Hill restaurant Johnny’s Half Shell on behalf of a fellow Ohio Republican, Rep. Steve Chabot, at which political action committees were asked to shell out $2,500 for hosting the fundraiser. And Kerry is still planning to speak this week at a Boston fundraiser for the DSCC.

On Tuesday, Clyburn is to co-host a Congressional Black Caucus fundraiser for the DCCC at the law firm Jones Day that is expected to raise $1 million, and he’ll have held more than a half-dozen fundraisers before the panel finishes its work.

Hours before the supercommittee’s Thursday hearing, Toomey is scheduled to have breakfast at Bistro Bis with deep-pocketed donors. PACs are encouraged to spend $2,000 to co-host the event.

The next day, Van Hollen is expected to attend a fundraising breakfast at Charlie Palmer Steak with contribution levels as high as $5,000.

Camp will not schedule any more fundraisers while he serves on the committee, though he’ll still attend previously scheduled events, while Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.) both plan to fundraise.

“Members appreciate the appearance of impropriety can get you in trouble politically, so you need to not do anything unethically,” said Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl, a supercommittee Republican, who will retire next year, so he doesn’t have to worry about fundraising. “I think they’re used to dealing with that situation.”

Clarification: Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) has decided not to schedule any new fund raisers since joining the supercommittee, but will still attend previously scheduled fund raisers. This has been clarified in the story.

John Bresnahan contributed to this report.