Today, we are launching a new Web site, Party Time, a project to track parties thrown at the 2008 Democratic and Republican National Conventions as well as fund raising activities by all lawmakers running for Congress that happen all year round in Washington, D.C. and beyond.

The count of parties and events we’ve heard about scheduled for the Democratic and Republican National Conventions is now above 400-and counting. As we noted the other week, here, these convention parties are often sponsored by corporate interests such as Citi, Eli Lilly and Qwest, as well as powerhouse lobbying firms such as Patton Boggs. They continue despite new ethics reforms intended to rein in excesses of special interest bashes for members of Congress. Many of these party hosts are also sponsors of the conventions’ host committees, major donors to federal candidates and party committees and are also big spenders on federal lobbying.

So, for example:

AT&T is hosting more than a dozen parties at both conventions, most of them parties for different state delegations. The company is also underwriting both the Democratic and GOP Convention committees, and happens to be the #2 top donor to federal and candidates and parties since 1989, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. AT&T has spent more than $3 million on federal campaign contributions and lobbying combined in 2008 alone, 60% of which is directed to the GOP. It has also spent another $3.2 million on federal lobbying.

Qwest’s CEO, Ed Mueller, is hosting an event at the Denver Art Museum on Monday, August 25. The company is also giving the Democratic and GOP Convention host committees a total of some $12 million in direct and in-kind contributions. Qwest has given $682,000 to federal candidates and parties so far this election cycle, and spent $1.7 million on lobbying.

A long list of financial service powerhouses are sponsoring a “financial literacy brunch” at the Democratic National Convention, including Allstate, AEGON, Bank of America, Capitol One, Charles Schwab, Edward Jones, Fidelity, Genworth, MasterCard, Mutual of Omaha, Nationwide, Principal Financial Group, State Farm, NASDAQ, US Bank, Visa, Wachovia and Wells Fargo. These companies are major campaign contributors and lobbying forces in Washington.

(more…)

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You’re going to Denver for the Democratic convention and you think to yourself, “What will I need to survive this week?”

Think no further, you’ve probably been alerted in your e-mail by the American Coaltion for Clean Coal Energy that they have a “Convention Survival Kit” waiting for you. According to ACCCE, the kit contains: a travel pillow, snack bar, breath mints, collapsable water bottle, luggage tag, and much more! But wait, what’s the most important thing you’ll need to survive convention week:

“The most important item you’ll find in your kit is our contact information during the convention. We’d love to speak with you about the benefits of coal-based electricity to a sound energy platform.”

Awesome. When you’re waiting in line for Obama’s Invesco acceptance speech you can call up a lobbyist and talk about coal-based electricity.

(Of course, the convention is packed with elected officials from across the country. They’re easier to strike when herded into one place.)

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Monday’s edition of the Rocky Mountain News, Kevin Vaughan has a detailed article about the 56 national corporations, from Allstate to Xerox, that are sponsoring/funding this summer’s Democratic National Convention in Denver. And as Vaughan writes, they all either do business with the federal government or they have pending legislation in Congress or regulation issues with the federal bureaucracy. (Of course, the same situation exists for the Republican National Convention to be held in Minneapolis as well. Expect to see a story about that soon from someplace.) What the corporations get for their sponsorship of the conventions is access to party leaders, members of Congress and their staff, and to possibly the soon to be occupants of the West Wing of the White House.

Vaughan interviewed Massie Ritsch of the Center for Responsive Politics about how corporations can’t make campaign contributions directly to political parties or to candidates, but companies are allowed to fund the party conventions. "Money from these corporate donors helps the party, it helps the candidate, and to call it anything other than a campaign contribution is to make a distinction without a difference," according to Ritsch.

On April 30^th, USA Today ran an article by Ken Dilanian that details how the Democrats are exploiting loopholes in the new ethics law by offering access to lawmakers for what price. The Democrats are charging $30,000 to $200,00 for tickets to receptions attended by lawmakers. One of the more expensive tickets is for a reception honoring House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and is available to those lobbyists who donate $155,000 over the period from January to June.

The Rocky Mountain News follows up their article with a list of the corporate sponsors to the DNC and their interests pending with Congress and or the federal government.

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