Corzine, Klein and Kennedy Among Obamas Bundlers
Three former Members of Congress, including one who works at a lobbying and law firm and one who has been plagued by a scandal, are among President Barack Obama’s mega-fundraisers known as bundlers.
Ex-New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, a former Senator who has been under fire for the collapse of his brokerage and commodities firm MF Global; former Rep. Ron Klein (D-Fla.), who is not a registered lobbyist but is a member of the public policy and regulation group at Holland & Knight; and ex-Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.) are listed as top bundlers for the president. The president returned Corzine’s personal campaign contributions, according to numerous news reports.
Though federal election law does not require presidential campaigns to list their nonlobbyist bundlers, the Obama campaign disclosed an updated list of all its bundlers today.
Obama bans registered lobbyists from contributing to his coffers and from bundling contributions on his behalf. GOP presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich have not released the names of their nonlobbyist bundlers.
On Obama’s roster, “Desperate Housewives” star Eva Longoria is listed as a $200,000 to $500,000 bundler.
Other celebrity Obama bundlers include actor Wendell Pierce, best-known for playing the role of Bunk Moreland in HBO’s “The Wire”; Hollywood agent Ari Emanuel (who is the brother of Obama’s former chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and inspiration for Jeremy Piven’s character in HBO’s “Entourage”); Vogue editor Anna Wintour; TV writer and one-time Michelle Obama classmate Crystal Nix Hines; and movie producer Harvey Weinstein.
Though the president’s campaign does not permit lobbyists to donate or bundle, prominent Washington attorneys, such as Winston & Strawn partner Tim Broas, do make the cut.