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Rubio Invites K Street to Party, But It’s Not a Tea Party

A senator elected with tea party support is hoping to collect political contributions from those whom the tea party is always complaining about — top Washington lawyers and lobbyists on K Street. And the supporters of the status quo in Washington will gladly hand over the money to this potential presidential candidate who could become their close friend.

From the viewpoint of Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., his Washington, D.C., fundraising event in September will get individual contributions of up to $10,000 to be split between his campaign committee and his leadership PAC. Those working for companies, associations, and organizations may also bring a PAC contribution along. Through June 30 his joint fundraising committee has raised more than $4 million, with the proceeds going to his campaign committee his PAC.. View his 2013-2014 financial profile.

From the viewpoint of the contributors, they get to make personal contact with an up-and-coming Republican senator who sits on the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee. The committee has jurisdiction over communications, interstate commerce, regulation of consumer products and services, technology research, highway safety, among other areas. He also sits on the Foreign Relations Committee, the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee and Intelligence Committee.

The Sept. 18 fundraiser will bring out a lot of the top Washington lawyers and lobbyists. Some have already given earlier in the year, such as 13 attorneys at Wiley Rein LLP, and others at Google, Capitol Counsel LLC, Peck Madigan, Jones and Stewart Inc., SNR Denton, Verizon, Rio Tinto, Crossroads Strategies LLC, and the National Association of Manufacturers, among others.

The event will be at Hill Country Barbecue and Market in the Penn Quarter neighborhood. It is a favorite restaurant of the lobbying crowd. Others having events there this year include, lobbyist and former Rep. Martin Frost, D-Texas; the National Republican Congressional Committee; the Blue Dog PAC, Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas; Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas; Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas; among others.

The founder and CEO of Hill Country is Marc Glosserman. In September 2007, Glosserman gave $4,600 to Obama for America.

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