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Chairman Goodlatte Receives $143,000 While Considering Legislation

While considering immigration legislation, and holding a March hearing on the Internet sales tax issue, Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, received over $143,000 from Internet and high-tech company PACs, their executives and lobbyists.

Goodlatte’s joint fundraising committee, Goodlatte Victory Committee, reported it had receipts of $149,400 and disbursements of $148,768 from January 1 to March 31st., leaving $6,847 cash on hand. All but $6,000 of the receipts came in during the nineteen days after the chairman’s March 12th Internet sales tax hearing and a Silicon Valley fundraising event.

Chairman Goodlatte held the Silicon Valley fundraising event on March 19th. View the TechNet invitation and Roll Call’s article, “Goodlatte to Fundraise in Silicon Valley as Tech Community Pushes Immigration Fix.The committee paid $2,399 on 3/14 to Continental Caterers in Palo Alto, California; and $882 on 3/14 to Upstage Production & Event Management for catering.

The Goodlatte Victory Committee report also is an example of how contributions to a joint fundraising event can impact on a member of Congress. Goodlatte’s joint fundraising committee solicited contributions of $40,000. Even though the contribution would be eventually split, a donor had the opportunity of providing the full amount to Goodlatte.  After the McCutcheon v. FEC Supreme Court case, donors will be able to hand over to a member even more money, depending on how many joint fundraising participants join.

The committee transferred $39,243 to the Bob Goodlatte for Congress Committee; $10,651 to the Good Fund, the chairman’s leadership PAC; and $72,506 to the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Five executives of Oracle Corporation gave to the Goodlatte Victory Committee a total of $25,000, including $5,000 from CEO Lawrence Ellison. Goodlatte’s March 19th fundraising event was at the home of Oracle CFO Safra Catz.

The Cisco Systems Inc. Federal PAC gave $25,000.

Randy Fry, president of Fry’s Electronics (a software and computer electronics retailer) and his spouse, gave a total of $20,000.

Barry M. Meyer, chairman of Warner Brothers Entertainment gave $10,200.

The E-Bay Inc. Committee for Responsible Internet Commerce gave $10,000. E-Bay president and CEO John Donahoe gave $2,500.

Gayle Conway gave $10,000. She is married to Roy Conway, who was an early investor in Google, Facebook and Twitter.

Elizabeth Frazee, an attorney with TwinLogic Strategies, gave $7,500. TwinLogic and Frazee lobby for Yahoo!  The Yahoo! Inc. PAC gave $1,500. Kenneth Goldman, CFO of Yahoo! gave $2,500. Ronald S. Bell, an attorney at Yahoo! gave $1,000.

Stephen J. Luczo, CEO of Seagate Technology, a data storage company, gave $5,000.

Six attorney’s from the partnership Berry Appleman & Leiden LLP gave a total of $5,000. The firm is registered to lobby for the Compete America Coalition, a coalition for reform of U.S. Immigration policy for highly educated foreign professionals.

The Salesforce.com Inc. PAC gave $5,200.

John H. Marlow, Sr. vice president of Ring Central, a provider of cloud computing, gave $2,500.

Godfrey Sullivan, chairman and CEO of Splunk, which provides software for analyzing big data, gave $2,500.

James G. Gilliland of Kilpatrick Townsend gave $1,750, and William L. Shaffer of the firm gave $750. Kilpatrick Townsend is registered to lobby for the Entertainment Software Association.

Carl T. Guardino, CEO of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group gave $1,000.

Bruce P. Mehlman, partner at Mehlman Vogel Castagnetti gave $1,000. Mehlman is executive director of the Technology CEO Council and co-chairman of the Internet Innovation Alliance.

The Bingham McCutchen LLP PAC gave $1,000. Former Rep. Chris Cox, R-Calif., the counsel for NetChoice, and partner at Bingham McCutchen LLP, testified at the March 12 hearing. Bingham McCutchen LLP is registered to lobby for NetChoice. NetChoice is a trade association of eCommerce businesses.

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