K Street bundlers flock to Hillary

Of the presidential contenders, Hillary Clinton had the most support from K Street bundlers in the second quarter of 2015, new reports show.

Clinton’s team of 40 lobbyists cobbled together nearly $2.1 million in donations during the period that falls between April and July.

The help comes from some of Washington’s hottest firms and the nation’s largest companies, including lobbyists for Starbucks, Microsoft and Exxon Mobil.  

Republican contenders Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor, and Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.), meanwhile, took in $228,400 and $133,450 from lobbyist bundlers, respectively.

Bush’s lobbyist supporters included Al Cardenas, the former chairman of the Republican Party of Florida now at Squire Patton Boggs, who bundled together $18,900.

Also, former Rep. Tom Loeffler (R-Texas), now at Akin Gump, raised $31,500 in donations. Dirk Van Dongen, the president of the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors, bundled $33,900, and Bill Killmer of the Mortgage Bankers Association raised $36,200. Iggy Sanchez, of DLA Piper, helped add $32,400 to Bush’s coffers.

Individuals can only contribute $2,700 to a campaign per election cycle, so a bundler’s job is to accumulate as many donors as possible to help out a campaign. It is required by law for campaigns to release the names of bundlers who are registered lobbyists.

Rubio had only three lobbyists bundling for him in the second quarter, reports show: Joe Wall, the vice president of government affairs for Goldman Sachs, raised $90,950; Geoff Verhoff, a senior policy adviser at Akin Gump, brought together $21,000; and Scott Weaver, the co-chairman of Wiley Rein’s public policy practice, bundled $21,500.

Clinton’s top lobbyist bundlers included Jackson Dunn, the senior managing director at FTI Consulting, who bundled $231,554; Steve Elmendorf, of Elmendorf | Ryan, who brought in a total of $141,815; David Jones, of Capitol Counsel, who raised $120,675; Andrew Smith, a former finance director for Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s campaign and vice president at McGuireWoods, raised $133,350; former South Carolina Gov. Jim Hodges, now at McGuireWoods Consulting, who gave $106,750; Tony Podesta, of Podesta Group, bundled $74,575; and former mayor of Albuquerque, N.M., and senior adviser to the super-PAC set up to encourage Clinton to run, Martin Chávez, pooled together $99.760.

Other prominent names on Clinton’s list of lobbyist bundlers include Heather Podesta, of Heather Podesta + Partners; Richard Sullivan, of Capitol Counsel; Donald Pongrace, the head of the public law and policy practice at Akin Gump; Al Mottur, of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck; Fred Humphries, a top lobbyist at Microsoft; longtime Clinton supporter Janice Enright of the Ickes & Enright Group; Theresa Mary Fariello, a lobbyist at Exxon Mobil; Brian Wolff, a lobbyist at Edison Electric Institute; Daphna Peled at the National Cable & Telecommunications Association; and former Rep. Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.), now at K&L Gates.

In earnings reports released on Wednesday, Clinton also raked in the most cash overall, more than $47.5 million, since April. Bush, who only announced his intent to run for president last month, raised more than $11.4 million. Rubio has raised about $8.9 million since declaring his candidacy in April.