Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations

WASHINGTON, May 6, 2004 � More than 1,300 registered lobbyists have given slightly more than $1.8 million to President George W. Bush over the last six years, according to a Center for Public Integrity study comparing the donations of all registered lobbyists from 1998 through March 2004. Sen. John Kerry received $520,000 from 442 lobbyists during the same period.

�Such numbers account for a significant percentage of those who ply the influence game. In fact, the lobbyists who donated to Bush have represented about 6,000 clients; those who gave to Kerry, approximately 3,000 clients. Combined, these figures add up to more than half of all the companies that hire lobbyists, according to the Senate Office of Public Records. The SOPR says that there are currently 24,000 lobbyists registered to represent 15,000 clients.

The Center's study is the first of its kind to precisely track donations to presidential candidates from all federally registered lobbyists. Until now, campaign finance analysts used industry coding, a method that has included thousands of dollars from individuals not registered to lobby, while omitting donations from thousands of lobbyists hired outside of traditional lobby shops.�� Continued at this website: http://www.publicintegrity.org/bop2004/report.aspx?aid=273

Kerry's Fundraising Shows Large Corporate Donations

Excerpt of The Buying of The President 2004

details Kerry's contribution record

John Kerry has made campaign finance reform an issue ever since he first ran for the Senate in 1984. In fact, the Massachusetts Democrat has been such an ardent and outspoken critic of political action committees that he has refused to accept donations from such organizations during all four of his senatorial campaigns.

�But the man who has repeatedly decried the influence of PACs on the nation's political system nevertheless began his quest for the presidency by forming one. In December 2001, as a prelude to his presidential run, Kerry created a federal PAC and a non-federal 527 Committee, both named the Citizen Soldier Fund. A number of influential members of Congress, including most of the presidential candidates, have such PACs, commonly known as "leadership committees." Politicians use the leadership committees to win political support by distributing money among various party organizations and candidates across the country. They also use PAC resources to foot travel bills.

Kerry's PAC raised roughly $1 million through the end of 2002 and disbursed nearly all of it. At the time it was formed, the Citizen Soldiers Fund's non-federal account could theoretically have accepted any amount from a donor. But Kerry, perhaps as a concession to the reform constituency of which he was a part, said the fund would not take donations of more than $10,000 from one individual or organization in any year. Just before the McCain-Feingold legislation was to take effect consigning soft money�at least some types of it�to history, the senator couldn't resist one last grab at the political money that he voted to ban. By the end of October, the self-imposed cap was gone. Continued at this page�. http://www.publicintegrity.org/bop2004/report.aspx?aid=189