Republican presidential candidate and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush is having success raising money from lobbyists. Pictured here formally announcing his campaign for president during a kickoff rally in Miami, Florida June 15, 2015. (REUTERS/Joe Skipper)
A key group of fundraisers for the 2016 presidential election, lobbyist bundlers, raised $228,400 for Republican candidate Jeb Bush during the second quarter, according to FEC filings submitted by his campaign on Wednesday.
Bush also drew the financial support of top lobbyists at a number of Fortune 500 companies, including Microsoft, Verizon, Goldman Sachs and Hewlett-Packard.
People who raise more than $17,600 from friends, family and colleagues are known as bundlers and campaigns are required to disclose their names if they are federally registered lobbyists. Campaigns are not required to disclose the names of all bundlers, but both Bush and Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton say they will do so.
While the amount of money raised this way may be dwarfed by the unlimited sums that can be contributed to super PACs — hundreds of thousands of dollars compared to millions — it nonetheless offers a glimpse into who on K Street may have access and influence on a potential future president.
Eight lobbyist bundlers raised a collective $228,400 for Bush during the second quarter of 2015. The top bundlers were William P. Killmer of the Mortgage Banking Association, who raised $36,200; Dirk Van Dongen of the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors, who raised $33,900; and Ignacio Sanchez, co-chair of the lobbying practice at DLA Piper, who raised $32,400.
Former congressman Tom Loeffler, now a lobbyist at Akin Gump, raised $31,500 for the campaign. Al Cardenas, former chairman of the Republican Party of Florida and now a lobbyist at Squire Patton Boggs, raised $18,900.
A number of lobbyists, though not bundlers, contributed the individual limit of $2,700 to Bush’s campaign. They include Kirk Blalock of Fierce Government Relations, David Beightol and Brian Sailer of Flywheel Government Solutions, Dave Boyer of BGR Group and Josh Holly, Kimberley Fritts, David Marin and Matt Johnson of Podesta Group.
Bush also drew support from top lobbyists within major corporations, including Maria Cino of Hewlett-Packard, Ed Ingle of Microsoft, Tim McBride of United Technologies, Matt Niemeyer of Goldman Sachs and Woody Simmons Jr. of Verizon Communications. They all contributed the individual limit of $2,700.
