Congel, his family and associates affiliated with his development have donated $40,000 to Clinton's state and national campaigns since she first ran for office in 1999.
In May, Congel co-hosted a Syracuse fundraiser for her, an event said to have raised an additional $50,000. Lobbying firms hired by Congel in connection with Destiny and other ventures also donated more than $200,000 to various Clinton campaign funds, records show.
Lorenz says that Congel began giving to Clinton before her election to the Senate and that he did so because he got to know and genuinely like the Clintons.
With the exception of McCain, the presidential candidates who are members of the Senate all raised campaign funds from earmark beneficiaries, though none came close to Clinton. Obama, for example, received $10,000 from trustees of the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, for which he secured a federal grant.
But Obama also earned a reputation as a reformer, teaming up with the Senate's most vociferous earmark foe, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), to push legislation that would make earmark data more readily available to the public. And he currently declines to back any earmarks that benefit individual private companies, in part because he is concerned about the scandals that have linked legislative success with donations.
Clinton spokesman Reines said there was no connection between her earmarks and her campaign contributions. "One thing has nothing to do with the other," he said.
Funding ties
Among other Democratic presidential candidates who serve in the Senate, there is a correlation between donations and earmarks for private entities, though none of the contenders have been as consistent as Clinton.
Of the two former congressional members in the presidential race, Democrat John Edwards of North Carolina made regular use of earmarks during his six years in the Senate, according to Ashdown. Edwards has since become an outspoken advocate for earmark reform; Republican Fred Thompson of Tennessee also wrote earmarks, though the practice was less common in the mid-1990s, when he was in the Senate.
Clinton's notable earmark activity is not explained solely by the fact that she represents a populous state. The extent of her earmarking far outstrips that of Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), for example, who represents a larger state. Boxer secured $79 million in earmarks this year, according to the taxpayers group.
