We raised money -- $100 million over the last 17 years -- for candidates and ballot initiatives. Known as "fortune tellers," we "delivered" big bags of "doughnuts" (campaign contributions) to our clients -- sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars a day. And as reformed sinners, we are here to tell you that the current system is not just broken, it is irrevocably broken.
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Our typical day would include breakfast schmoozing, closing on a few donors by telephone, a VIP luncheon, a handful of private afternoon meetings, a meet 'n' greet cocktail party and then one or maybe even two splashy dinners. Capped off with a quickie late-night cigar or dessert reception.
Our money chase for contributions on behalf of clients was endless. Indeed, most politicians are in a state of perpetual campaigning or fundraising.
And big money is what mattered. The bigger the better. We had to decide: Should we spend two hours playing phone tag with high-maintenance, grass-roots, low-dollar donors on a "have previously given" list (the under $250 crowd)? Or should we hound-dog an hour of time with a wealthy, well-connected fat cat ("bundler") and his like-minded industry friends -- for $2,000 a pop -- at a $50,000 intimate lunch with a personal candidate photo included (a.k.a. "donor crack")? You guessed it. Time is money, and our 10% was on the line too.
Currently, any U.S. citizen may give up to $108,200 to all federal candidates and political party committees during a two-year cycle. It was our job to have as many of those rainmakers as possible in our golden Rolodex.
As a result, we and our clients ended up spending a lot of face time with major donors ("Mojo's"): Wall Street investment bankers, real estate developers, CEOs, trial lawyers, union bosses, oil company executives, Hollywood celebrities, PAC board members and K Street lobbyists. America the plutocracy.
According to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, records were broken in the 2008 presidential and congressional campaigns: Direct fundraising by all the presidential candidates added up to more than $1.5 billion; in congressional races, $1.3 billion. Total contributions to the 2008 federal general elections, including those made to 527 groups and to the fundraising arms of the political parties, exceeded $6.3 billion.
That is a lot of doughnuts -- a system-distorting, potentially corrupting amount of cash. Let us rephrase that: It is a policy-corrupting amount of money.
