OpenSecrets already parses this information. They just don't take the same step you're asking the campaign to take, listing on one page the bundlers, their employers, and occupations.

If this were the case, why would OpenSecrets be asking for this information from the Obama campaign?

Again, for the third time now. I'm not asking for it, Obama sponsored a measure requiring it.

Additionally, the link you provided shows individual contributions only, and apparently only ones below the $2300 mark, and makes no reference whatsoever of the names of bundlers on Obama's own web site.

First, you're standing behind OpenSecrets without having a clue what they want or what they do.

Second, and most importantly, you've displayed no understanding of campaign finance law, which limits contributions to a maximum of $2,300 per election for federal campaigns.

Campaigns have a sole purpose: win. It's purely for political points to be harsh on them for not doing things that don't help them reach their goal, especially when you're fully capable yourself.

But records show that one-third of his record-breaking haul has come from donations of $1,000 or more: a total of $112 million, more than Senator John McCain, Mr. Obama’s Republican rival, or Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, his opponent in the Democratic primaries, raised in contributions of that size.

The fruits of his efforts have put Mr. Obama’s major donors on a pace that almost rivals the $147 million raised by President Bush’s network of Pioneers and Rangers in contributions of $1,000 or larger during the 2004 primary season.

Given his decision not to accept public financing, Mr. Obama is counting on his bundlers to help him raise $300 million for his general-election campaign and another $180 million for the Democratic National Committee.

Nearly 10,000 of the biggest donors to Republican candidates and causes across the country will probably receive a foreboding “warning” letter in the mail next week. The letter is an opening shot across the bow from an unusual new outside political group on the left that is poised to engage in hardball tactics to prevent similar groups on the right from getting off the ground this fall.

Led by Tom Matzzie, a liberal political operative who has been involved with some prominent left-wing efforts in recent years, the newly formed nonprofit group, Accountable America, is planning to confront donors to conservative groups, hoping to create a chilling effect that will dry up contributions. . . . The warning letter is intended as a first step, alerting donors who might be considering giving to right-wing groups to a variety of potential dangers, including legal trouble, public exposure and watchdog groups digging through their lives.

2. Many of the leading donors to 501(c) and 527 organizations have had their business and personal affairs closely scrutinized by the media and well‐funded “watchdog” groups. Those groups ‐‐ as well as the major political
parties and candidates ‐‐ have routinely filed complaints with the IRS and the FEC about 501(c) and 527 group activities.

8. Accountable America will publicize the political and business relationships and corrupt activities of donors to these 501(c) and 527 organizations both in the media and to shareholders of public companies where a donor is a major shareholder, director or officer.

Their cover goal is respectable: to document political donors so we know who is financing campaigns. There are still too many ways to use soft money (unreported funds) to win elections. A good cover goal, like this one, is more or less universally acceptable.

But it doesn't take a genius to understand their underlying goal: reduce the amount of funding available to Republican soft money groups. Whether that's going to happen through intimidation or people being more cautious about how their money is being spent, I can't say... maybe a little of both.

It's a ballsy move, but we won't know the effects for a while. Off the bat, I'd say the odds of it backfiring are just as good as the odds of success.

Attempts to intimidate individuals from participating in the presidential campaign can be a violation of federal law. A key federal civil rights law (42 U.S.C. § 1985(3)), popularly known as the Ku Klux Klan Act, may be applicable if “two or more persons conspire to prevent by force, intimidation, or threat, any citizen who is lawfully entitled to vote, from giving his support or advocacy in a legal manner, toward or in favor of the election of any lawfully qualified person as an elector for President or Vice President, or as a Member of Congress of the United States; or to injure any citizen in person or property on account of such support or advocacy.”

In 2006, Sen. Obama requested an earmark $300,000 to replace and update the projector system at the Adler Planetarium. In 2008, he requested $3,000,000 for replacement of the projector system and other equipment in the Sky Theater. For reference, this is three times the amount he earmarked for the HIV/AIDS Policy and Research Institute at Chicago State University.

While the Adler Planetarium earmarks look normal on the surface, there is a catch. The Chairman and two of the Vice Chairman of the Adler Planetarium Board of Trustees raised a total of almost $250,000 for Sen. Obama’s 2008 Presidential campaign. The Adler Planetarium was probably pleasantly surprised when they found that their earmark increased by $2.7 million dollars, in other words, by a factor of ten.

The Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Frank Clark, stands out amongst Obama supporters. On Sen. Obama’s website, Mr. Clark is listed as a bundler who raised in excess of $200,000 for the Senator’s Presidential campaign. In 2004, Mr. Clark donated $5,000 to the then State Senator Obama’s U.S. Senate bid. In 2005, Mr. Clark became the Chairman of the Board at Adler Planetarium, and in 2006 Sen. Obama earmarked $300,000 to the Planetarium. Then, in the same year that Mr. Clark’s involvement in the Obama campaign skyrocketed to raising an excess of $200,000, Sen. Obama’s earmark for the Adler Planetarium increased tenfold to $3,000,000.

Mr. Clark isn’t the only problematic donor. Two of the Vice Chairmen of the Board, Brian Cressey and Peter Thompson are also significant donors. Between donations from Mr. Thompson and the Cressey household, Sen. Obama received $13,800. The most significant donor here is Mr. Cressey. As a first time donor, Mr. Cressey gave the maximum possible individual donation in essentially one big check. What makes this even more troubling is that Mr. Cressey had never given to Sen. Obama before 2008, the year in which the Adler Planetarium’s earmark increased tenfold.

The fact that three ranking members of the Adler Planetarium’s Board donated huge sums of money (at least $200,000) is interesting by itself. The fact that these enormous contributions came in the same year that Sen. Obama increased their earmark by 900% is truly unsettling.

Obama Helped Supporters Get Millions in Illinois State Business John Rogers, Whose Business Obama Helped as a State Senator, Is Now One of Obama's Chief Fundraisers

In a speech to the Urban League last July, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., boasted of his efforts in 2001 to help a handful of African American-owned investment firms in Chicago get a larger share of business with Illinois state pension funds. "And in six months, they got about a half-billion dollars' worth of business simply on their excellence," Obama said.

What he did not say in his speech was that the owner of one of the investment firms, John Rogers of Ariel Capital, is a principal campaign fundraiser. Nor did he reveal that employees of the firms he helped have since contributed to or helped to raise more than $765,000 for his campaigns, according to campaign documents. Nor did he mention that two of the firms have allowed him to use their private jets. Nor did he mention that two of the firms have since been dismissed by the state pension fund for "underperformance."

Following Obama's efforts, the Illinois Teachers' Retirement System gave Ariel Capital $112.5 million to manage, and added hundreds of millions more over the next few years.

In 2006, the teachers' fund took its money back out, citing Ariel's "underperformance." Ariel said the hot stock market of 2006 made its funds' growth look modest, guided as it was by the firm's conservative buy-and-hold philosophy. Ariel is positively rated by several investment experts.

Now, Rogers is an Illinois finance co-chairman for Obama's presidential campaign, having raised more than $200,000 for the campaign. Ariel employees have given nearly $70,000 to Obama's White House effort -- for a total of more than $130,000 to Obama's political career since 2001, when the politician went to bat for the company. The total includes $8,100 donated by Ariel Capital president Mellody Hobson, an ABC News financial contributor. Hobson is listed by the Obama campaign as a "bundler" who has raised between $50,000 and $100,000 for Obama's presidential campaign.

In addition to fundraising, Rogers provided Obama with Ariel Capital's private jet in 2005, following his election as a U.S. senator. At the time, Obama took advantage of a loophole in the law that allowed for politicians to reimburse corporate jet owners at first-class ticket rates. He later signed on as a co-sponsor of a Senate measure that would require campaigns to pay full charter cost, and said he would no longer take corporate jets.

Three other minority-run firms -- Holland Capital, Loop Capital and Capri Capital Partners -- also saw hundreds of millions of assets turned over to them to manage after meeting with Obama and the state pension boards.

The state teachers' fund also terminated Holland in 2006 for the poor performance of the assets it managed, according to the business publication Crain's. Holland did not respond to a request for comment.

The executive director of an Illinois ethics watchdog group calls it politics as usual. "Did he get contributions from those companies down the line? Yeah. That story's been told a million times in American politics, and it will be told a million times more," said Jay Stewart of the Illinois-based Better Government Association. "I don't think Obama's any different."

Harry Sargeant III, a former naval officer and the owner of an oil-trading company that recently inked defense contracts potentially worth more than $1 billion, is the archetype of a modern presidential money man. The law forbids high-level supporters from writing huge checks, but with help from friends in the Middle East and the former chief of the CIA's bin Laden unit -- who now serves as a consultant to his company -- Sargeant has raised more than $100,000 for three presidential candidates from a collection of ordinary people, several of whom professed little interest in the outcome of the election.

Jihan Nassar, a homemaker in Corona, Calif., is listed as a $500 donor to the campaign of Florida Gov. Charlie Crist. But she insists she never gave a dime.

''I can't make any donations, financially,'' Nassar said Friday. "We never made any donations, sir. I have no idea what you are talking about.''

Nassar and her husband, Waleed, are among more than three dozen California donors listed as giving to Crist's campaign on June 19, 2006 -- donations bundled by a controversial Delray Beach defense contractor now under scrutiny for contributions to GOP presidential candidate John McCain.

But as I said, that's something that can't change until we take the money factor out of campaigns.

The Washington Times ran a story today on a topic I’ve been digging into myself – the striking number of political appointments granted by the Obama Administration to the most prodigious fundraisers of the Obama campaign. These top fundraisers are known as “bundlers”. Since campaign finance laws restrict any one individual from donating more than $2400 to a single candidate, these bundlers achieve prominence within a campaign by soliciting for and then – you guessed it – bundling up individual donations received via their extended network of friends, family, business contacts, etc. While exact figures are not available, the top bundlers within the Obama campaign each delivered in excess of $1 million in campaign contributions, and there were nearly 50 bundlers who were responsible for at least $500K in donations.

As the Times notes, it’s somewhat of a Washington tradition for an incoming President to appoint choice ambassadorships to key political donors and allies. While this may be the case, for a President who declared a “new era” of accountability, and who championed ethics reform while in the Senate, a look at the appointments made to date reveals what I think is a surprising level of cronyism on the part of this Administration. And notably, many of these appointments extend outside the relatively ceremonial realm of diplomatic posts.

Let’s first run through the appointments highlighted by the Washington Times article:

John Roos .......... $500K+ .......... Ambassador - Japan
Charles Rivkin .......... $500K+ .......... Ambassador - France
Bruce Oreck .......... $500K+ .......... Ambassador - Finland
Louis Susman .......... $200K-$500K .......... Ambassador - United Kingdom
Vinai Thummalapally .......... $100K-$200K .......... Ambassador - Belize
Laurie Fulton .......... $100K-$200K .......... Ambassador - Denmark

Perhaps budget cuts have impacted the research team at the Times because I was able to find several other ambassadorship appointments that they apparently missed:

Nicole Avant .......... $500K+ .......... Ambassador - Bahamas
Matthew Barzun .......... $500K+ .......... Ambassador - Sweden
Don Beyer .......... $500K+ .......... Ambassador - Switzerland
William C. Eacho III .......... $500K+ .......... Ambassador - Austria Kingdom
Donald Gips .......... $500K+ .......... Ambassador - South Africa
Howard Gutman .......... $500K+ .......... Ambassador - Belgium
David Jacobson (added 7/8) .......... $50K-$100K .......... Ambassador - Canada

Add these up and that’s 12 13 appointments (12!) to key diplomatic positions that were awarded directly to top Obama fundraisers. And that’s within only the first 6 months of the Administration. I expect there will be more to come, which is why I had initially held off on posting this.

But that’s not all. The tables above represent only the ambassadorship appointments. Take a look at some of the other Administration positions awarded within the ranks of the campaign bundlers:

Jeff Bleich .......... $500K+ .......... Special Counsel to the President
Julius Genachowski .......... $500K+ .......... Chairman, FCC
Scott Harris .......... $500K+ .......... General Counsel, Dept. of Energy
Karl Mason .......... $500K+ .......... Deputy Asst. Attorney General
Thomas Perrelli .......... $500K+ .......... Associate Attorney General
Francisco Sanchez .......... $500K+ .......... Under-Secy. for International Trade
Alan Solomont .......... $500K+ .......... Chairman, Corp. for Nat'l & Community Service
Tony West .......... $500K+ .......... Asst. Attorney General, Civil Div.

Yes, the Chairman of the FCC. Three positions within the Attorney General’s office. A key legal advisory role within the White House itself. And the Corporation for National & Community Service has made headlines over the past month for the firing of Inspector General Gerald Walpin.

So when there was a vacancy at the top of the State Division of Agriculture, she appointed a high school classmate, Franci Havemeister, to the $95,000-a-year directorship. A former real estate agent, Ms. Havemeister cited her childhood love of cows as a qualification for running the roughly $2 million agency.

Ms. Havemeister was one of at least five schoolmates Ms. Palin hired, often at salaries far exceeding their private sector wages.

My point is, if you're going to post a list of names, contributions, and appointments, it's meaningless unless it provides some explanation of the individual's qualifications for that role.

Or the lack thereof, if you're trying to make a point about cronyism. The problem with cronyism is their inherent inability to actually do the job they're given. That's why Bush got in trouble with people like Michael Brown and Alberto Gonzalez.

The problem with cronyism is their inherent inability to actually do the job they're given.

And no, I'm not going to research every single one of those appointments to justify whether that person is qualified for the job or not. That's not the point and you know it - and frankly I'm tired of doing your research for you.

Joxur, so are you saying that if someone donates to a politician they should automatically be excluded from appointment by that politician?

That's one of those situations where it's better to just err on the side of caution, really.

I'm not sure I can agree with saying that a qualified person for X role should be disqualified because their personal politics led them to supporting a candidate.

WASHINGTON, May 19 (AP) - (Kyodo)—California-based lawyer John Roos has emerged as President Barack Obama's likely choice as the next ambassador to Japan, a source close to Japan-U.S. relations said Tuesday.

The source said the formal choice will be announced soon.

If nominated and approved by the Senate, Roos, one of Obama's top fundraisers during the presidential campaign, will serve as the point man of U.S. policy on Japan, a key ally in Asia.

The post of ambassador to Japan was initially to be awarded to Joseph Nye, a Harvard University professor emeritus and former assistant secretary of defense.

But Roos is now seen as more suitable since he enjoys strong personal ties with Obama, similar to those between former President George W. Bush and his envoy to Japan, Thomas Schieffer.

Roos is little known among U.S. and Japanese officials, raising some doubt about his qualifications.

Roos graduated from Stanford University's law school in 1980. He is chief executive officer of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, a law firm in Silicon Valley.

Charles Rivkin has been named as President Obama’s candidate to serve as the United States Ambassador to France. He was the president and chief executive officer of W!LDBRAIN, an entertainment and animation production company whose television series include Yo Gabba Gabba! and Higglytown Heroes. Rivkin is an executive producer of Yo Gabba Gabba!, which airs on Nickelodeon and Noggin cable networks.[1]

Prior to joining W!LDBRAIN in September 2005, Rivkin had worked for The Jim Henson Company for 15 years. He joined the company in 1988 as director of strategic planning and in 1995 was named president and chief operating officer. Rivkin served as the company's CEO from 2000 to 2003—the first chief executive who was not a member of the Henson family.[2]

Rivkin was also the California Finance Co-chair for Barack Obama's campaign and is in line to be chosen as U.S. Ambassador to France.

Bruce Oreck was a partner in the New Orleans, Louisiana law firm of Liskow & Lewis from 1981 until 1992 where his practice was centered on the representation of the oil and gas industry. He went on to found his own firm: Oreck, Crighton, Adams & Chase, where he represented primarily Fortune 100 companies in connection with state and local tax issues. Mr. Oreck also served as Vice President and General Counsel for his family business, The Oreck Corporation (the manufacturer and seller of Oreck vacuum cleaners), from 1993 until the company was sold in 2003.

Mr. Oreck is the author of a number of treatises and legal publications. Separate from his legal practice, Mr. Oreck founded and operated a real estate development company. Originally focused on historic restorations, he renovated and restored over 100,000 square feet of historic homes and apartment buildings in New Orleans, Louisiana.

He also founded The Zero Carbon Initiative, is a founding member of the Board of Trustees for The Grand Canyon Trust, and remains very active in environmental matters. Mr. Oreck served as a member of Colorado Governor Bill Ritter’s New Energy transition advisory team and as a member of the Colorado Climate Action Panel.

Susman, 71, a vice-president of Citigroup until he retired in February, has long been a backer of the Democrats, nicknamed the Vacuum Cleaner by the Chicago Tribune for his ability to hoover up campaign funding. "I don't think anyone enjoys raising money, but for some reason I seem to have a knack," he told the paper. Susman, who lives in an expensive neighbourhood of Chicago overlooking Lake Michigan, raised at least $500,000 (£320,000) for Obama's campaign and a further $300,000 for his inauguration.

He is so much a part of Obama's inner circle that he was invited to an exclusive party on the Sunday before the inauguration. Other guests included Rahm Emanuel, Obama's chief of staff, who typifies the sharp-suited, foul-mouthed approach of those brought up on Chicago politics.

Mr. Thummalapally is the President of MAM-A Inc., a manufacturer and distributor of recordable optical discs. Prior to his role at MAM-A Inc., he served as the plant manager for Mitsui Advanced Media Inc., which also manufactures recordable optical discs. He has served in several other similar roles in his 31-year career, including as General Manager for WEA Manufacturing, as a Managing Partner of Clines Office Products, and as Manufacturing Manager of Disc Manufacturing, Inc.


He received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from California State University and completed post graduate courses in Business Administration.

'Laurie S. Fulton "is a distinguished attorney with a national trial practice in federal and state courts in complex civil litigation and criminal defense. She has served as counsel in product liability litigation, mass tort litigation defense, and class action lawsuits. Her criminal defense practice includes federal criminal antitrust, bank gratuities, and wire fraud. A graduate of the University of Nebraska at Omaha and Georgetown University Law Center, Fulton previously served as the executive director for Peace Links and for ACCESS, a security information service. Her government service includes work for Senator James Abourezk (D-South Dakota) and Representative (now Senator) Thomas Daschle (D-South Dakota). She is on the board of directors of Bright Beginnings and formerly served on the boards of both Peace Links and ACCESS.“ [1]

Ms. Avant serves as Vice President of Interior Music and Avant Garde Music Publishing. A business woman, philanthropist and activist, she has been recognized for her tireless efforts to mobilize the younger generation towards greater charitable and political involvement. She has worked as an academic counselor at The Neighborhood Academic Initiative, a USC mentorship program for high school students.

Ms. Avant serves as a board member for the Bogart Pediatric Cancer Research Program, the Center for American Progress and Best Buddies, and was named one of the American Cancer Society Next Generation Leaders in 2007.

Matthew Barzun worked with CNET Networks for over a decade. Among the first four employees at CNET in 1993, Barzun was part of the entire range of the company’s growth, from start up to initial public offering and to eventual profitability.[4]

Early on Matthew Barzun was made a Vice President at CNET, during which time he built, launched and grew CNET’s Download.com service. Barzun was also instrumental in establishing CNET’s policy of purchasing domain names for the company to launch new sites, including news.com, builder.com and search.com [5]. The story of Barzun’s acquisition of these valuable web properties was told in Robert H. Reid’s book about the rise of the early Internet, “Architects of the Web: 1,000 Days that Built the Future of Business”[6]:


Barzan’s (sic) teeth-cutting name space assignment was the shareware.com name that later proved so inspiring. […] Emboldened, Barzan (sic) bartered & begged & bought until he had download.com, freeware.com, and (what the hell) activex.com. Somewhere in there he also got rights to news.com, which now points to CNET’s news stories (this switched on in September of 1996),


By 1998 Matthew Barzun was CNET’s Senior Vice President, and by 2000 he was Chief Strategy Officer. The rise through the company was noteworthy for such a young man (prompting columnist Dan Fost of the San Francisco Chronicle to pen the question “How can a 28-year-old be senior anything?”[7] ), but Barzun’s innovative ideas and tactics built upon his earlier successes. Barzun’s most recent business activities have involved Internet publishing start-ups. In 2006 he helped found a company called MedTrackAlert, which was later reportedly sold in 2008 to the Health Central Network.[8]

Donald S. "Don" Beyer, Jr. (born June 20, 1950) is an American business and political leader. He is an owner of automobile dealerships and is involved in community, political and philanthropic work. In June 2009, he was nominated to be the United States Ambassador to Switzerland.

Previously, from 1990-98 he served as Lieutenant Governor of Virginia as a Democrat during the gubernatorial administrations of Democrat Doug Wilder (1990-1994) and Republican George Allen (1994-1998).

William Eacho is the CEO of Carlton Capital Group, LLC, a private investment company focused on real estate and private investments primarily dealing with alternative energy and technology. Previously, he was the executive vice president of Alliant Foodservice, Inc., a $6 billion national food service distributor based in Chicago, with primary responsibility for technology and acquisition strategy. He joined Alliant after the company’s acquisition of Atlantic Food Services in Manassas, Virginia. Under Mr. Eacho's leadership, Atlantic increased its sales tenfold. Prior to that Mr. Eacho was a founding co-chairman of UniPro Foodservice Inc., the food service distribution industry's top procurement and marketing cooperative, with combined member sales of over $20 billion. From 1996-1997, Mr. Eacho served as chairman of ComSource, a $9 billion cooperative, until helping to negotiate a merger with its leading competitor, EMCO, to create UniPro Foodservice. Mr. Eacho serves on the boards of directors of Capital Transportation Inc., Stanley Martin Companies Inc., Systems 4 Inc. and Bialek Healthcare Environments Inc.

Donald H. Gips, born in 1960, is the Divisional Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Development for Level 3 Communications.[1] and Director of Mindspeed Technologies, Incorporated. He is also on the advisory board for President Barack Obama's presidential transition team.[2]

In the late 1990s Gips served as the United States Vice President Al Gore's Chief Domestic Policy Advisor.[3] Previously, he was the chief of the Federal Communications Commission’s international bureau.[1]

Howard Gutman is a partner with Williams & Connolly LLP. Identified as one of "Washington's Top Lawyers" by Washingtonian magazine, Mr. Gutman’s practice areas focus on commercial litigation, including securities, contracts, antitrust, labor, banking, real estate, intellectual property, insurance coverage, international law and partnership disputes. Mr. Gutman's clients have included Fortune 500 companies, start-ups, financial services firms, labor unions, pension funds, law and accounting firms, government entities, real estate developers, sports teams, and political candidates. He is also litigation counsel for Friedman, Billings & Ramsey, a top ten U.S. investment bank.


Mr. Gutman previously served as a Special Assistant to F.B.I Director William H. Webster, focusing on counter-terrorism and counter-intelligence; as a law clerk to Justice Potter Stewart on the United States Supreme Court; and as a law clerk to Judge Irving L. Goldberg on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Mr. Gutman has been an Editor of Litigation Magazine for over 24 years and an active participant in the ABA's Litigation Section. He is a member of the Board of the Washington Hebrew Home in Rockville, Maryland.

WASHINGTON--President Obama tapped Chicago attorney David Jacobson, who was the Obama presidential campaign deputy finance chair, to be the U.S. ambassador to Canada on Thursday.

Jacobson is already at the White House. He is a special assistant to the president in the Office of Presidential Personnel. His focus is on filling slots on executive branch boards and commissions.

Before heading to Washington, Jacobson, 57, who grew up in north suburban Highland Park, was a partner at the Chicago office of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP. He specialized in securities and complex litigation.

So weird how tunes change depending on who the president's party is...

I'm not sure I can agree with saying that a qualified person for X role should be disqualified because their personal politics led them to supporting a candidate.

Lobbyists may be qualified, but they are also (generally) very heavily biased.

The White House has also asserted its privilege in naming ambassadors, passing over Mrs. Clinton’s preferred candidate for Japan — Joseph S. Nye Jr., a Harvard expert on foreign policy — in favor of John V. Roos, a Silicon Valley lawyer who is close to Mr. Obama.