Lobbyists like Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio.
K Street hasn't been as active in rounding up money — known as bundling — for presidential candidates, taking a back seat to donations from individual voters or wealthy backers bankrolling outside groups, Federal Election Commission reports show, according to
Roll Call.
But Rubio's a favorite — and the only senator in the 2016 race relying on lobbyists to bundle money on his behalf, the website notes.
According to the FEC, Rubio has relied on three lobbyist bundlers: Joseph Wall, vice president of government affairs for Goldman Sachs; Geoffrey Verhoff, a senior policy adviser at Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld; and Scott Weaver, who co-chairs the public policy practice at Wiley, Rein.
Verhoff's clients include Caesars Entertainment and Philip Morris International, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks political money, Roll Call reports, while Weaver's include the National Association of Broadcasters and the Satellite Industry Association.
Elsewhere in the GOP field, Jeb Bush has collected just under $408,000 in contributions bundled by lobbyists — a contribution that shows "K Street appears to be cooling to Bush in favor of Rubio," Roll Call reports.
In the third quarter, lobbyists bundled $179,525 for Bush and $365,605 for Rubio, the FEC reports show.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie reported bundling help from a single lobbyist — David Tamasi, a senior vice president at Rasky Baerlein, who has pulled in $23,400 on Christie's behalf, Roll Call reports.
Tamasi's leading clients include several regional health care providers, including the Eastern Maine Medical Center, according to the Sunlight Foundation, which promotes government transparency, Roll Call reports.
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