Semi-secret world of campaign bundlers

Semi-secret world of campaign bundlers
By Lisa Zagaroli | McClatchy Newspapers

* Posted on Sunday, November 18, 2007



WASHINGTON -- Johnny Taylor Jr. is connected.

The Charlotte businessman has friends all over the country who will hop on a plane and arrive at his house with a check for $2,300. That's the cost of having a chat in a private setting with a presidential candidate.

Taylor, a supporter of Sen. Hillary Clinton to the tune of "hundreds of thousands" of dollars, is at the heart of a growing role in the U.S. political system. He's known as a "bundler," a mega-fundraiser adept at using his network of friends and business associates to help fund a candidate's campaign.

"I not only want to raise money, but I want the candidate, Senator Clinton, to be informed about what people are really thinking about good public policy," said Taylor, an executive with InterActiveCorp., parent company to LendingTree and Ticketmaster.

Bundling is legal and all the candidates rely on volunteers who do it, but only a few presidential contenders have released their names.

Disclosure is important because these prodigious fundraisers are some of the people who will get their phone calls returned by the White House and will get chances at prestigious positions.

The Federal Election Commission is drafting new rules on bundling, due out next year, and has expressed interest in going beyond what Congress suggested -- that fundraisers be disclosed only if they are federal lobbyists.

The process has come under intense scrutiny with the news that one of Clinton's major fundraisers, Norman Hsu, raised more than $800,000 for the New York senator before he was revealed as a fugitive and charged with fraud.

more...

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/21745.html