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Documenting the Political Partying Circuit
From the early hours of the morning until late in the evening, politicians are partying. Sunlight's PARTY TIME can help you find out who is partying, where and when.

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Partytime • POSTED - 07.16.09 BY Nancy Watzman

Health care parties for Energy & Commerce members

Members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which is beginning mark up of the health care reform bill today, have numerous fundraisers on their schedules. See an updated list here. As reported here previously, a number of these parties are hosted by health care lobbyists:

  • Several lobbyists working for the Alpine Group–Rhod Shaw, Greg Means, Jim Massie, and Charles Barnett, planned a dinner on May 20 for Rep. Mike Ross, a Democrat from Arkansas. Their clients include the Biotechnology Industry Association, the Medical Imaging Contrast Agent Association, and the Council on Radionuclides and Radiopharmaceuticals. Ross has collected more than $833,000 in campaign contributions from health care interests over his years in Congress.
  • Rep. Roy Blunt, Republican of Missouri, is raising money for his 2010 Senate race. An April 23 rooftop breakfast was planned by several lobbyists, including Mark Anderson, Roy Coffee, and Dave DiStefano, who lobby for Humana Inc. (Their firm, Locke Liddell Strategies, provided the rooftop). Sam Geduldig, whose clients include Barr Laboratories was also listed, as was Joe Wall, who represents the Independent Agents & Brokers of America. Blunt has collected $1.6 million in campaign contributions from the health care sector for his congressional races.
  • Another party for Blunt was planned for February 4 at Ruth Chris’s Steakhouse. Four of the lobbyist hosts listed–Mark Isakowitz, Kirsten Chadwick, Mike Chappell, and Samantha Cook–lobby for the firm Fierce, Isakowitz & Blalock, where their clients include the Corporate Health Care Coalition, the Coalition for Competitive Pharma Marketing, and the American Insurance Association.
  • A gaggle of pharmaceutical planned a “pharmaceutical meet and greet” breakfast for Rep. John Barrow, a Democrat from Georgia. In an interesting twist, this invitation states “no contribution required.” However, an address is nevertheless is provided for donors who do want to send a check. The pharmaceutical industry has not been one of his biggest donors in the past. The lobbyists are Eli Joseph, who represents Merck & Co; Libby Greer, who also has Merck as a client; Matthew Sulkala, who lobbies for the Pharmaceutical Research & Manufactures Association of America; and Anne Wilson, who represents Pfizer, Inc.

    • 1 Comment

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    • Josh Narins said...

      Just a stylistic issue. With this many URLs in a page, maybe you should:
      a,a:visited,a:hover,a:link{ text-decoration: none }

      Comment posted: Jul 18, 2009 at 1:47 pm
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    PARTYFINDER™ Hints

    Beneficiary: congressional candidate, lawmaker, or entity which collects funds raised at party

    Host: person who is hosting party-often, but not always, a registered federal lobbyist

    Venue Name: where the party is

    Entertainment Type: type of gathering, such as "breakfast," "ski trip," "bowling"

    Other Lawmakers Mentioned: lawmakers mentioned on invitation who are used as a draw for the event

    Sunlight's Party Time is a project to track parties for members of Congress or congressional candidates that happen all year round in Washington, D.C. and beyond. (read more)

    We also post information we receive about parties where members of Congress are expected to participate—such as convention or inaugural parties.

    Since we don't hear about all the parties, you can also tell us if you know where the party is and we don't.