Two members of Congress who show up the most on invitations we collect at Party Time are House minority leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and House majority leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.). In their leadership capacities, Boehner and Hoyer not only collect massive amounts of money for their own campaigns, much of which they dole back out to colleagues. (See Boehner’s expenditures here and Hoyer’s here. ) They also act as draws at fundraising events for others.

From press reports, we know we get see a slice of all the events where Boehner and Hoyer appear. CQ Politics recently wrote that Boehner had headlined 127 events around the country in 2009 and raised $13.7 million. The interactive map below shows 53, most of them in the shadow of the Capitol building. Click on the flags to see details about the events.

An investigation of lobbying by payday lenders published today by the Huffington Post investigative fund uses Party Time invitations to help tell the tale, highlighting the role of prolific partier and lobbyist Tim Rupli.

Rupli’s townhouse is the site of at least 94 parties since 2008, writes investigative reporter Keith Epstein, and “beneficiaries of the fundraisers have included members of the House Financial Services Committee.” Rupli lobbies for the Community Financial Services Association, a trade association representing payday lenders.

The $42 billion-a-year payday lending industry is lobbying hard to avoid new regulation in federal financial reform legislation now being debated in Congress. In addition, payday companies are fighting some 100 pieces of legislation aimed at safeguarding borrowers from high interest rates and from falling into excessive debt that are under consideration in state capitals across the country, reports Epstein.

Money ain’t a thang for Jay-Z and it won’t be for several lawmakers who are hoping to cash in on the rapper’s upcoming concert at the Verizon Center.

Rep. Andre Carson (D, IN-7), Rep. John Larson (D, CT-1), Rep. Sanford Bishop (D, GA-2), Rep. Ed Towns (D, NY-10), and Rep. Yvette Clarke (D, NY-11), will all host fundraisers at the Jay-Z concert on March 3. Of the five, only Clarke and Towns draw logical connections to the rapper, who is described as a “fellow Brooklyn native” in Clarke’s invitation and “Brooklyn’s own” in Towns’ invitation.

Tonight several lobbyists for the energy industry are feting Sen. Lisa Murkowksi (R-Alaska). Murkowski gets more campaign cash from the energy and natural resources sector than any other–more than $1 million over the course of her career. Seventy-three percent of her campaign cash comes from sources out of state.

Host Alex Flint lobbies for the Nuclear Energy Institute, whose PAC has given her $5,000 since 2008. Beverly K. Marshall lobbies for Duke Energy, which is based in North Carolina, and has given the senator $24,050 over the course of her career. David Russell represents a number of clients for Bryan Cave LLP, including Peabody Energy, a coal company based in St. Louis,  Mo. Peabody’s PAC has given her $3,000 since 2008.

Also listed on the invitation are Senators Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) and Mike Enzi (R-Ga.)

Elham Khatami contributed to this post.

Glen Thrush has a great piece in Politico today reporting how the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) is planning 66 fundraisers in 52 days. He got his hands on the weekly fundraising memo, dated Feb. 5, that goes out to lobbyists and donors.

He points out a number interesting tidbits, such as a Washington GOP star studded event for would-be Colorado Senator Jane Norton (you can see the actual invite for this event here) and Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s annual itidarod Alaskan fundraiser, which you can see on our site here.

Some more insights from Thrush below. Keep up the good reporting, and remember to check here at Party Time for these invitations–and to send them our way if you get them:

A $1,000-per-PAC Feb. 9 fundraiser for New Hampshire GOP hopeful Kelly Ayotte, held at Morton’s Steakhouse near K Street, is hosted by veteran lobbyist and GOP fundraiser Jeff Walter. Walter currently represents JPMorgan Chase and once lobbied on behalf of AIG, according to Senate records.

Two weeks later, Ayotte is scheduled to attend a fundraiser hosted by Exxon Mobil lobbyist John Boudreaux.

Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), who is up this year, is hosting a $1,000-$2,500-a-head fundraiser on Feb. 10 at the Caucus Room steakhouse in D.C., an event hosted by the energy-giant Southern Company Employees PAC and the Edison Electric Institute.

Later that day. NRSC Chairman John Cornyn (R-Tex.) will attend a joint fundraiser thrown by a trio of hosts not typically associated with the Tea Party movement: mega-lobbyist Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, the lobbying arm of engineering and construction giant Fluor Corp. and Pfizer pharmaceutical’s PAC.

Also on Feb. 10: David Vitter, who is running for reelection in Louisiana, actually holds a $2,000-per-host fundraiser inside the D.C. offices of Entergy, a utility company that relies heavily on nuclear power. A day later, North Carolina incumbent Richard Burr attends a K Street fundraiser hosted by energy lobbyist Michael Whatley.

This year big draw appears to be South Dakota’s John Thune, who is a guest speaker at at least four of the events.

People often joke about the birth rate going up nine months after a big storm like Washington, DC’s snowmagedden. But what about congressional fundraising? Will we see a dip in campaign contributions for this week, when candidates report them to the U.S. Federal Election Commission all too long from now?

We’ve already received notice that several fundraising events scheduled for this week were canceled. This one, a lunar new year celebration thrown by lobbyist Jocelyn Hong for Rep. Mike Honda (D-Calif.), will be rescheduled. Here’s another, for Rep. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.) Rep. Bob Filner’s event at the Tortilla Coast: also canceled. And here’s yet another, below, which we hadn’t entered into our database yet, for Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-Texas).

Of course there’s nothing to prevent donors from wiring a campaign some money this week. Unless, that is, their power is out and internet connection is down. We’ll follow up later, after campaign finance reports are in, to see if Snowmageddon cost congressional campaigns any money.

The outlet ProPublica reports on its investigation into which lawmakers attended the Super Bowl this year, and how they managed to get their tickets, here. Their basic finding? That most of the congressional partying at such events stays “out of the limelight.” We were happy to partner with ProPublica in this distributed reporting effort, and glad to see them follow up on the Super Bowl fundraising invitations we posted here at Party Time.

Some key obvservations from  ProPublica:

What we learned from this exercise is that even when the venue is America’s most public sports spectacle, politicians largely succeed in remaining invisible, especially when their activities include fundraising. It quickly became apparent that they feel they’re entitled to privacy when they’re accepting campaign money from contributors.

and:

The Super Bowl presents a special opportunity, because tickets to the game aren’t sold to the general public. A small number—1,000 this year—are sold to people who enter and win a lottery the league conducts. The rest are distributed at face value (either $800 or $1,000 this year) by the NFL and its 32 member teams as they see fit, under a shroud of secrecy.

Most fans are forced to get their tickets on Web sites like StubHub, where a ticket for the nosebleed seats sold for about $1,800. Yet lawmakers like Conyers, Meeks and Meek have no trouble getting tickets, not only for their personal use but also to exchange for contributions that are four or five times the face value of the tickets.

ProPublica also points out that even when lawmakers report their expenses many weeks in the future, it’s unlikely we’ll be able to find out how much their campaigns spent on Super Bowl tickets:

At some point, depending on whether they file monthly, quarterly or semi-annually, anyone in Congress who used campaign or leadership PAC money to pay for their tickets will have to file a campaign finance report listing the expenditure. But it might be impossible to find. The line giving the reason for the expense is unlikely to say “to pay for Super Bowl tickets.” More likely, it will say something vague like “fundraising expense.”

Read more at ProPublica.org.

If you visit the motherlode of all campaign finance data websites, the Center for Responsive Politics’ OpenSecrets.org, you can now find Party Time data about congressional fundraisers. Check out this link, for example, to Rep. Steny Hoyer’s (D-Md.) profile page here, which now shows his upcoming fundraising events. We’re really pleased to see the information from Party Time get around the web, where more people will see it. Note: the Sunlight Foundation helps fund the Center for Responsive Politics.)

Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) will be cheering on the Saints at the Super Bowl in Miami–and trolling for campaign cash while he’s at it. This invitation suggests that recipients contact his fundraising firm, the Levatino Group, if “interested in attending,” but tastefully doesn’t say what level of contribution is required.

Propublica, the investigative news site, is asking readers to help with a project to find out which lawmakers are going to the Super Bowl–and who is paying for their tickets:

“Why would we cast our skeptical eyeglass on Congress and the Super Bowl?  Because the event “has long been used to rub shoulders, gain influence and form ties that help congressional candidates raise the approximately $1 billion they spend on their campaigns every two years,” wrote Mike Webb, director of communications, in an email to supporters.

Are leadership PACs paying for these tickets? Are they being provided free from the National Football League? Are the national political parties giving them out to reward big donors? Propublica is seeking to find out by asking for volunteers to call each lawmaker’s office and ask some simple questions. You can find all the details here.

We’ll be keeping an eye on what Propublica finds out, as well as continuing to report on any invitation for fundraisers we receive that feature the Super Bowl.