While Congress is out of session GOP Senators from Idaho, Mike Crapo and Jim Risch are extending a helping hand to Rep. Mike Simpson and freshman Rep. Raul Labrador, their counterparts in the House. They sent a letter to donors asking them to sponsor the “Idaho Congressional Gala,” with the proceeds going towards a joint fundraising committee for Simpson and Labrador. The April 29 event will be held at a hotel in Idaho and suggested contributions range from $500 to$2,500.

Spring is here again and it’s time for Rep. Gary Ackerman’s, D-NY, annual “Real Deli Event.” The congressman has planned this celebration of New York deli foods in April or May every year since at least 2008. This year’s event on May 3 promises to be the “WHOLE SCHMEER”, with a spread of food ranging from matzoh ball soup to hard salami. If you want to be the “Maven” of the event, your PAC will have to contribute  $5,000, while a PAC contribution of $2,500 will make you a respectable “Mensch.”

An invitation to another May 3 event is full of lawmakers with ties to the House Agriculture Committee or House Committee on Natural Resources or  both. The event is in honor of Rep. Gregorio Sablan, D-Northern Mariana Islands, at the Capitol Hill townhouse of the lobby shop Patton Boggs. Invitees to the event include Reps. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., the former chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources, and Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn., the ranking member of the Committee on Agriculture.

Another upcoming event that might be attractive to the agriculture industry is the celebration of the 17th anniversary of the special election victory of Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla.

Last week Party Time reported on the lobbying efforts of AT&T in their campaign to gain approval for their proposed merger with T-Mobile. One of the events mentioned is the upcoming May 4 dinner in support of Rep. Dave Camp, R-Calif., the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. The event will be co-hosted by, among others, AT&T’s PAC and lobbyist Gregg Hartley of Cassidy and Associates, who lobbies for both AT&T and T-Mobile.

On the weekend of May 6, Churchill Downs will once again be host to the Kentucky Derby and, this time, Sen. David Vitter, R-La., will also be using it as a fundraiser for his leadership PAC. A contribution of $5,000 will get a pair of donors tickets to the clubhouse level, a dinner with the Senator in downtown Louisville, and two tickets to the winner’s party where donors will be joined by the governor of Kentucky and “other dignified guests.”

Lobbying firm Glover Park Group will be the site of two upcoming fundraisers for Democrats. On May 4, North Carolina Rep. G.K. Butterfield is putting on a “Eastern NC Barbecue Birthday Bash.” A week later the office is honoring Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. at a breakfast in support of his leadership PAC. Hosts for the fundraiser include former Kerry aides Gregg Rothschild of the Glover Park Group, Brian Rice of Verizon and Barry LaSala of Elmendorf Strategies. They also include Bob Crowe of Nelson, Mullins, et al, who co-chairs Kerry’s leadership PAC, according to his bio. Nelson Mullins’ PAC contributed $7,500 to the leadership PAC in the 2009-2010 election cycle. Also hosting is Manny Ortiz of Quinn Gillespie and Associates.

With AT&T and T-Mobile lobbyists already trying to influence Congress on the companies’ recent proposal to merge, many of the lobbyists are also helping members of Congress raise money in Washington.

The proposed deal, which brings together the second and fourth largest wireless carriers in the U.S., raises questions about market competition. Because AT&T is sure to face a tough road towards approval, it is also an opportunity for AT&T—which spent over $15 million lobbying the federal government last year—to flex its juggernaut lobbying operation.

In the next few weeks, AT&T’s PAC has planned to host fundraisers for at least three members of Congress and two of the events are hosted by veteran lobbyist Gregg Hartley of Cassidy and Associates, who lobbies for both AT&T and T-Mobile. Those two events are co-hosted by the PAC for the Assisted Living Federation of America, also represented by Hartley’s firm.

Hartley and AT&T’s PAC are both listed as draws to a fundraiser for Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., tomorrow. The company’s PAC is also hosting a dinner for Rep. Mary Bono Mack, R-Calif., scheduled at the same time. A third event is for Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., in early May.

Since the merger announcement on March 20, AT&T has also snapped up five new lobbyists to work on the merger, including two lobbyists from Peck, Madigan, et al with ties to the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will be holding a hearing to review the merger on May 11. One is a Democratic lobbyist Jeffrey Peck, a former staff director for the Senate Judiciary Committee, and the other is Sean Richardson, a former chief of staff to Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., who sits on the antitrust panel.  The two lobbyists were among the hosts for a Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., fundraiser in January.

AT&T is the second highest donor to members of Congress between 1989 through 2010, at over $46 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, including nearly $4 million last election cycle, which comprises donations from the company’s PAC and individuals connected with the organization.

Last election cycle, the company’s PAC gave the maximum $10,000 donation to Bono Mack and Camp, the new Ways and Means Committee chairman, who is holding a fundraiser hosted by Hartley, according to CRP. Just $3,500 went to Wicker’s campaign pool.

Hartley may be an important commodity among the over 90 lobbyists working on behalf of AT&T last year. As the chief of staff to then-House Majority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo., now a senator, Blunt’s office was in charge of reaching out to K Street, Bloomberg reported in 2006.

Over Twitter messages, Hartley has demonstrated his access to high-level policymakers.

He wrote that, on Jan. 25, he and T-Mobile CEO Phillipp Humm met House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., in his third floor office, which, by the way, has a great view and a roaring fire.

On Mar. 14, he tweeted that Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., came to Cassidy and Associates for a breakfast, where they discussed policy issues such as the budget. Last week, he tweeted about breakfast with Cantor. On March 16, he wrote about dinner with McConnell about a lunch with Wicker.

Hartley could not be reached for comment and is overseas right now.  Wicker and Camp’s offices did not respond to requests for comment and there was no answer at a phone number for Bono Mack’s campaign office.

Thursday’s “beer and burgers” fundraiser for Wicker attempts to raise $1,000 or $2,500 per attendee. The hosts also include two other AT&T lobbyists—former top National Republican Campaign Committee official Dan Mattoon, who has his own firm, and Dan Gans of Polaris Government Relations.

A spokesman for AT&T, Michael Balmoris, declined to comment for this post.

Committee work

The merger will face reviews from the Justice Department and the Federal Communications Commission, which has the power to reject the merger. It will also face scrutiny from the Senate Judiciary Committee, where Peck and Richardson’s experience may come in handy. AT&T and T-Mobile lobbyists, consumer groups, and others have already begun calling the committee, a source said, and the committee has begun examining how the merger would affect competition.

The May 11 hearing, chaired by antitrust panel chairman Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., is called “AT&T/T-Mobile Merger: Is Humpty Dumpty Being Put Back Together Again?”

The House Judiciary Committee will also be holding a hearing. Each chamber’s commerce committees, where Wicker and Bono Mack sit, are also likely to examine the merger. Though each of their committees have not scheduled hearings as of now, House Energy and Commerce chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., and subcommittee chair Greg Walden, R-Ore., released a statement after the merger announcement saying the committee would like to examine the FCC transaction review process, “in light of its dual–and often times conflicting–role to provide both transaction approvals and industry regulations.”

The incoming chair of the influential House Energy and Commerce Committee has received the fundraising help of a long list well-connected lobbyists in the health, energy and telecom sectors, judging by this invitation to an event benefiting his leadership PAC this past summer.

All but a couple of the 30 hosts listed on the invitation to Fred Upton’s, R-Mich., “Friends of Fred Happy Hour” are lobbyists with interests before the committee.

Five of the hosts (Gregg Hartley, Tim McKone, Charlie Black, Daniel Mattoon and Tim McGivern) lobby for AT&T; four lobby for Comcast (Jeff MacKinnon, Susan Hirschmann, Ken Duberstein and Sam Lancaster); and three more (former deputy energy secretary Kyle McSlarrow, MacKinnon and Hirschmann) count the National Communications and Telecommunications Association (NCTA) as a client. All of these groups are key players in the net neutrality debate.

And the list of top contributors to Upton’s leadership PAC for the recent election is littered with the hosts’ clients, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. In addition to the three telecom players listed above, electric power companies Southern Co. and Entergy, both also MacKinnon clients, top the list, along with industrial giant Koch Industries (represented by Brian Henneberry).

MacKinnon and his colleagues at Ryan, Philips, et al are also among the PAC’s biggest benefactors, donating $5,500 in the past two years, according to CRP. The former Joe Barton, R-Texas, aide was rumored to be a candidate for committee staff director before lobbyist Gary Andres was chosen.

Upton has adopted conservative stances on the main policy debates that the committee has its nose on: he has vowed to repeal the “job-killing Obamacare law”; said he opposes the Federal Communications Commission’s efforts to promote net neutrality; and told the National Journal he is “deathly opposed to the carbon tax.”

Energy companies’ messengers are all over the ‘Friends of Fred’ flyer. Two of them work for firms among the most active in lobbying on climate change legislation, according to a report by the Center for Public Integrity. One is Drew Maloney of Ogilvy Relations, the former legislative director to the House GOP Leadership under former Rep. Tom Delay, R-Texas, who represents the Hess Corporation, the Electric Power Supply Association and Chevron. The other is MacKinnon, whose clients include Sunoco and the Edison Electric Institute, the trade association for shareholder-owned electric companies.

Pharmaceutical and insurance companies are also well-represented on the invitation. Former Rep. Thomas Bliley, Jr., R-Va., of Steptoe and Johnson, disclosed lobbying for big health insurer Cigna on “congressional oversight of the healthcare industry” and “issues relating to regulatory reform legislation” this year. Former Tom Delay chief of staff Susan Hirschmann advocates for Bayer, Pfizer and Abbott Labs.

Two former Upton hands — Scott Aliferis and David Woodruff — are also named as hosts. Aliferis, of K&L Gates, lobbies for coal industry giant Peabody Energy and Sapphire Energy, which has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars lobbying this year, in part to get tax credits for algae-based fuel, according to lobbyist disclosures.

Woodruff, Upton’s former press secretary, lobbied this year on renewable energy and regulatory issues for Archer Daniels Midland, which produces ethanol.

And Gary Andres, the Michigan lawmaker recently brought on as committee staff director, should find many allies among Upton’s “friends of Fred.”

As Paul Blumenthal wrote yesterday, this year, Andres represented many of the companies – such as General Motors, FedEx and United Health Group — that have important business before the committee. Five hosts advocate for these companies: Mark Valente promotes United Health Group’s interests; Ken Duberstein and Susan Nelson vouch for GM; and Daniel Mattoon and Charlie Black are paid by FedEx.

Upton was chosen by the House Republican Steering Committee to head the Energy panel last week.

Rep. Jim Matheson’s (D-UT) new chief of staff, former AT&T lobbyist Amy Andryszak, is planning not to attend a party in her honor, according to a report in Roll Call.

Hosts on the event invitation include CTIA (the International Association for the Wireless Telecommunications Industry), the United States Telecom Association and the National Cable and Telecommunications Association. (Unfortunately, we do not have the event invitation in our database.)

Andryszak said she made the decision [not to attend] because of her new role, which she starts Monday. Matheson is a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, which has broad jurisdiction over telecommunications issues.

While the conflict of interest may not be explicit, Andryszak acknowledged that the event might seem questionable:

“This is something put together by my friends, and I think it’s a wonderful gesture that they wanted to host this event for me,” Andryszak said. “Even though this is completely legal and ethical, to avoid any appearance of impropriety, I will not attend this event.”

The Democratic and Republican convention parties are over. I can’t say that I’m sorry. After spending two weeks–the first in Denver, the second in Minneapolis/St. Paul–trying to crash as many corporate and special interest-sponsored parties as I could and blog about them here, I’m in recuperation. Enough with the security guards and their omnipresent earpieces, the black limos and SUVs depositing their politician cargo, the red velvet ropes-and most of all, the constant rejection as I was turned away from yet another party.

That said, I can’t help looking back fondly and blogging some highlights. Party Time documented in our database some 400 parties at both the Democratic and Republican conventions. We’re pretty sure there were more, but we didn’t have inivitations for all of them. There’s no official requirement that these parties be reported anywhere, so our knowledge was limited to what ever information we got from our anonymous lobbyist sources. We also don’t know how much money was spent on these parties. Some of this information may be reported months from now on federal lobbying disclosure forms under ethics laws, but it’s doubtful it will be comprehensive.

We don’t have a full list of sponsors of these parties, either, although we know that the ones we saw-companies such as AT&T, Qwest, and Visa-were also donors to the Democratic and Republican convention host committees. A loophole in campaign finance law allows unlimited contributions to these groups. We don’t know how much they gave yet-those reports aren’t due until October.

Certainly what we saw in Denver and Minneapolis/St Paul was that the parties continued, despite new restrictions in ethics law in effect for the first time this year. Members of Congress made merry with lobbyists, even if the rules were a bit different. Here are the highlights.

Best slogan. “Vote for real estate!” read the placards free for the taking at a party thrown by travel industry associations at the St. Paul airport. (We’re still trying to figure out what that means.) We got a photo of Minnesota Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty doing photo ops with lobbyist attendees. The same list of sponsors had thrown a party at the Democratic convention.

Best “toothpick exemption” food: We saw caesar salad in a shot glass at a reception thrown by the lobbying firm Akin, Gump for senior council Vernon Jordan attended by several members of Congress and a long list of corporate lobbyists. “You’ll notice the absence of forks,” said Jordan, in the speech he gave as part of the reception. “I must admonish you not to try to eat the food with spoons served with the coffee.” That got a chuckle. Jordan was referring to an exemption under ethics laws that allows members of Congress and senior staff to attend receptions where finger food is served.

Best no show: In Denver, a reception to honor the freshmen class sponsored by U.S. Bank and Visa appeared to be missing a crucial ingredient: members of Congress. The party had gotten a lot of attention in the press-perhaps it was all the sunlight that scared the lawmakers away.

Most creative application of ethics law: The House ethics committee ruled that members of Congress and staff were required to pay the face value for tickets to a Kanye West concert in Denver sponsored by the Recording Industry Association of America, the One Campaign, and a long list of corporate sponsors. But the Senate ethics committee said the same event was a “widely attended event” under the ethics law and therefore it was ok for Senators and Senate staffers to go free.

Best party-attendee perk. These luxury porta-potties were reserved for guests at a private party in Denver. You had to show an ID before you could use them.

Best definition of a “customer”: A Qwest spokeswoman explained we couldn’t go in a party sponsored by Qwest CEO Ed Mueller at the Denver Art Museum’s Pallettes restaurant because it was a “private event.” When we asked why Qwest was a donor to both the Democratic and Republican conventions, she explained that Qwest believed Democrats and Republican convention attendees alike were their “customers.” I mentioned that as a Denver resident I was a Qwest customer myself-the company provides my telephone and DSL service-but that still didn’t get me in.

Party Time doesn’t end now that the convention parties are over. In our database we have thousands of invitations to fundraisers and members of Congress that are ready for scrutiny. There seems to be plenty of partying going on in September, not a surprise as congressional candidates will be reporting their third-quarter fundraising totals to the U.S. Federal Election Commission on September 30. Please keep visiting!

All day there have been private parties at Brit’s Pub here in Minneapolis. I know because I’ve been holed up for much of that time working at a Caribou Coffee next door, where there is a free wireless connection. The velvet rope is out, the security guards are stationed, and there’s a sign that says “private” out front. Earlier today one of the barristas said that he’d seen Laura Bush go inside.

According to our database, most of these events appear to be delegation parties sponsored by AT&T. A few minutes ago I walked over and asked if I could enter–there’s a party right now for the Georgia delegation. No, I was told–this is a private party, and “not even press are allowed.” I can’t have any way of knowing what they are doing in there, but it certainly seems all the worse that it’s so hush hush.

In the “why not play some golf with lobbyists while we’re all here,” department, Rep. Joe Baca (D-CA) played golf today with supporters at Colorado’s Buffalo Run Golf Course.

One of the hosts was Lyndon Boozer, a lobbyist for AT&T. Boozer and Baca are avid golf players. Golf Digest included them both in its 2008 list of the top 200 “senators, representatives, appointed officials, lobbyists and other power brokers [representing] a Washington golf scene still vibrant despite post-Abramoff limits on golf as entertainment.” (Baca likes to play golf while fundraising, thus this April fundraiser at a Miami golf resort.)

In 2006, Baca was one of 26 House Democrats who sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission “praising AT&T for its commitment” to win approval for the AT&T – Bellsouth merger, according to Technology Daily.

The group was scheduled to move on to a reception at the Oceanaire Seafood Room in downtown Denver from 5 to 7:30 p.m., ending just in time for folks to scoot over to the Blue Dog reception – Baca is a blue dog –at 8:00 pm sponsored in part by—AT&T.