A trio of tax lobbyists who together raise money for both Democrats and Republicans are scheduled to fete Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., next Wednesday. Menendez, chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) is not up for reelection himself until 2012, but with the balance of the Senate up in the air, he’s busy raising cash for other candidates. Menendez is also a member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee.

The three lobbyists– Lindsay Hooper, Jon Talisman, and Joe Mikrut–work for Capitol Tax Partners, a tax lobbying firm whose website boasts that the firm’s principals “have more than 100 years of experience in senior positions with the congressional tax-writing committees and the United States Treasury Department, and many years of experience representing private sector clients regarding tax matters before Congress, Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service.”

Last year, the trio  hosted a fundraiser for Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y., formerly chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. The firm’s offices was also listed as the site of a party last year for Rep. Sander Levin, D-Mich., who earlier this year took the helm of the House Ways and Means Committee.

Hooper, who once served as a senior GOP staffer for the Senate Finance Committee, has also lent his name to fundraisers for Republicans such as Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, Rep. David Camp, R-Mich., and Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va.

The lobbyists did not return a call for comment.

It may be a different crowd than Rep. Sander Levin, D-Mich., used to get at a fundraiser this weekend for the leadership PAC, GOAL PAC, at the historic Grand Hotel on Michigan’s Mackinac Island. Since taking the helm of the House Ways and Means Committee in March when Rep. Charlie Rangel, D, N.Y., stepped down while facing an ethics investigation, the congressman has been raking in campaign cash like never before and has seen a shift in the industry groups that are giving him campaign cash.

In just three months, there has been a steep spike in donations coming in for Levin — a windfall of more than $664,000 in the second quarter of 2010 compared to about $101,000 in 2008 and only $50,000 in 2006, according to data from the Federal Election Commission.

Also, there is a change in the industries that are contributing to him. He has collected more money from the financial, insurance, and real estate sector than from labor unions for the very first time since such data are available from the Center for Responsive Politics, and is enjoying new donations from lobbying firms with tax practices. (See chart below)

With several months of the 2010 election cycle to go, Levin has already collected $1.9 million for his campaign committee and leadership PAC combined, more than double the  $754,000 he raised in the entire 2008 cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. While labor unions still figure prominently among his top 100 donors, new names are appearing on this cycle’s list of top donors that have not been there before, including prominent lobbying firms with thriving tax  practices such as Brownstein Hyatt, Capitol Counsel, Hogan & Hartson, and Patton Boggs.

Interestingly, donors from the firms started contributing last year, before Levin picked up the gavel at the House Ways and Means Committee, but when his name was being mentioned as Rangel’s likely successor. Norman Brownstein, one of Brownstein Hyatt’s founding partners, bundled $19,650 to the Congressman during the third quarter of 2oo9. A search of federal contributions shows that several of the firm’s employees made contributions to Levin toward the end of September. The Denver-based firm, which also counts Steven Farber (who organized the 2008 Democratic convention) represents a long list of corporate clients; the firm’s largest lobbying client, Apollo Advisors, which it represents on tax issues, also shows up as a top donor to Levin this election cycle.

John D. Raffaelli, a lobbyist for Capitol Counsel and frequent host of congressional fundraisers, lent his name to this July 2009 fundraiser for the congressman at Johnny’s Half Shell. The firm is the source of $4,000 for the congressman in the 2010 election cycle so far, including a total of $1,750 contributed by Raffaelli himself. The lobbyist represents nearly four dozen clients, including the Edison Electric Institute, Home Depot, and the Real Estate Roundtable.

Levin has been spreading around his new found political wealth, with most of his leadership PAC expenditures going to colleagues. He has been focusing his contributions on three Democratic groups, according to this July report in Politco: junior lawmakers in tight races; Michigan candidates; and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Built in 1887, the Grand Hotel is a popular spot for political events, particularly for the Michigan delegation–ironically, given the state’s main industry, the island permits no cars. According to federal campaign spending data, among the politicians to shell out money to the hotel recently are Michiganers Bart Stupak (D), Fred Upton (R), Dave Camp (R), and John Dingell (D). Sander Levin was there in June along with the rest of the delegation for the annual Detroit Regional Chamber Mackinac Policy Conference. Weekend rates start at $470 per night, according to the hotel’s website.

Emails and phone calls to lobbyists and Rep. Levin’s campaign office were not returned by the time of this posting.

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Today’s private dinner for embattled Rep. Charlie Rangel, as blogged  here.

Even as the health care debate continues in the Senate, the leadership is busy raising money.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid hosts a “holiday reception” on Wednesday at the Hotel George.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s leadership PAC, the Bluegrass Committee holds a  breakfast fundraiser on Thursday hosted by Peter Blocklin, who lobbies for the American Bankers Association, David Hoppe, a lobbyist for Quinn Gillespie & Associates, and Robert Dibblee, a lobbyist for the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts. (We’ve blogged about Dibblee before.)

As the members of the House Ways and Means Committee prepare to take up the health care reform debate next month, they are busy fundraising from health care lobbyists representing such companies as Eli Lilly, the American Hospital Association, and Johnson & Johnson.

Party Time has identified at least 124 fundraising events in 2009 alone for members of this powerful committee. Most invitations do not contain information about hosts or who might be attending. However, those that do provide a tantalizing glimpse of what the guest lists are like at these private events.

For example:

• Using the same watermark background of an image of the Capitol, a gaggle of nine lobbyists hosted one event for Chairman Rangel (a Valentine’s day bash breakfast on February 12) and is planning another on June 10 for Rep. Richard Neal, a Democrat from Massachusetts (reception and dinner). All but one of these hosts lobby for Ernst & Young–Nick Giordano, LaBrenda Garrett-Nelson, Francis Grab Dave Koshgarian, Dick Meltzer, Jeff Petrich, Bobby Rozen, and Holly Bode–where they represent such clients as Aetna Inc., Johnson & Johnson, and Health Care Service Corp. The ninth, Tom Jolly, includes AFLAC Inc. among his clients. Rangel has collected $2.3 million in campaign contributions over the course of his congressional career from the health care sector. Neal has gotten more than $500,000.
  
• On April 22, lobbyists representing major drug companies were among the hosts of a dinner at Arcadiana for Rep. Paul Ryan, a Republican from Wisconsin. Rebecca Anderson, Chris Hatcher, and Susan Hirshmann all lobby for Wiliams & Jensen, where they represent such clients as Abbott Laboratories, AstraZeneca Inc., Novartis, Pfizer, and Wyeth. Ryan has collected more than $155,000 from the pharmaceutical industry during his years in Congress.
• Reps. Allyson Schwartz, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, and John Yarmuth, a Democrat from Kentucky, have both been wined and dined this year by Fred Graefe and Rita Norton. Graefe represents a host of health care interests, including Invacare Corp., AmerisourceBergen Corp, and the Federation of American Hospitals. Norton lobbies for AmerisourceBergen Corp. Schwartz has collected more than $857,000 in campaign contributions from health care interests for her elections; Yarmuth, more than $257,000.

As we noted in our first post last week on parties for members of key health care committees, on parties for members of the Senate Finance Committee, it is nearly impossible to find out who attends these fundraising events. Lawmakers report their campaign contributions only once every three months. Even then, while it is possible to look for clusters of contributions around particular dates, there’s no way definitively to link contributions to a particular event unless one confirms it with the donor or campaign. Meanwhile, new Federal Election Commission rules on disclosing “bundles” of contributions are so weak that only one bundler disclosed by the first deadline.

[Thanks to Party Time intern Josh Heath for help researching this post.]

Here are the parties for members of the House Ways & Means Committee: