The next two weeks will see several events benefiting members of Congress who sit on the finance and banking committees of the House and Senate. These events are scheduled to be hosted by organizations and lobbyists representing the two industries with some of them are registered to lobby on bills pending before these committees.

The National Association of Realtors will be hosting a “Meet & Greet Lunch” for Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Mich., on June 3 at their Washington offices. The event will be the third such event for the NAR in a month. On May 5 the realtors held a meet and greet for Rep. Robert Dold, R-Ill., and for Rep. Michael Grimm, R-N.Y., on May 26. All three Republicans are freshmen and all are members of the House Financial Services Committee. Although the invitations to these particular events don’t ask for contributions, the NAR has donated to two of the three congressmen in the 2010 campaign season, and one of those also received a contribution from the organization this year. Rep. Huizenga received $10,000 from the NAR in 2010, while Rep. Dold received $5,000 in 2010 and $1,000 this year. According to House lobbying disclosure records, the NAR has lobbied on four bills this year co-sponsored by the three Republicans, although not necessarily in support of those bills.

On the Senate side of things, Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs committee member Sen. David Vitter, R-La., will be honored at an event on June 8 hosted by a couple of banking lobbyists. On the same night that his colleague Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., is holding a low dollar “10th Annual Crawfish Fest,” Sen. Vitter will be the beneficiary of a dinner at the Rupli Townhouse where the donations will range from $2,500 to $5,000. The event will be hosted by Doyle Bartlett, Camden Fine & Tim Rupli. Fine is a lobbyist for the Independent Community Bankers, an organization that has donated thousands to the Vitter campaign over the last seven years, most recently in 2009.

Recent lobbying reports show that Rupli’s lobbying firm which works on behalf of Network Prepaid Card Association, Independent Community Bankers, and the Meta Financial Group lobbied on S. 575, the “Debt Interchange Fee Study Act of 2011,” which has been referred to Vitter’s committee.

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.

Elham Khatami co-authored this report.

Since the beginning of 2010 through April, at least ten senators who sit on the Banking and Agriculture Committees are listed as beneficiaries of fundraisers hosted by lobbyists who have pressed Congress on financial reform issues. Both committees have recently worked on a bill to overhaul the financial regulatory system, which will likely be debated on the Senate floor next week.

According to Sunlight Foundation’s Party Time database, the fundraisers ranged from a “pre-St.Patrick’s Day” reception for Banking Committee member Jon Tester, D-Mont., on March 16 that asked for $100 to $1,000 in contributions, to a breakfast for Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, of the Agriculture Committee on March 10 that asked for contributions ranging from $500 to $2,000. Grassley’s breakfast also featured special guest, Banking Committee member Robert Bennett, R-Utah.

Tester’s fundraiser was hosted by 28 people, at least two of whom have disclosed lobbying on financial reform this year: Mitchell Feuer who represents Goldman Sachs, the Citigroup Management Corporation, Barclays PLC, Genworth Financial, Visa U.S.A., the Appraisal Institute, FX Alliance LLC, the Farm Credit Council and the LCH.Clearnet Group, and Thompson Reuters; and Shannon Finley who represents the Edison Electric Institute, Rent A Center and the Home Depot.

The Grassley breakfast was hosted by two JP Morgan Chase & Co. lobbyists, Nathan Gatten and Steve Patterson. Both were listed on a lobbying disclosure form for the first quarter of 2010; the company reported spending $1.5 million to raise issues on Capitol Hill related to credit card transaction fees, the modification of home mortgage loans, the regulatory oversight of bonds, short-selling practices, and use of derivatives to hedge risk.

In addition to raising money for the beneficiaries, the lobbyists hosting the events also had a chance for face time with other influential lawmakers. In fact, at a fundraiser today, three powerful members of the agriculture committee–Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa., are listed as honorary hosts of a noon fundraiser for the Sen. George LeMieux’s, R-Fla, Protect America’s Future Political Action Committee.

The event also includes two hosts: Scott Reed who represents the Ben Barnes Group, a Texas state lobbying shop run by an individual who the Sunlight Reporting Group previously identified as the nation’s largest donor and bundler of campaign contributions at the federal level, and Kirsten Chadwick who represents the American Insurance Association, the Ford Motor Company, Mutual of Omaha, the Retail Industry Leaders Association, the Business Roundtable, and UnitedHealth Group. Both Reed and Chadwick, who was once a special assistant to President George W. Bush, have lobbied Congress in the first quarter of 2010 on financial reform issues.

The invitation to LeMieux’s fundraiser asks for a contribution of $2,500 for a PAC host, $1,000 for an individual host, $1,000 for a PAC and $250 for an individual for the “reception-style luncheon” at the National Republican Senatorial Committee to raise money for the PAC which “supports candidates who embody the values of fiscal conservatism, smaller government and strong national security.”

We contacted Sens. McConnell, Cornyn, and Grassley for comment. Sen. Cornyn’s spokesman said that the lunch was a National Republican Senatorial Committee event and referred us to that office for a comment. The spokesperson did add that the senator was in a budget mark up all day and that it was unclear if he would be present at the event.

Asked for comment about the nature of Grassley’s attendance at the fundraiser, Jill Kozeny, Sen. Grassley’s Communications Director, said “Senator Grassley attends events, like this one, to raise campaign funds for Republicans. His participation is transparent. For himself, he accepts donations that are legal and have no strings attached.”

We also staked out the building where the fundraiser was held, but didn’t see any of the senators come in or out. Some members of Congress have canceled fundraisers hosted by financial industry lobbyists and firms.

Here is a larger list of recent fundraisers for senators Party Time has found that were or will include financial reform lobbyists:

* Bob Bennett, R-Utah., Banking Committee, March 4 fundraiser, Contribution Information: $500-$2,000. Lobbyists listed: Ray Cole, David Lugar.

* Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., Agriculture Committee, March 3 fundraiser; February 24 fundraiser, Contribution Information: $250-$5,000. Lobbyists listed: Gordon Taylor; David Jones.

* Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, Agriculture Committee, March 10 fundraiser, Contribution Information: $500-$2,000. Lobbyists listed: Nate Gatten, Steve Patterson.

* Mike Johanns, R-Neb., Banking and Agriculture Committees. Upcoming April 29 fundraiser, Contribution Information: $1,000-$1,500. Lobbyists listed: Charles Symington.

* Robert Menendez, D-N.J., Banking Committee, March 3 fundraiser, Contribution Information: $500-$2,500. Lobbyists listed: John D. Raffaelli, David Jones, Shannon Finley, Jim Gould.

* Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., Banking Committee. March 17 fundraiser, Contribution Information: $1,000-$5,000. Lobbyists listed: Tony Podesta.

* Richard Shelby, R-Ala., Ranking member Banking Committee, March 11 fundraiser, Contribution Information: $1,000-$2,000. Lobbyists listed: Dan Crowley, James Walsh, Slade Gorton.

* Jon Tester, D-Mont., Banking Committee, March 16 fundraiser, Contribution Information: $100-$1,000. Lobbyists listed: Mitchell Feuer, Shannon Finley.

* John Thune, R-S.D., Agriculture Committee, February 23 fundraiser, Contribution Information: $1,000. Lobbyists listed: hosted at VISA offices. Lobbyist Listed: Tony Podesta.

* David Vitter, R-La., Banking Committee, March 11 fundraiser; March 10 fundraiser; Feb 23 fundraiser. Contribution Information: $1,000-$2,000. Lobbyists listed: Ray Cole, Kirk Blalock, Dan Gans, Rodney Hoppe.

Here’s how you can do what we did to find out if your lawmaker has met with lobbyists working on financial reform:

1. Search the Party Time database for your lawmaker for any recent invitations in 2010.

2. Open the PDF of the invitation and see if any “hosts” or “co-hosts” are listed. Not all hosts are registered lobbyists, but an awful lot are.

3. Search the House Lobbying Disclosure database for names that could be lobbyists. We used the tiered search to better refine what we were looking for. First we selected “Lobbyist Name” and typed in the names we were looking for (you have to enter them Last Name, First Name). In the second search bar we selected “Filing Year” 2010 and in the third search bar we selected “Issue Code” Banking. We’ll follow up with more searches in the days to come.

Unfortunately invitations in the Party Time database only represent a portion of the fundraising events that take place in Washington D.C. The database consists largely of events sent to us by anonymous sources, where we then strip off all possible identifying information. If you know of a fundraiser in D.C. or in your state, please consider uploading it to our anonymous upload system.

From this report, it appears that the GOP firmament is lining up behind Arkansas Senate candidate Gilbert Baker, who is running in a hotly contested GOP primary. This is despite a promise from Sen. John Cornyn, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee (NRSC) that the party would not get involved in primaries.

The AP got hold of  a fundraising invitation (not in our database yet) for November 19 at NRSC headquarters, that shows Cornyn as a host of the event, along with Senators Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, and David Vitter of Louisiana.

An NRSC spokesman told The Atlantic’s Marc Ambinder that Cornyn is participating in the event in his personal capacity as a senator, not as chairman.

As the 2010 elections heat up, it will be interesting to see how fundraising invitations offer clues to other contested primary races, such as the one in my neighborhood pitting incumbent Sen. Michael Bennet against challenger Andrew Romonoff, as well as the battle between Sen. Arlen Specter and Joe Sestek in Pennsylvania.

(hat tip to Micah Sifry)

If you’re still in town, there’s a relatively cheap opportunity to schmooze chiefs of staff for several powerful GOP senators tomorrow at a “Dog Days of Summer Cookout” benefiting the National Republican Senatorial Committee’s offices.

The cost is just $100 per individual–a bargain compared to most fundraisers we document here at Party Time–and the attire is casual.

The chief-of-staff lineup includes Jackie Cottrell, who works for Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS); Rick Dearborn, for Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL); Beth Jafari, for Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX); Billy Piper, for Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-TX); T.A. Hawks,  for Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS); Kyle Ruckert, for Sen. David Vitter (R-LA); Michael Schwartz, for Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK); Ryan Thompson, for Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK); David Young, for Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA); and Matt Zabel, for Sen. John Thune (R-SD).