At least six members of Congress, all Democrats, plan to relive the 70s and also raise some serious 2010 campaign cash at the Carole King and James Taylor Troubadour Reunion Tour at the Verizon Center in Washington tonight.

The Troubadour Reunion Tour is billed as the 40th anniversary of King and Taylor’s first performance together in 1970 at the folk-music-mecca, the Troubadour nightclub, in West Hollywood, Calif.

Lawmakers who are planning fundraisers at this event include:

Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md., who is asking guests to pay $1,000 for individuals and $1,500 for political action committees.

Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., who is also hosting a reception at the Verizon Center an hour before the concert. Tickets are $2,500 per political action committee and $2,400 per individual.

Rep. John Hall, D-N.Y., is advertising the “best seats in the house” for the concert. His tickets are $2,500 per ticket for seats to the right of the stage “designed to recreate the intimacy of the vintage Troubadour club” and offers the chance to attend a private pre-concert sound check. Guests can also pay $1,000 for premium seats, which are close row seats right by the stage.

Rep. Loretta Sanchez, D-Calif., lists her position as the Chair of the Terrorism, Unconventional Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee of the House Armed Serves Committee, and a member of the Homeland Security and Joint Economic Committees. Sanchez’ tickets to the event are $1,000 for individuals and $2,500 for political action committees.

Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., writes on his invite to the concert: “I hope you will be able to join me for a special concert event featuring Carol [sic] King and James Taylor tomorrow” and is asking for contributions of $2,500.

Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., appears to have used the same outreach service as Rep. Engel because her invite looked the same as his, complete with the identical typo of Carole King’s name. DeGette is also asking for contributions of $2,500. Her invite lists an earlier date of the concert of June 8th, but it was changed to tonight.

Tonight’s concert, which will include original support band from The Troubadour, is estimated to be the best selling ticket event in the world, based on sales from the secondary ticket exchange, the TicketNetwork Exchange.

Featured songs might include Smiling Face, Up on the Roof, and maybe one the lawmakers will like:  Where You Lead.

Louis Dupart, a lobbyist who has successfully sought earmarks from  Colorado politicians, will host a fundraising breakfast on Feb. 24 for Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., the second event for a Colorado lawmaker he’s scheduled this month.The event occurs in the middle of earmark  season — the time of year when members of Congress decide on their funding requests for the next fiscal year and submit them to the two Appropriations Committees. House requests have to be submitted by March 19.

Dupart and his colleagues at The Normandy Group, a Washington, D.C.-based lobbying firm that ranks appropriations and federal legislative issues among its specialties, have hosted or are scheduled to host at least nine fundraisers for Colorado politicians, including some who have requested earmarks for projects benefiting the firm’s clients.

In a Feb. 25, 2009 press release, Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.) — who was the beneficiary of a fundraiser hosted by Dupart on September 30, 2009 — noted that he’d secured $1,425,000 in funding for an interchange at Interstate 225 and Colfax Ave for the 2009 fiscal year. That’s the same interchange that the Aurora Economic Development Council (AEDC), a nonprofit public-private partnership made up of businesses and officials from the city of Aurora, lists as a priority for its federal lobbying. The Normandy Group, which has represented the AEDC since May 2008, sought “federal funding for I-225 interchange” for its client, according to lobbying disclosure reports.

The project was aimed at relieving additional traffic created by a project that the AEDC had pushed — a new health care complex called the Fitzsimons/Anschutz Medical campus. The Normandy Group also represents the developer of the massive 184 acre bioscience park,
Forest City Enterprises. Normandy’s lobbyists tracked highway spending in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, better known as the stimulus bill, and lobbied on funding for transportation projects in other appropriations bills for the developer, according to 2009 lobbying disclosure reports.
Several members of the Colorado delegation have sought funding for the I-225 project. In addition to Perlmutter, who included another request for funding for the project in his fiscal year 2010 earmark requests, former Sen. Ken Salazar, now Interior Secretary, and former Sen. Wayne Allard requested funding for the project. Dupart hosted at least two fundraisers for Salazar, on June 29, 2006, and March 13, 2008. In addition, the stimulus bill included funding for early phases of the project.
In an undated press release from the University of Colorado, which will operate several facilities at the new medical campus, Wendy Mitchell, president and CEO of the Aurora Economic Development Council, cited “coordination between Colorado’s Congressional Delegation and the Anschutz/Fitzsimons Stakeholders Group…as making the funding a reality.” In August 2009, the AEDC honored all the members of the Colorado congressional delegation with an “A-List Leadership Award,” presented by Colorado Governor Bill Ritter and President and CEO of the Aurora Economic Development Council Wendy Mitchell.

Overall, the AEDC has reported spending $60,000 for the Normandy Group’s services since 2008, and Forest City Enterprises, $540,000, although the developer’s interests included projects across many states.
When asked for comment by the Sunlight Foundation, AEDC Vice President Bryan Blakely said the Normandy Group primarily helped by organizing meetings and that while the group’s assistance was beneficial, they do not wholly attribute the success of the construction project to its efforts.

Dupart was scheduled to host a fundraiser for Colorado freshman Democrat Rep. Betsy Markey on Feb. 11. The after-effects of a blizzard shut down much of Washington that day. Louis Dupart did not return calls asking for comment or if the event took place; neither did Rep. Markey’s office.
Follow links to view invitations to parties hosted by Louis Dupart and other Normandy Group lobbyists for Colorado politicians:

• Sen. Ken Salazar, 6/29/2006, host: Louis Dupart, breakfast, Bistro Bis.
• Sen. Ken Salazar, 3/13/2008, host: Louis Dupart, breakfast, Bistro Bis.
• Rep. (now Sen.) Mark Udall, host: Michael Rose, 4/24/2008, breakfast, Bistro Bis.
• Rep. Diana DeGette, host: Louis Dupart, 7/16/2008, breakfast, Bistro Bis.
• Rep. Diana DeGette, host: Louis Dupart, 9/23/2008, breakfast, Bistro Bis.
• Rep. Ed Perlmutter, host: Louis Dupart, 9/30/2009, breakfast, Art and Soul.
• Rep. John Salazar, host: Louis Dupart, 12/3/2009, breakfast, Bistro Bis.
• Rep. Betsy Markey, host: Louis Dupart, 2/11/2010, breakfast, Bistro Bis.
• Sen. Michael Bennet, host: Louis Dupart, 2/24/2010, breakfast, Bistro Bis.

The snow is flying out west, where several lawmakers plan this week to fundraise while skiing:

• Rep. Ed Whitfield, Republican of Kentucky, will be welcoming donors to Vail on January 7-8; cost is $2,500 per PAC.
• Also in Vail on January 8 will be Democrat Rep. Diana Degette, for her annual fundraising event there. (Here’s last year’s invite.) She’s asking $5,000 per PAC, $2,400 per individual donor.
• In Park City, Utah this weekend is Republican Sen. Bob Bennett, who also hosts an annual ski fundraising event. He wants $5,000 for a “PAC sponsor,” $3,000 for a PAC, and $2,000 for an individual.

If an email could shout, the one I received this morning from a vacation lodging company would do it. “The snow is falling! Aspen/Snowmass has already received 2 feet of snow and more is on the way.” Yes, this is the time of year when we Denverites start to fantasize about how much snow is falling where and how we can manage to dodge traffic on I-70 to get to the mountains and start skiing on it.

And according to our Party Time database, at least five lawmakers have dreams of white fluffy stuff too–although to attend you or your PAC would have to chip in anywhere from $2,300 to $5,000 attend.

Here in Colorado, my own representative Colorado Democrat Rep. Diana Degette is planning a Vail ski weekend from Jan. 2 through Jan. 5.  The following week, Jan. 8 -11, Rep. Carolyn B Maloney (D-NY) is also planning a Vail get away. The same weekend, Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) is planning to ski in nearby Beaver Creek in an event to benefit his leadership PAC, First State PAC.

Not that everybody skis in Colorado. Over in Idaho there are some big hills too. Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID) is planning his annual ski fest in Sun Valley for February 6 – 8. And then there’s of course Alaska. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) plans to celebrate the 37th Iditarod with some skiing at the Aleyeska ski resort.

Perhaps there are other skiing fundraising events planned that we don’t know about. If you have heard about them, please send the information our way.