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.

Senators Mike Crapo (R-ID) and Jim Risch (R-ID) have more in common than a love for their home state. The Idahoan Senators, who have been friends since serving in the state legislature together, both love trapshooting, flyfishing, and even sharing donors.  The longtime friends will be hosting fundraisers in Sun valley and Picabo on August 18th complete with shuttles and coordinated schedules.

Crapo’s “Hook ‘N Bullet” event kicks off at 5:30pm (pricetag: $2,500) with a reception in Ketchum where donors can sign up for horseback riding and fly fishing. Once guests have finished their orientation the party will move to the Dollar Mountain Lodge where they can partake in Risch’s second annual “Rocky Mountain Oyster Feed and Steak BBQ” (pricetag: $250-$1000).

Shuttles will be leaving Ketchum throughout the next day to whisk guests off for fly fishing on the Big Wood River, horseback riding and trap shooting at Silver Springs Ranch, and finally, the Hook ‘n Bullet Western Barbeque at 7:00pm.

Crapo showed his support for Risch for his 2008 race in the old fashioned way, by contributing the maximum of $10,000 via his leadership PAC, the Freedom Fund.

The two senators also shared several big-name corporate PAC and individual donors.  However, of the roughly 2,250 individual contributions to Risch, Crapo and Crapo’s leadership PAC in 2008, there were only a handful of out-of-state individuals who made multiple contributions of at least $1,000 to both Risch and Crapo.

Of note, former Shelby aide Lendell Porterfield–who represents the likes of Kynikos, Prudential and the American Bankers Association (Crapo happens to sit on the Finance and Banking Committees) and former Crapo chief of staff William Hollier. According to CRP data Porterfield contributed $10,600 to Risch, Crapo and Crapo’s PAC in 2008 alone.

Hollier, who has lobbied extensively on behalf of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde (disclosure reports ranging from 2005 to 2009 are available here), contributed at least $4,000 to the two Idahoans in 2008 as well.  The CTGR, who spent roughly $590,000 on lobbying from 2006-2009, have been trying to build a racetrack somewhere in the northwest dating as far back as 2004 (Crapo also happens to sit on the Indian Affairs Committee).