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Documenting the Political Partying Circuit
From the early hours of the morning until late in the evening, politicians are partying. Sunlight's PARTY TIME can help you find out who is partying, where and when.

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Partytime • POSTED - 05.16.11 BY Patrick Simmons

Send in the clowns? Congressman does comedy for contributions

Aside from Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., there aren’t many professional comedians in Congress. That doesn’t mean that a congressperson won’t try telling the occasional joke in hopes that the punch line will be a campaign contribution.

That’s the plan of Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., who will be holding his “6th Annual Comedy Night” fundraiser tomorrow night. The  annual chuckle-fest will be held at the Flappers Comedy Club in Burbank in the congressman’s home district. The invitation promises that Rep. Schiff himself will take the stage, along with professional comedians and even invitees themselves, if they are brave enough. A check made out to Schiff for Congress to the tune of $250 will get attendees two tickets to the event, while $500 will get them 4 tickets, and $1,000 guarantees 4 VIP seats. As the name of the event implies, this is not the first such event held by Rep. Schiff. Last year, the congressman held the comedy night at the Ice House Comedy Club in Pasadena.

Rep. Schiff isn’t the only one telling jokes to line his campaign chest. Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., is also known to hold annual comedy nights fundraisers. This past March at the Phoenix Park Hotel, Blumenauer held a “comedy event guaranteed to make Speaker Boehner weep…. with laughter.” While the event benefited the Oregon lawmaker, the invitation also mentions that several other Democratic members of Congress would be present. Party Time has received annual invitations to a Blumenauer comedy night since 2009.

At least one Republican member of Congress has also hit the stand up stage in exchange for campaign dollars. Rep. John Sullivan, R-Okla., has held at least two comedy night fundraisers, one in 2009 and one in 2010.

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Partytime • POSTED - 12.22.09 BY Nancy Watzman

2009 Congressional Party Time Facts

Over the course of 2009–the first full calendar year that the Party Time website has been in existence–we’ve collected and posted more than 3,660 invitations to congressional fundraisers and parties. That’s an average of 10 for every day of the year, 70 per week, and more than 300 per month.

We don’t know what portion this represents of all the parties that occur. We do know it’s not all of them. For example, we’ve been successful in collecting weekly lists of parties from three out of four of political party committees–the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), and the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC). However, despite repeated attempts to secure the information, we’re missing the roster from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC). (We’ll keep trying.)

Nevertheless, Party Time represents the most robust collection of these invitations that have ever been collected and made available to the public in a database. So, with a big caveat that these totals reflect what we have in our data, which are incomplete, here’s what we saw in 2009.

1. Top Congressional Partiers. The members of Congress who have the most parties listed in our database are: 1. Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC), with 35; 2. Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), 34; 3. Rep. John Sullivan (R-OK), 33; 4. Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO), with 30; and 5.  Sen. Bob Bennett (R-UT), 29.

2. Will party for others. The lawmakers who appear most often on other candidates’ invitations as a draw for donors looks like a who’s who of the Congressional leadership: 1. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD), with 47; 2. House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH), with 35; 3. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), with 32 (Cornyn is chairman of the NRSC); 4. House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-SC), with 30; and 5. House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA), with 29.

3. Most generous hosts. The lobbyists whose names appear most often on our invitations as hosts are: 1. Dan Gans, Polaris Government Relations, with 29; 2. Jocelyn Hong (Twenty-First Century Group), with 22;  3. Tim Rupli, (Timothy R. Rupli & Associates) with 19 (Also check out all the party’s at Rupli’s Capitol Hill townhouse.); 4. Tony Podesta (Podesta Group), with 14; and Louis Dupart (Normandy Group), with 14. Keep in mind that the names of hosts in our database are not yet standardized, and with that work done, other lobbyists might rise to the top.

4. The month most partied: June. We’ve got 608 invitations to congressional fundraisers in June, the most of any month. The next runner up is March, with 529, and then September, with 446. Fundraising tends to peak in these months because they mark the end of a quarter. Candidates  want to report big numbers to the U.S. Federal Election Commission (FEC) to intimidate any potential challengers.

5. Most popular partying spots. 1. Capitol Hill Club, 439; 2. Johnny’s Half Shell, 229; 3. National Democratic Club Townhouse, 159; 4. Charlie Palmer Steak, 147; and 5. Sonoma Restaurant and Wine Bar, 125. This list looks very similar to last year’s, showing that congressional partiers are creatures of habit. (And convenience–these locations are a hop, skip, or a jump away from their offices on Capitol Hill.)

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Partytime • POSTED - 10.09.09 BY josh

Where’s Rep. Sullivan?: Segway Edition

In a flurry of fall fundraisers, lobbyists are itching to stand out.  One recent event really succeeded. Tuesday night, at least five lobbyists and an unknown number of donors planned to take to the streets with Rep. John Sullivan (R-OK)–on Segways.

Sully's Segways

Lobbyist hosts included Liz Williams and Stephen Aaron, who lobby on behalf of the National Rifle Association, Chris Peace who represents United Technologies, Glenn LeMunyon of the Lemunyon Group, and Colin Chapman of Chapman Capitol Consulting.

Chapman represents Doyon Drilling and the American Trucking Association while LeMunyon represents the Air Transport Services Group. (Sullivan sits on the House Energy and Commerce and the Select Energy Independence and Global Warming committees).

The tour started at conservative mecca, the Capitol Hill Club, and ended where so many other fundraisers do–the Tortilla Coast.

To see clients for lobbyists hosting events click on individuals’ names:Liz Williams, Stephen Aaron, Chris Peace, Glenn LeMunyon, Colin Chapman.

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Partytime • POSTED - 03.26.09 BY Nancy Watzman

More top March congressional partiers here

Following up on yesterday’s post on how Sen Arlen Specter is the top congressional partier this month, with a dozen fundraisers, here are some other lawmakers who stand out for multiple parties this frenzied month:

Rep. Debbie Halvorson (D, IL), with seven parties;

Sen. Jim DeMint (R, SC), with six parties;

Rep. Thad McCotter (R, MI), with six parties;

Rep. John Larson (D, CT), with six parties;

Sen. Mark Souder (R-IN), with five parties;

Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI), with five parties;

Rep. John Sullivan (R-OK), with five parties; and

and Rep. Mike Coffman (R-CO), with five parties.

What’s most striking, however, is how spread out among lawmakers and PACs the fundraising invitations we’ve collected are. Out of 427 invitations collected as of today, 269 are for different people or PACs. So that’s an average of 1.5 parties per person or organization.

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PARTYFINDER™ Hints

Beneficiary: congressional candidate, lawmaker, or entity which collects funds raised at party

Host: person who is hosting party-often, but not always, a registered federal lobbyist

Venue Name: where the party is

Entertainment Type: type of gathering, such as "breakfast," "ski trip," "bowling"

Other Lawmakers Mentioned: lawmakers mentioned on invitation who are used as a draw for the event

Sunlight's Party Time is a project to track parties for members of Congress or congressional candidates that happen all year round in Washington, D.C. and beyond. (read more)

We also post information we receive about parties where members of Congress are expected to participate—such as convention or inaugural parties.

Since we don't hear about all the parties, you can also tell us if you know where the party is and we don't.