House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Charles Rangel, under scrutiny for possible ethics violations, has been having trouble raising money lately, reports the New York Times. Next week he’ll be trying with a private dinner hosted by several lobbyists who represent clients with interests befor his committee–and who show up frequently in our Party Time database.

John Raffaelli, a long-time tax lobbyist, in 2007 founded the lobbying firm Capitol Council LLC. His clients include the American Bankers Association, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, and Pharmaceutical Researchers and Manufacturers of America. Shannon Finley, who formerly worked for Sen. Max Baucus, is also a lobbyist for the firm, as is David Jones, who used to work as Rangel’s fundraiser. The remaining host, Bernie McKay, is a lobbyist for Intuit.

Also of note about the invitation: “individual hosts” are asked to “write or raise” $2,500, which is higher than the federal individual limit of $2,400. It will be interesting to see if any of these hosts show up later on “bundling” reports filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

On a soggy Minneapolis morning, we ventured into an “issue briefing” continental breakfast sponsored by the pharmaceutical industry at the Hotel Ivy, hosted by Astellas, Abbott, Johnson & Johnson, and Novartis. It was a rather intimate gathering of perhaps about 20 people.

The food: coffee, danish, slices of honeydew, grapes, and other continental breakfast fare.

At the podium: Phrma lobbyists, checking their blackberries. We saw: Brian Burns of Johnson and Johnson; Jim Elkin, of Novartis; and Michael Ruggiero, of Astellas.

We were just settling in with our cup of decaf coffee for the issue briefing itself, when a party representative asked us to leave. “This is a private event,” she said. As we headed for the door, we believe we heard the name of Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) mentioned, as in, “We’re going to start without Rep. Rogers.” It would be a logical choice of speakers, as Rogers’ top contributing industry is the pharmaceutical industry.

Today began with Party Time being snubbed yet again, when the gatekeepers pleasantly but firmly turning me  and Gabriela Schneider, the Sunlight Foundation’s communications director, away from the brunch party at the Denver Aquarium thrown by former member of Congress Billy Tauzin in his role as president and CEO of PhRMA.

The pharmaceutical industry, of course, contributes heavily to congressional candidates–$18 million in the 2008 election cycle alone, 50 percent to Democrats, 50 percent to Republicans–and spends even more on lobbying.

My unpopularity continued throughout the day as I chased down a few leads that went, well, nowhere. Wrong addresses, that sort of thing.

The only consolation we have here at Party Time is that our work is at least popular with the press and in the blogsophere. Many reporters and bloggers are writing about the private party scene here in Denver and at the GOP convention next week in Minneapolis/St. Paul and citing this website. Look for a roundup later.