You may already know that President Obama does not allow registered lobbyists to bundle campaign donations on his behalf and that he publicly releases the names of his Volunteer Fundraisers. Of course, the secretive Mitt Romney refuses to release the names of those people bundling contributions for him to you people.
Romney wants to have it both ways. He's trying to claim that President Obama's donors are raising money for him in exchange for political favors, while at the same time Romney won't release the names of his donors. How can it be determined whether or not Romney's donors will benefit from Romney policy, if we don't know who his donors are?
There's more than one way to get information, if not directly from the candidate's campaign. According to an L.A. Times article, Romney's bundlers are hiding in plain sight:
Mitt Romney’s campaign purports to have had no luck tracking down information about two lobbyists raising money for his presidential bid.
In campaign finance reports filed Friday with the Federal Election Commission, the Romney campaign left blank the space where it was supposed to list the employers of two of its newest lobbyist bundlers, writing instead “information requested per best efforts.”
But the details were easily found through a quick online search.
Romney's mystery bundlers hiding in plain sight
The
L.A. Times isn't the only newspaper hot on the trail of the names of the bundlers working for Romney.
USA Today has been "reviewing Federal Election Commission data, invitations to 85 Romney fundraising events obtained by the non-partisan Sunlight Foundation, campaign news releases and news accounts" to identify these bundlers that Romney would prefer not to name with a focus on those associated with Bain Capital.
WASHINGTON – Among Mitt Romney's most prolific fundraisers are two dozen current and former employees of Bain Capital and its parent firm who have helped raise at least $4.5 million to help their former colleague defeat President Obama.
The Romney campaign has not disclosed the 26 current and former Bain employees as "bundlers," but USA TODAY has identified them through invitations to fundraisers where they served on the host committee.
(snip)
Romney has not released his own list of bundlers, so USA TODAY has compiled its own list of more than 1,200 from Romney press releases, lobbyist disclosures, fundraiser invitations and other news accounts.
Most of Romney's Bain bundlers are former partners at Bain Capital, the Boston-based private equity firm that Romney says he left in 1999. But the list also includes two current managing directors whose tenure overlapped with Romney's: Steven Barnes and his wife have contributed $151,600 to various committees supporting Romney, and Stephen Zide and his wife have contributed $655,000.
Bain alumni raise $4.5 million for Romney
Another Bain Capital bundler involved in hosting a Fundraiser for Romney in London next week is Dwight Poler, managing director at the European branch of Bain Capital. (See my previous diary:
UK Parliament Fundraising by Bankers Resolution Names Mitt Romney, specifically.)
So many secrets Mitt Romney is trying to keep from you people. So much investigative reporting still to be done.