Political News: Lobbyist Reports Show $181,000 for McCain

By ROBERT PEAR and RON NIXON

WASHINGTON — Registered lobbyists have donated large amounts of money to Senator John McCain’s presidential campaign, even as he denounces their profession. But Democratic candidates for Congress have also raised prodigious sums from lobbyists, outdoing the Republicans, according to reports filed for the first time under a new ethics law.

Senator Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, says he does not want money from lobbyists, but a few modest contributions have slipped through. Health care, education, environmental and human rights lobbyists have given to Mr. Obama.

In total, lobbyists and trade groups have reported giving about $10.4 million to presidential and Congressional candidates in the first half of this year.

So far, Mr. McCain, who has locked up the Republican presidential nomination, has received more than $181,600 from lobbyists and trade groups, while Mr. Obama has received just over $6,000. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, who ended her bid for the presidency in June, got more than $87,000.

The gifts are disclosed in “lobbying contribution reports” filed with Congress under the ethics law, which was adopted last year in response to scandals involving the lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Under the law, lobbyists must itemize their contributions to political candidates and committees, presidential libraries and events honoring members of Congress. Lobbyists face criminal penalties for failure to comply with the disclosure requirements.

Employees at Republican lobbying firms like Fierce, Isakowitz & Blalock have made many contributions to Mr. McCain and other Republican lawmakers, including the Senate and House minority leaders and the top Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Some lobbyists chafe at being asked for money by the McCain campaign while he disparages lobbyists as agents of “big-moneyed special interests.” But they know that such criticism is a staple of politics.

“We are 100 percent behind McCain,” said Kathryn Braden Huffard, a lobbyist at Fierce, Isakowitz, whose clients include Fannie Mae, the mortgage giant. “In the wake of the Abramoff affair, it seems, there has to be a villain. But Senator McCain understands that many lobbyists are smart people who have experience on the issues.”

With just days remaining before the July 31 deadline for reports, lobbyists have disclosed contributions of $4.7 million to Democrats and $3.3 million to Republicans.

Information in some filings was incomplete, so the political affiliation of some recipients could not be readily determined. In addition, some money went to political action committees that focus on specific issues and support candidates of both parties.

Lobbyists gave $181,500 to the campaign committee for Senate Democrats, nearly three times the amount reported in donations to the Senate Republican committee. Lobbyists have reported $108,000 in contributions to the campaign committee for House Democrats, about 20 percent more than they reported giving to the House Republican committee.

Linda E. Tarplin, a health care lobbyist, has given $2,300 to Mr. McCain; $5,000 to the campaign committee for Senate Republicans; $5,000 to a political committee headed by the House Republican leader, John A. Boehner of Ohio; $1,000 to the Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky; and $4,500 to Republican members of the Senate Finance Committee, which handles health care bills.

Among the more generous contributors is Henry M. Gandy, a vice president of the Duberstein Group who has registered to lobby for companies like Amgen, Fannie Mae and Goldman Sachs. Mr. Gandy, a veteran of the Reagan White House, reported that he had made 23 contributions totaling $41,500 to Congressional candidates in the last six months.

Brian J. Rogers, a spokesman for the McCain campaign, said that contributions from lobbyists did not compromise the senator’s independence in any way.

“John McCain is the biggest enemy of special interests in Washington,” Mr. Rogers said. “He spearheaded campaign finance reform. He fought Boeing’s tanker deal with the Air Force, and he led the investigation of Jack Abramoff.”

The policy of the Obama campaign is set forth on its Web site for online donations: “We don’t take money from Washington lobbyists or special-interest political action committees. Instead, we have a base of more than 1.5 million individual donors who ensure that this campaign answers to no one but the people.”

Obama aides say they check donors’ names against a list of lobbyists.

But Donald J. Barry, who was executive vice president of the Wilderness Society from 2000 until early this month, reported that he had given the Obama campaign six contributions totaling $2,050 from January to June, and he was a host for an Obama fund-raiser in June.

“I did not know that I had been registered as a lobbyist since 2000,” said Mr. Barry, who was a Clinton administration official.

The Obama campaign says it returns contributions if it learns they came from lobbyists. But Mr. Barry said, “I intend to contribute the same amount of money, or maybe even more, to the Obama campaign once I am no longer registered as a lobbyist.”

Watchdog groups welcomed the information, but said the data would be more useful if lobbyists reported contributions at the time they were made.

“With all the online tools we have today, why not have instantaneous disclosure?” asked Ellen Miller, executive director of the Sunlight Foundation, an advocate of open government. “Why wait six months, when the money changing hands is affecting legislation being written today?”

Lobbyists say that campaign contributions are “the price of admission” that must be paid to gain access to many Congressional offices. They worry the new reports will make it easier for lawmakers to check if they have made such contributions.

However, J. Keith Kennedy, a Republican who lobbies on appropriations issues, said he was happy to make contributions to lawmakers whom he admires and respects.

Mr. Kennedy, a former staff director of the Senate Appropriations Committee, contributed $10,800 to 12 lawmakers in the last six months. Recipients include the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Representative David R. Obey, Democrat of Wisconsin; Senator Daniel K. Inouye, the Hawaii Democrat who is chairman of the defense appropriations subcommittee; and Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska, the senior Republican on the subcommittee.

Linda H. Daschle, a top aviation lobbyist, reported $29,000 of contributions in the last six months. These include $1,000 each to lawmakers with a decisive say on aviation policy: Representative James L. Oberstar, a Minnesota Democrat who is chairman of the House Transportation Committee, and Senator Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington and chairwoman of the Senate appropriations subcommittee on transportation.

Mrs. Daschle gave $12,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which is trying to elect more Democrats to the Senate, where her husband, Tom Daschle, was once the majority leader. He is now a top adviser to Mr. Obama. Her clients include American Airlines, Boeing and L-3 Communications, a major military contractor.