Following Obama, DNC Announces New Fundraising Rules

Updated 12:13 p.m.
By Shailagh Murray
NEW YORK -- The Democratic National Committee will no longer accept contributions from registered federal lobbyists or political action committees, Sen. Barack Obama's campaign announced.

The move signals that Obama is beginning to assert himself as party leader, now that he has secured the nomination, and will seek to assure that the broader party machinery "conforms to all of his standards of openness and transparency," said campaign spokeswoman Linda Douglass.

Obama also is expected to overhaul the DNC staff in coming weeks, including by dispatching one of his senior strategists, Paul Tewes, to run the organization. DNC chairman Howard Dean will remain in place.

"The DNC and the Obama Campaign are unified and working together to elect Barack Obama as the next president of the United States. Our presumptive nominee has pledged not to take donations from Washington lobbyists and from today going forward the DNC makes that pledge as well," said Dean in a statement released mid-morning.

He continued: "Senator Obama has promised to change the way things are done in Washington and this step is a sure sign of his commitment. The American people's priorities will set the agenda in an Obama Administration, not the special interests."

Following Obama, DNC Announces New Fundraising Rules | The Trail | washingtonpost.com

It looks like Obama is wasting no time making the changes he campaigned on, starting with the DNC. Imagine, a campaign promise kept, and he hasn't even been elected yet!

McCain used to push for greater ethical standards and limiting lobbyist and PAC influence, although a lot of Republicans disliked him for it. So it will be interesting to see if McCain even tries to match this pledge of not accepting money from lobbyists or PACs. If he does, it will be interesting to see if he can get the RNC to go along. It'll be kind of embarrassing for McCain if he won't match the pledge or can't get the RNC to go along. He'll lose credibility on one of his signature issues.

Well, regardless of whether McCain folllows Obama's lead on this or not, good for Obama and the DNC for taking a step toward limiting the influence of special interests!

This table lists the top donors to this candidate in the 2008 election cycle. The organizations themselves did not donate , rather the money came from the organization's PAC, its individual members or employees or owners, and those individuals' immediate families. Organization totals include subsidiaries and affiliates.

Because of contribution limits, organizations that bundle together many individual contributions are often among the top donors to presidential candidates. These contributions can come from the organization's members or employees (and their families). The organization may support one candidate, or hedge its bets by supporting multiple candidates. Groups with national networks of donors - like EMILY's List and Club for Growth - make for particularly big bundlers.
Goldman Sachs $571,330
University of California $437,236
UBS AG $364,806
JPMorgan Chase & Co $362,207
Citigroup Inc $358,054
National Amusements Inc $320,750
Lehman Brothers $318,647
Google Inc $309,514
Harvard University $309,025
Sidley Austin LLP $294,245
Skadden, Arps et al $270,013
Time Warner $262,677
Morgan Stanley $259,876
Jones Day $250,725
Exelon Corp $236,211
University of Chicago $218,857
Wilmerhale LLP $218,680
Latham & Watkins $218,615
Microsoft Corp $209,242
Stanford University $195,262
Top Contributors to Barack Obama | OpenSecrets

I don't think that the GOP will have ANY problems following Obama's example. Notice the University of Chicago? The same system that gave his wife a $200,000 pay raise when he was elected Senator and received MILLIONS in earmarks in return.:rolleyes:

Have a good one!:s4:

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Originally Posted by Psycho4Bud

I don't think that the GOP will have ANY problems following Obama's example.

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Let's hope they don't have a problem with it. We'll see.

Quote:

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The organizations themselves did not donate , rather the money came from the organization's PAC, its individual members or employees or owners, and those individuals' immediate families.

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In the case of Obama, I do not think this includes any PAC money because his pledge all along has been to not accept PAC money.

Here is the same top donor info for McCain:

Merrill Lynch $230,310
Citigroup Inc $219,551
Blank Rome LLP $189,226
Greenberg Traurig LLP $157,487
AT&T Inc $153,005
Goldman Sachs $139,520
Morgan Stanley $136,651
JPMorgan Chase & Co $129,400
Credit Suisse Group $110,725
Lehman Brothers $96,050
UBS AG $93,815
US Government $91,551
Bank of New York Mellon $87,500
IDT Corp $83,150
Blackstone Group $82,600
Bear Stearns $79,900
Wachovia Corp $76,725
MGM Mirage $76,050
Univision Communications $75,700
PricewaterhouseCoopers $71,050

It's always funny to see the same donor for both candidates. When organizations used to give directly and without limits, it used to mean more. Now they just "bundle" donations from members, employees, etc. But it's still funny to see Goldman Sachs give $139,520 to McCain and $571,330 to Obama, even if it is really only individuals donating through their organization.

I'm thinking the University of Chicago donations probably have more to do with faculty and staff supporting Obama than with earmarks. Looks like he is popular with a lot of universities --- University of CA, Harvard, University of Chicago, Stanford.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dragonrider

I'm thinking the University of Chicago donations probably have more to do with faculty and staff supporting Obama than with earmarks. Looks like he is popular with a lot of universities --- University of CA, Harvard, University of Chicago, Stanford.

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Most university systems have a liberal base. I forget which one it was again but I saw on the news that a University was seeking conservative professors just to try to get another view point for the students.

As for the U. of Chicago....between the dirty dealing with M. Obama's pay AFTER Obama was elected combined with William Ayers being a professor there, I tend to think that "change" doesn't include this system.

Have a good one!:s4: