HILLARY CLINTON’S TIES TO LOBBYISTS, WALL STREET BUNDLERS AND BILLIONAIRE DONORS

On the campaign trail, Hillary Clinton has repeatedly said she will stand up to big banks, drug companies and other special interests. But in fact Clinton campaign has been fueled by millions from a network of well-connected Washington lobbyists, Wall Street bundlers and billionaire donors. Out of all the presidential candidates, Republican or Democrat, Clinton has raised the most money from lobbyist bundlers. But at the same time she says that "lobbyists should be exposed and publicly called out..... that we’ve got to go after them and have tougher laws. It's not just the influence they peddle, it's the way they peddle the influence".

1. Steve Elmendorf : A savvy political operative who was once Chief of Staff to Democratic Majority Leader Dick Gephardt, Elmendorf now runs Subject Matter, a go-to Democratic lobbying firm for corporate interests, generating more than $10 million in fees last year. Among its top clients: Wall Street banks (Goldman Sachs and Citigroup), the casino industry (the American Gaming Association), telecoms (Verizon and Time Warner), tech firms (Facebook and Microsoft), agribusiness (Monsanto) and the National Football League (NFL).

2. Tony Podesta: Superlobbyist brother of John Podesta, Clinton’s Campaign Chairman, he runs Podesta Group, a powerhouse firm for defense contractors (Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, Bechtel), pharmaceutical and health insurance giants (Merck and Blue Cross-Blue Shield) and banking and private equity firms (Well Fargo, Credit Suisse Group, KKR). Another branch of Podesta’s portfolio: foreign governments, including several, Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan, Burma and the Maldives accused by the State Department of human rights abuses. A new senior partner working on the firm’s new $1.68 million a year Saudi account is David Adams, former Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs while Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State.

3. Heather Podesta: Ex-wife of Tony Podesta, she runs her own rival firm, Heather Podesta & Partners. It generated $7.5 million last year lobbying for MacAndrews & Forbes (the Wall Street investment firm owned by billionaire Ronald Perelman) as well as Marathon Oil, the Cigna Corp. and the National Pork Producers Council, among others. But one of her new clients has raised the most eyebrows: the National Cannabis Industry Association. 

4. Richard Sullivan: Former DNC Finance Chair, Clinton’s most prolific Lobbyist bundler, now a partner at Capitol Counsel, which specializes in protecting tax breaks for private equity and real estate investment firms (Blackstone, Beacon Capitol Partners and the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts). Other big clients include the PhRMA, the drug industry’s lobbying arm, and two of its leading members (Roche Holdings and Amgen.) Sullivan’s partner at his lobbying firm is David Jones another longtime Democratic fundraiser. 

5. Evan Bayh: Strategic adviser to the business clients of McGuireWoods, the legal, lobbying and fundraising juggernaut that represents Exxon Mobil, Duke Energy and the National Association of Manufacturers, among others. Also serves as a strategic adviser to Apollo Management, the Wall Street private equity firm . Two of his McGuireWoods colleagues, Andrew Smith and former South Carolina Gov. Jim Hodges, are also bundlers who have raised money for the Clinton campaign while lobbying for clients that include Smithfield Foods (now owned by the Chinese-based Shuanghui Group) and Dandong Port Group, a Hong Kong-registered port and grain importing firm owned by secretive Chinese billionaire Wenliang Wang, who has donated money to the Clinton Foundation.

6. Tom Nides: After serving as Hillary Clinton’s Deputy Secretary of State, Nides returned through the Wall Street revolving door to become Vice Chairman of Morgan Stanley. A top Clinton bundler, he has helped raise money from the investment bank’s executives and employees, including donations from the firm’s Chief Operating Officer, its chiefs of fixed income and wealth management, two managing directors and four members of its board of directors.

7. Llyod Blankfein: Chairman of Goldman Sachs is a friend of Hillary Clinton and has lent a helping financial hand to the Clinton family: He (along with two other former Goldman executives) is among the investors in Eaglevale Partners, the hedge fund founded in 2011 by Marc Mezvinsky, husband of Chelsea Clinton, and Hillary Clinton’s son in law.

8. Marc Lasry: A billionaire hedge fund kingpin, co-owner of the Milwaukee Bucs and avid high-stakes poker player. He is among Hillary Clinton’s most steadfast Wall Street backers, with close personal ties to her family. He hired Chelsea Clinton at his Avenue Capital hedge fund, invested (along with Blankfein) in son-in-law Mezvinsky’s fund.

9. David Brock: Former right-wing journalist now runs an interlocking network of pro-Clinton nonprofits and super-PACs informally known as “Brocktopus.” One of Brock’s arms is Correct the Record, a super-PAC that has collected money from wealthy donors while openly proclaiming its intention to coordinate with the Clinton campaign, an arrangement that some experts say may violate campaign finance law. Brock’s ties to the Clinton world are close and multilayered.

10. George Soros: The billionaire Hungarian-born hedge fund investor has been among the biggest donors to Democratic causes for years but has recently stepped up his game for Clinton.

11. Haim Saban: A one-time bass guitarist in an Israeli rock band, multibillionaire Los Angeles-based tycoon Saban is best known for creating the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, may be Clinton’s most generous and committed superdonor He is principal owner and CEO of Univision, the largest Spanish-language media organization in the country.

12. Dennis Cheng: Silent Chief of the Clinton fundraising operation Cheng joined the campaign after serving for four years as Chief Fundraiser for the Clinton Foundation, where he collected hundreds of millions of dollars from overseas donors that have generated intense media scrutiny and allegations of conflict of interest for Clinton. Cheng’s ties to Clinton go way back: He started as an intern during her 2000 Senate run, gradually moving up to become her Finance Director while she was in the Senate, then moving with her to the State Department as Deputy Chief of Protocol.

Note: Bundlers raise “hard money” to Clinton’s campaign in individual checks that, under federal law, are limited to $2,700 apiece. Super-PACs are permitted to raise sums from donations in unlimited amounts.

Cited Companies and Firms

• American Gaming Association
• Amgen 
• Apollo Management
• Avenue Capital hedge fund
• Beacon Capitol Partners
• Bechtel
• Blackstone
• Blue Cross-Blue Shield
• Capitol Counsel
• Cigna Corp.
• Citigroup
• Correct the Record
• Credit Suisse Group
• Dandong Port Group
• Duke Energy
• Eaglevale Partners
• Exxon Mobil
• Facebook
• General Dynamics
• George Soros
• Goldman Sachs
• Goldman Sachs
• Heather Podesta & Partners
• KKR
• Lockheed Martin
• MacAndrews & Forbes
• Marathon Oil,
• McGuireWoods
• Merck
• Microsoft
• Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
• Milwaukee Bucs
• Monsanto
• Morgan Stanley
• National Association of Manufacturers
• National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts
• National Cannabis Industry Association. 
• National Football League (NFL)
• National Pork Producers Council
• Podesta Group
• PhRMA
• Roche Holdings
• Smithfield Foods
• Subject Matter
• Time Warner
• Univision
• Verizon
• Well Fargo