Into the Rolodex for a Bundle: Business Networks Built Over Decades Fuel Political Donations

Washington Post (09/15/08) P. D1; Heath, Thomas

Presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain have assembled an army of wealthy fundraisers, known as bundlers, who draw on basic business tactics such as networking and teambuilding to raise money for their candidate. The Washington business community is full of networkers on both sides of the political spectrum who can tap into enormous resources. John Vogt, a senior vice president at Chain Bridge Bank in McLean, Va., says, "You've got to know who to ask, how to ask and more importantly, you have to be prepared to return the favor." Vogt, who was a big bundler for President Bush and has a wide network of contacts from decades in the financial sector, has raised about $250,000 for McCain. "I have been in the favor arbitrage business for 30 years. I know what someone needs in the transaction. They will invariably have causes of their own that they are looking for support for." A bundler contacts a few or a few hundred potential donors who can write a check for a candidate or party. "Think of bundling as the political equivalent of a force multiplier," says Michael Malbin, executive director of the Campaign Finance Institute, a nonpartisan research institute affiliated with George Washington University.

"The candidate cannot go out and raise $50 million a month by meeting people personally and still have time to campaign. If you can get a bundler or person to find 10 other people, each of whom can now give the maximum contribution, then he's in business."

Some election observers disdain bundling because it has been seen as a way to circumvent campaign laws designed to limit the influence of interest groups and powerful individuals. Reports of bundlers hitting up fellow employees or other colleagues have occasionally surfaced, given credence to critics, but supporters of bundling say that as long as people are not pressured by someone in a firm to join the effort, and there is full disclosure, there is nothing wrong with the practice.


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	Washington Post (09/15/08) P. D1; Heath, Thomas Presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain have assembled an army of wealthy fundraisers, known as bundlers, who draw on basic business tactics such as networking and teambuilding to raise money for their candidate. The Washington business community is full of networkers on both sides of the political spectrum who can tap into enormous resources. John Vogt, a senior vice president at Chain Bridge Bank in McLean, Va., says, "You've got to know who to ask, how to ask and more importantly, you have to be prepared to return the favor." Vogt, who was a big bundler for President Bush and has a wide network of contacts from decades in the financial sector, has raised about $250,000 for McCain. "I have been in the favor arbitrage business for 30 years. I know what someone needs in the transaction. They will invariably have causes of their own that they are looking for support for." A bundler contacts a few or a few hundred potential donors who can write a check for a candidate or party. "Think of bundling as the political equivalent of a force multiplier," says Michael Malbin, executive director of the Campaign Finance Institute, a nonpartisan research institute affiliated with George Washington University. "The candidate cannot go out and raise $50 million a month by meeting people personally and still have time to campaign. If you can get a bundler or person to find 10 other people, each of whom can now give the maximum contribution, then he's in business." Some election observers disdain bundling because it has been seen as a way to circumvent campaign laws designed to limit the influence of interest groups and powerful individuals. Reports of bundlers hitting up fellow employees or other colleagues have occasionally surfaced, given credence to critics, but supporters of bundling say that as long as people are not pressured by someone in a firm to join the effort, and there is full disclosure, there is nothing wrong with the practice. (www.washingtonpost.com) © Copyright 2008 Information, Inc.
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Into the Rolodex for a Bundle: Business Networks Built Over Decades Fuel Political Donations

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