A Super lobbying weekend By Jonathan E. Kaplan http://www.hillnews.com/index.asp The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) has scored tickets to Sunday’s Super Bowl XXXVII in San Diego to sell to lobbyists so they can watch the game together. As part of the deal, lobbyists will have access to Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), who will travel west on Thursday and host fundraisers over the weekend, said John Feehery, Hastert’s spokesman. Rep. Tom Reynolds (R-N.Y.), the newly elected chairman of the NRCC, will also be attending the game, said Mike Brady, Reynolds’ spokesman. In past years, lobbyists have paid as much as $10,000 for a package deal that includes two tickets to the game, a hotel room, and transportation services. Usually, a dozen or so lawmakers have attended the games through the NRCC. Other lawmakers from the competing teams’ hometowns or the local venue also often make the trek to the game. The NRCC has hosted such trips since the early 1980s. The GOP fundraising group declined to disclose the names of lawmakers who will be attending this year. It is known, however, that Hastert is attending a fundraising luncheon in San Diego with Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R-Calif.) on Friday, said Harmony Allen, Cunningham’s press secretary. An NRCC official said that 120 to 140 lobbyists have purchased tickets. But he would not say how much they had paid for a weekend of football, golf and food with House Republicans. Last year, lobbyists paid $10,000, which under the campaign finance rules then in force was a so-called soft-money contribution. After the schmoozing sessions with the lawmakers, they watched the New England Patriots upset the St. Louis Rams. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) is going to the game this year, said David Sandretti, her communications director, although he could not confirm whether she was combining any fundraiser activities with her attendance at the event. The current campaign finance law bans soft-money donations to the national party committees. Don Simon, the acting president of Common Cause, said that an individual can contribute up to $25,000 in personal funds or from a political action committee to a national party committee and cannot be reimbursed by his employer. “It is a mystery of how they are structuring the finances,” he said. Dan Mattoon, a lobbyist at PodestaMattoon, will be going to the game. Mattoon is close to Hastert and represents San Diego-based Qualcomm Incorporated, the telecommunications company that owns the naming rights to the San Diego Chargers’ stadium where the game is being played. Mattoon said that Qualcomm is hosting a dinner for its executives and lawmakers on Friday night. “It is a working dinner. There will be a great deal of substance. It’s an opportunity for the leadership at Qualcomm to discuss where the company is going. It’s been one of the stellar lights the last few years in terms of growth in revenues and advances in technology,” he said. Joe Brown, the NFL’s senior vice president of communications, said the league had sold the NRCC “a limited number of tickets at face value, some at $400, some at $500.” “It’s a professional courtesy,” he added. “Nobody gets nearly as many as they would like and that is true whether you are a member of the media or a political figure. Write this: There’s no such thing as a free lunch.” The NFL, Brown said, is mostly interested in legislation that stops the spread of gambling. Still, some critics have assailed the Super Bowl-related fundraising technique for fueling the perception of a shakedown. “It’s almost as if the NRCC is playing matchmaker to make sure members and lobbyists spend quality time together at a sports event that reinforces the perception that business is done in Washington at these kinds of social events,” said Common Cause’s Don Simon. Democrats also have held Super Bowl events in the past. Tovah Ravitz at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and Kim Ruby at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee said neither organization was hosting a Super Bowl fundraiser this year. But Brown, the NFL’s spokesman, said that in the past Democrats had been more aggressive in scoring tickets than the Republicans.
