Charity with links to Democrats soliciting lobbyists

DUFFERS PARADISE - For contributions of up to $80,000, lobbyists can hobnob with nearly a dozen members of Congress, including House ethics chair Stephanie Tubbs Jones.

Pledging the attendance of nearly a dozen member of Congress – including the Chair of the House ethics committee – the charitable foundation of the Congressional Black Caucus has been soliciting contributions of up to $80,000 from Washington, DC, lobbyists for its annual golf tournament, the Majority Accountability Project (www.majorityap.com) has learned.

In the wake of the Jack Abramoff scandal – where it was revealed the disgraced lobbyist was funneling money slated for charity to less reputable activities – scrutiny has increased on the relationship between lawmakers and charitable foundations.

Democrats in particular were highly critical in 2006 of charitable causes associated with such Republican lawmakers as Sen. Ted Stevens and former Congressmen Rep. Tom Delay, Sen. Bill Frist, and Sen. Rick Santorum.

Following a report issued by Sen. Max Baucus, now chair of the Senate Finance Committee in October, 2006, a New York Times Op-Ed noted that donating to charities favored by lawmakers “obscured the true source of these gifts, while at the same time affording lobbyists private access to the congressmen they were trying to influence.”

The liberal blogger Arianna Huffington was more blunt.

“The widening Abramoff affair has put the spotlight back on the dominant role Big Money continues to play in our politics -- and of how politicians and their lobbyist pals keep coming up with new and nefarious ways of selling access and influence to the highest bidder,” she wrote in the Huffington Post in January, 2006.  “One of the sleaziest of these is the charitable-foundation dodge. This shockingly legal scam allows those looking to game the system a number of ways to do so.  First and foremost, when politicians align themselves with charities, it allows special interests to donate unlimited sums of money and curry favor while acting as if they are doing it out of the goodness of their souls instead of the usual oily self-interest.”

“Donations to such charities -- some of which serve to boost a politician's clout, employ former aides, or promote favored issues,” the Boston Globe reported in May of last year, “are not subject to public disclosure and are not limited by campaign-finance restrictions.”

MOST OPEN, MOST ETHICAL CONGRESS
Despite House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s pledge “to make this the most honest, ethical, and open Congress in history,” the mix of Big Money and politics continues unabated in the 110^th Congress.  “Democrats in Congress appear to be taking full advantage of the ‘pay to play’ system they said led to a ‘climate of corruption’ under Republicans,” ABC News’ Brian Ross reported in April.

The invitation to the CBC Foundation’s golf tournament, widely distributed among Capitol Hill lobbyists, offers sponsorship opportunities from $5,000 for a foursome and one-quarter page ad in the “commemorative tournament program book,” to $80,000 for a corporate logo on the official tournament bag and polo shirt, among other benefits.

The tournament, according to a CBC Foundation e-mail, “will be held on June 24-25, 2007 at the luxurious Lansdowne Resort in Lansdowne, VA.”  According to that same e-mail, “Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones and the event committee have been working diligently to ensure that this year’s event is a success.”

Tubbs Jones is chair of the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, more commonly known as the House ethics committee.  Among the other sponsors is Michelle Obama, wife of Illinois Senator and Presidential hopeful Barack Obama.

MORE ABOUT THE FOUNDATION
According to the foundation’s website, its “mission is to serve as the non-partisan policy-oriented catalyst that educates future leaders and promotes collaboration among legislators, business leaders, minority-focused organizational leaders, and organized labor to effect positive and sustainable change in the African American community.”  Among its activities, the Foundation reportedly places interns in Congressional offices.

The organization in 2005 reported spending $1.6 million on its annual legislative conference, the last year the foundation’s IRS tax exempt form was available on-line.