Why are federal contributions made by Democrat lobbyists important? For one, they are easier to research than state contributions (LDL will also be releasing their state contributions as well, so stay tuned).
Federal contributions are also an accurate and revealing window into the depth of an individual's partisanship. State campaign finance reforms made it illegal for lobbyists to contribute directly to state legislative candidates, but it did make it possible for them to use their clients' PACs to donate and Democrat lobbyists have used that shell game to maximum effect. But when it is their own money at stake, when they think the Republicans are not looking, Democrat lobbyists show their true colors – and the results are stunning.
During the last few years, leading Democrat registered lobbyists in Nashville have contributed $690,988 to candidates at the federal level. 96% of all federal contributions went to Democrats. During that same time period, they donated just $30,400 to Republicans through federal accounts (about 4% of the total).
But the most important reason for following lobbyists' federal contributions is the fact that a significant portion of Democrat lobbyists' federal contributions find their way right back into state Democrat coffers – organizations whose primary purpose is to defeat Republicans at the state legislative level.
LDL has uncovered over $130,000 that went directly from local Democrat lobbyists and their families to a federal account set up by the Tennessee Democrat Party just since 2002 (this is believed to be only a fraction of such re-routed money). And not one penny of these lobbyists' federal contributions showed up in the state's campaign finance reports. Pretty slick, huh? This amount is in addition to the huge sums they have given directly to Democrat leadership PACs and individual candidates (before the lobbyists reforms made direct contributions illegal). And they show no signs of slowing down in the face of a Republican takeover.
But even more money found its way back to Democrat legislative candidates through an even more circuitous route:
The Democrat "Circle of Funding"
Tennessee Democrat lobbyists have found yet another avenue to hide contributions to Democrat state legislative candidates. They do this by contributing to safe, entrenched Democrat Congressmen and to national party organizations who then turn around and send checks to the TDP and the Democrat Caucus. That way they can hide their contributions from Republican legislators they are pretending to befriend.
How much are we talking about? The amount of money coming back to the TDP just from the coffers of Tennessee Democrat congressmen is staggering, a veritable "underground river" of money flowing to the Dems. Since 2001, the Tennessee Democrat Congressional delegation has donated at least $840,000 from their federal campaign accounts just to the Tennessee Democrat Party. In one case, Bart Gordon, with no serious opposition that year, wrote a single check for $80,000 to the TDP. In one year (2004), John Tanner donated over $121,000. In the most recent election cycle of 2008, Tanner, Gordon, Davis and Cooper contributed over $120,000 to the TDP. And a lot of that money came from state Democrat lobbyists who contributed repeatedly to the campaigns of these "safe" congressmen.
Nothing like using your favorite Democrat Congressman as a convenient money laundering service, eh?
Check back later to see yet another way the Democrat lobbyists try to hide their contributions to Democrats in key legislative races from the eyes of the Republican Leadership.
After a Career of Moving to the Left, Nathan Poss Tries Another Direction.
When Republican lobbyists met week before last to plan their fundraising efforts for Bill Haslam, jaws dropped when in through the door sashayed a hard-core, long-time Democrat partisan who had built his entire lobbying career on screwing over Republicans.
According to our source, at least two people in the room separately confirmed the Democrat trying to pass for a Republican was none other than one Nathan Poss: Right-hand man to Sen. Bob Rochelle. Republicans remember Rochelle as the father of the state income tax. And they remember Rochelle as one of the meanest, nastiest, most aggressive, torture-Republicans-for-sport Democrat partisans ever to walk the halls of the LP (just ask Mae Beavers). And here was his butt-buddy Nathan Poss acting as though he had had a "born-again" conversion as a – gag! – Republican? To say the actual Republicans who were present were appalled would be an understatement.
Was this is the same Nathan Poss who headed a Democrat State Legislative Victory campaign a few years back? The very same Democrat who pulled every trick Bob Rochelle ever taught him in an effort to keep the Republicans from ever achieving majority status in the state legislature?
And now he proclaims: "Ich bin ein, Republican?"
Poss is doing nothing more than trying to purchase a Republican green card with some last-minute fundraising.
Just how stupid does Poss think Republicans are? Pretty damn stupid, apparently.
"But I'm a 'Non-Partisan' Kind of Guy!"
Poss is reportedly now desperately trying to convince his clients that he can "play both sides" of the aisle – that he is a non-partisan operator. Yet the fact remains the reason most clients originally hired him and his partner, Bo Johnson, was precisely because the Democrats were in control back then and Poss and Johnson were/are very partisan Democrats.
As the picture above shows, it's mighty hard to move towards the Republicans when the only way you ever learned how to ride was with the Democrats. Nathan's bald-faced attempt to paper over his past has created a deep animosity among many Republican legislators who have watched for years as Johnson, Poss would gleefully meet behind close doors with the Democrat leadership to help systematically kill, gut or even "steal" Republican bills as they saw fit.
Known By the Company He Keeps
Just to confirm that Poss was not undergoing some sort of spiritual conversion to the party of Ronald Reagan, we made a visit to our favorite source: Facebook. And guess what we found? Among Poss's "Likes & Interests," he listed mostly politicians and mostly Democrats, except for the couple of Republicans (for appearances sake, we presume) including Joe Haynes, Lincoln Davis, Jim Kyle, Kim McMillan, Ty Cobb – you get the picture. A quick perusal of his 375 friends on Facebook also reveals an large number of Democrat activists listed as Nathan's "friends."
The most prominent politician he "liked" was Mike McWherter. Nathan even linked to his campaign web page.
As for his new found love, Bill Haslam? Whoops, he's not on Nathan's list. In fact he is not mentioned at all. Yet there Poss was, acting all GOP at the Haslam fundraising meeting.
Let's just hope the Haslam folks understand who they are dealing with here. They may be able to panic Nathan and his cronies into coughing up some cash for the new Haslam PAC, but they will never have access to Nathan's soul. He sold that years ago to the likes of Jimmy Naifeh, Bob Rochelle and other creatures of the night. And Nathan Poss knows that when the chips are down, Naifeh and the boys always collect what's owed them. Just ask "Speaker" Mumpower.
[More on Poss in future editions of "LameDuckLobbyists.com." -- Join us as we explore the wacky world of Poss's personal contributions to candidates through the years. Earn a chance to win prizes with a "Find that Johnson, Poss Contribution" contest.]
Coming up Next:
Born again Republicans?
"You know I was always with you guys, right, right? I was always pulling for you, ya know? I mean those years with the Democrats meant nothing to me -- nothing! God Bless Ronald Reagan! God Bless Republicans! God Bless John McCain! Please, oh puh-leeze believe me."
Plus:
Love Your Hair (Hate Your Guts)
The Queen Bee with a Capital "D"
