{"id":326810,"date":"2010-02-16T02:09:00","date_gmt":"2010-02-16T07:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"tag:www.opensecrets.org,2010:\/news\/\/8.1375"},"modified":"2010-02-16T10:05:35","modified_gmt":"2010-02-16T15:05:35","slug":"good-bye-evan-bayh-charles-taylor-the-lobbyist-and-more-in-capital-eye-opener-february-16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/326810","title":{"rendered":"Good-bye Evan Bayh, Charles Taylor the Lobbyist and More in Capital Eye Opener: February 16"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"evanbayhhand.jpg\"<\/a>Your daily dose of news and tidbits from the world of money in politics:<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
HOOSIER NEW SENATOR?<\/b> Unclear, thanks to U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) announcing hours after Valentine’s Day that he’s breaking up with government<\/a>.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
“There are better ways to serve my fellow citizens,” Bayh said at a news conference Monday in announcing he wouldn’t seek re-election. “I love working for the people of Indiana. I love helping our citizens make the most of their lives. But I do not love Congress.”<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Congress, now dumped, had no immediate comment. Republicans did, however, appear sufficiently jazzed at the prospects of picking up yet another U.S. Senate seat — particularly one that would have been a decidedly difficult pickup had Bayh stayed put.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
“[We] have always viewed this Senate race as one that would be competitive. Today’s announcement cements that view, and we really like our chances in the general election,” Indiana Republican Party Chairman Murray Clark said in a statement<\/a>.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Bayh had been a fund-raising machine throughout his 12-year Senate career. He’s raised<\/a> more than $26.6 million since 1997. And in 2004, Bayh’s most recent election, he politically eviscerated his Republican challenger in both dollars raised<\/a> and votes gained<\/a>.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
People and political action committees associated with lawyers\/law firms ($2.56 million), securities and investment interests ($1.7 million) and the real estate industry (nearly $800,000) ranked among Bayh’s top career contributors by industry<\/a>, a Center for Responsive Politics<\/a> analysis indicates.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
By company<\/a>, people and PACs associated with Goldman Sachs, Eli Lilly and Conseco Inc. take gold, silver and bronze.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Bayh ended 2009 with almost $13 million in his campaign coffer — a cool 2,100 times more<\/a> money than the most monied Republican challenger, Marlin A. Stutzman, had as of the new year.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
But that appears now to matter a whole lot less<\/a> than it did a day ago.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
View video of Bayh’s news conference below: <\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/embed><\/embed><\/embed><\/embed><\/embed><\/embed><\/object> <\/p>\n
<\/div>\n
CHARLES TAYLOR THE WARLORD … AND LOBBYING CLIENT:<\/b> Scholars, journalists and war crimes prosecutors alike portray former Liberian President Charles Taylor as a man bent on power no matter the cost, including the spilt blood of his West African brethren. But as the Washington Post<\/i>‘s Colum Lynch writes Monday<\/a>, Taylor also spent millions of dollars during the 1990s attempting to influence U.S. lawmakers and otherwise scrubbing his tarnished international image clean — even hiring lobbyists to do his bidding.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
CRP, IN THE NEWS:<\/b> Since Friday, dozens of publications and news outlets have written or discussed the Center for Responsive Politics’ report on increased lobbying activity in 2009. If you haven’t yet read the report yourself, go here<\/a>. To see what others are saying about our recent work, read these article from the New York Times<\/a><\/i>, USA Today<\/a><\/i>, Associated Press<\/i><\/a>, CNN<\/a>, Financial Times<\/a><\/i>, Detroit Free Press<\/i><\/a>, Bloomberg<\/a>, Washington Examiner<\/a>, The Hill<\/a> and the National Journal<\/i><\/a>.<\/span> <\/i> <\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Have a news tip or link to pass along? We want to hear from you! E-mail us at press@crp.org<\/a>.<\/div>\n
\"Reblog<\/a>
\n