Though Republican Mitt Romney has at times positioned himself as a Washington outsider, 42 federal lobbyists raised a total of $9 million for his campaign over the past three months, disclosures showed Tuesday.
They include Brian Miller, a lobbyist for British gas giant BP America Inc.; Kent Burton, who lobbies for oil companies on environmental issues; Alex Vogel, who lobbies for American’s Health Insurance Plans as well as Koch Industries and the American Petroleum Institute; John Castellani, who lobbies for pharmaceutical group PhRMA; Kennth Kies, who lobbies for General Electric, Pfizer and Hess; and Bruce Gates, who works for cigarette giant Altria.
Bundlers gather far more money for candidates than any one person can legally give, so they are among the people to whom winning candidates are most deeply-indebted to.
Mr. Romney has broken from his actions in 2008, and those of all other major presidential candidates over the past several elections, by refusing to say who his bundlers are, except for the ones that are federal lobbyists, who are required to be disclosed.
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