Hypocrisy on display. From Ben Smith at Politico, with a hat tip to Karl guest-blogging at Hot Air.

The guest list for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee’s “winter retreat” at the Ritz Carlton South Beach Resort doesn’t include the price tag for attendance, but the maximum contribution to the committee, typical for such events, is $30,000. There, to participate in “informal conversations” and other meetings Saturday, were senators including DSCC Chairman Robert Menendez; Michigan’s Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow; Bob Casey of Pennsylvania; Claire McCaskill of Missouri; freshmen Kay Hagan of North Carolina and Mark Begich of Alaska; and even left-leaning Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

Across the table was a who’s who of 108 senior Washington lobbyists, including the top lobbying officials for many of the industries Democrats regularly attack: Represented were the American Bankers Association, the tobaco [sic] company Altria, the oil company Marathon, the Edison Electric Institute, which has battled climate regulation, several drug manufacturers, the defense contractor Lockheed, and most of the large independent lobbying firms: Ogilvy, BGR, Quinn Gillespie, Heather Podesta, and Tony Podesta.

Let’s take a look at what Chairman Menendez had to say about big-money in Washington D.C. politics after the Citizens United decision at the Supreme Court.

Well, the big losers are the average American citizen. This is going to put enormous amounts of money and influence on behalf of big oil, health insurance companies, big banks, that are going to obviously support candidates who support their point of views.

You see, for politicians inside the beltway, it is perfectly fine for them to collect monster contributions from lobbyists, but it is unthinkable for businesses to contribute to campaigns.

Smith continues…

The contrast between Menendez’s words and how he spent his weekend is a mark of how, even in the age of Obama, who has barred contributions from lobbyists, Democrats — and particularly Congressional Democrats — are riding a new wave of corporate support, the natural fruit of their majority status.

Here’s an excerpt from the full text. Hat tip to Steve at Sweetness & Light (I got the e-mail too.)

But what frustrates the American people is a Washington where every day is Election Day. We can’t wage a perpetual campaign where the only goal is to see who can get the most embarrassing headlines about the other side -– a belief that if you lose, I win.

And here is the e-mail he sent out minutes after completing the speech. Hint to the president. When your political wing sends out e-mails every other day (literally) asking for cash contributions, you are in perpetual campaign mode.

I just finished delivering my first State of the Union address.

I set out an urgent plan for restoring economic security for struggling middle class families. This is my top priority, but I cannot do it alone — and that’s why I’m writing to you now.

Tonight, I called on Congress to enact reforms and new initiatives to defend the middle class — to create millions of new jobs, support small businesses, and drive up wages; to invest in the education of our children and the clean energy technology that must power our future; and to protect the economy from reckless Wall Street abuses.

And I made my position on health reform clear: We must not walk away. We are too close, and the stakes are too high for too many. I called on legislators of both parties to find a way to come together and finish the job for the American people.

I have no illusions — there have been setbacks, and there will be more to come. The special interests who have shaped the status quo will keep fighting tooth and nail to preserve it.

So tonight, I’m asking you to join me in the work ahead. I need your voice. I need your passion. And I need your support.

Can you help fuel our fight for the middle class with a monthly donation of $15 or more?

https://donate.barackobama.com/StateOfTheUnion

We have just finished a difficult year. We have come through a difficult decade. But a new year has come. A new decade stretches before us. We don’t quit. I don’t quit. Let’s seize this moment — to start anew, to carry the dream forward, and to strengthen our union once more.

Thank you for making it possible,

President Barack Obama

It seems that now, he has taken it upon himself to introduce not one, not two, but six different bills in the House seeking to overturn last Thursday’s  decision by the United States Supreme Court in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.  That was the case that held that a federal law prohibiting corporations from using general treasury funds for campaign contributions was an unconstitutional denial of their First Amendment rights to freedom of speech.  According to Grayson, that decision is,

a direct threat to our democracy.

Funny, in all my years as an attorney, I’ve never heard another attorney refer to freedom of speech as a threat to democracy.  Personally, I always thought that the absence of free speech was the threat.

Grayson has given the catchy title “Businesses Should Mind Their own Business Act” to one of the six.

That bill would impose a 500 percent excise tax on corporate contributions to political committees or any expenditures on political-advocacy campaigns. [emphasis supplied]

Of course, unions would be exempt.

Another bill would prohibit companies that make political contributions from trading on the New York Stock Exchange, and a third would prohibit corporations that receive federal money from donating to any political cause.  The other three are even more bizarre.

I know Grayson’s bio says he is a law school graduate, but I’m wondering if maybe he was out sick when the First Amendment was discussed.  Or, when it was explained that Congress can’t overrule a Supreme Court decision that was based upon the Constitution, only an amendment to the Constitution can do that.

Information provided is passed to state and federal agencies who make the information available in a variety of formats. The information is used to generate cool looking graphs and online databases that allow anyone to research who donated to candidates and political committees.

Above, I found the one person in a Connecticut town contributed $100 in opposition to California’s Proposition 8 in about one minute. The person chose none for employer but by law, committees must ask the question.

So, how is this information being used and is it a good idea? (Remember this post?)

Today, we learn AIG-FP CEO Joseph Cassano sent an e-mail to employees to encourage them to contribute the maximum amount to Chris Dodd for his re-election campaign. Click on the image to read the e-mail, Cassano asks the employees wives to contribute as well!

These employees knew that this information would be available online within days of contributing so Cassano could check up on the request. Or was it a demand?

More at The Campaign Spot (Jim Geraghty), The Hartford Courant, Hot Air, and the original exclusive from the Washington Times.

When you visit OpenSecrets.org and read that AIG contributed $98,100 to Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) in 2008, it is important to understand that this money did not come from AIG the corporation, rather PACs that represent AIG, employees of AIG, and immediate family members of employees.

Did you read that? Once again, from the OpenSecrets.org Web site…

This table lists the top donors to this candidate in the 2008 election cycle. The organizations themselves did not donate, rather the money came from the organization’s PAC, its individual members or employees or owners, and those individuals’ immediate families. Organization totals include subsidiaries and affiliates.

So when you read articles like this ABC News piece, what do you think?

AIG employees kept doling out donations to politicians, including presidential candidate Barack Obama, after getting bailed out with federal funds last year, raising the question of whether those politicians will now return the money.

Exit question: Is the media trying to spin these donations to imply they are coming from AIG – and other corporations – instead of individual employees that work at these corporations?

Do you realize that if you are an entry level administrative assistant or janitor who works for AIG, your personal contributions – and those of your immediate family – are being associated with “AIG” contributions?

Exit question #2: If a solution is needed, what is it?

What say you?

While the AIG bonus fiasco was unraveling, politicians and the media whipped our population into a frenzy, demonstrating once again how easily some (if not most) Americans can be manipulated through fear and anger to adopt whatever stance they are told to take.  Critical thought be damned.

Even though this bonus money was .01% of the money that has been distributed, politicians crowed “It’s not about the amount of money, it is about the principle.”

For all of you who were so easily whipped into the frenzy over AIG, how about whipping up a little frenzy toward your politicians who are STILL taking political contributions from companies that took TARP money. Where is the anger and the outrage? Where are the bus tours of the politicians homes? Where is this populist uprising now? The amounts may seem small ($5k here and $5k there), but they are taking taxpayer money, and remember … it’s the principle.

Click the image for an NBC report on politicians that are still taking donations from TARP recipients.

Anyway, yesterday I got an e-mail from David Plouffe, campaign manager for Obama. He asked for all of us to donate directly to the Democrat National Committee since they are broke.

Here’s the beginning of the e-mail.

Steve –

Our friends at the Democratic National Committee laid it all on the line to bring change this year.

We’ve been reviewing the books, and the DNC went into considerable debt to secure victory for Barack and Joe. It took unprecedented resources to staff up all 50 states, train field organizers, and build the technology to reach as many swing voters as possible.

It worked.

But it also left the DNC in debt. So before we do anything else, we need to help pay for this winning strategy. …

My question. Is the Obama campaign – with more than $650 million dollars collected during the campaign – going to step up and hand some of their cash to the DNC? Probably not, the part will continue for the next four years since his reelection campaign starts on Jan. 21. Think I’m kidding?

As of Oct. 15, it looks like the Obama campaign had more than $60 million on hand. Granted, he spent quite a bit of that the last three weeks, but he must have something to contribute to the party… Right?