2016 Postmortem

Nuclear Unicorn

(19,497 posts) Tue Mar 1, 2016, 07:48 PM Mar 2016

Hillary Clinton 2016: DC Lobbyists Set To Raise Cash For Hillary Victory Fund

Hillary Clinton 2016: DC Lobbyists Set To Raise Cash For Hillary Victory Fund

By Andrew Perez @AndrewPerezDC AND David Sirota @davidsirota On 02/29/16 AT 6:32 PM

The Democratic National Committee’s recent move to end its ban on contributions from federal lobbyists was widely seen as a boost to Hillary Clinton’s campaign, which has ties to the Washington lobbying community. Clinton already appears to be taking advantage of the shift.

On Mar. 21, Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta and a handful of lobbying titans are scheduled to host a fundraiser for the Hillary Victory Fund, a joint fundraising account for the Clinton campaign, the DNC and 32 state parties. According to an invitation obtained by the Sunlight Foundation, Podesta’s co-hosts include Steve Elmendorf, Jeff Forbes and Susan Brophy — all of whom were government officials before becoming lobbyists at top D.C. firms. The event with Podesta — whose brother is a corporate lobbyist and fundraising bundler for Clinton — follows a recent fundraising blitz by Clinton in which her campaign raised money from financial, energy and other industries that expect to have business before the next president.

http://www.ibtimes.com/political-capital/hillary-clinton-2016-dc-lobbyists-set-raise-cash-hillary-victory-fund-2327589

One of the corporations they will be fund-raising with is Valeant Pharmaceuticals --

The Hillary Victory Fund event also lists Ann Castagnetti as a co-host of the event next month. Her husband, David, is a co-founder of Mehlman Castagnetti, where he’s represented clients like Walmart. Clinton was once a Walmart board member, and the company’s heir donated $353,000 to the Hillary Victory Fund. Castagnetti lobbied lawmakers for Valeant Pharmaceuticals, which disclosed Monday it’s being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Clinton even calls-out Valeant in a campaign ad for price gouging.

Why would a company raise money for a candidate that is supposedly going to take them to task for profiteering unless the candidate was cheaper than a federal fine. For $350k instead of potentially tens of millions of dollars it's a bargain at twice the price.

And scathing campaign ad isn't going to bother them. Nobody will remember the ad once it stops playing and it's not like a patient in need of lifesaving medications is going to rebuff them saying, "I remember that company from Hillary's ad. I don't want to line their pockets!"