FOLLOW THE MONEY: Mitt Romney Sucks Koch

Original Link: http://www.phawker.com/2011/07/26/follow-the-money-mitt-romney-sucks-koch/

ROLL CALL: Patton Boggs, D.C.’s largest lobbying firm, and a lobbyist for Koch Industries are playing host today to a luncheon fundraiser for GOP presidential contender Mitt Romney. The firm’s Trent Lott and Ben Ginsberg, who served as national counsel to the Bush-Cheney presidential campaign, are among the K Street power players who are hosting the $1,000-a-person event. Ginsberg referred comment about the event to the Romney campaign, which did not respond to an inquiry by press time. Other lobbyists on the host committee include Andrew Siff of Siff & Associates, whose clients include Koch Companies Public Sector LLC, the Sergeants Benevolent Association of New York City and the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, according to lobby disclosures filed with Congress. Lott’s K Street clientele includes AT&T, Citigroup and Shell Oil. The luncheon, according to an invite, is part of a “Lawyers for Romney” event and begins at 11:45 a.m. The host committee members are responsible for raising $5,000. MORE

HUFFINGTON POST: Perhaps the most noteworthy lobbyist originally slated to attend the Romney event is an individual who was forced to back out at the last minute. Andrew Siff, of the firm Siff & Associates, was listed as a host on one of the first invitations to be sent out by the Romney campaign. Siff’s political significance is owed to the fact that he lobbies for Koch Industries, the private energy conglomerate that has become a Democratic bogeyman for its willingness to bankroll conservative causes. Asked about his presence on the host list, the Romney campaign responded Monday that Siff had bowed out of the event. Reached by phone, Siff confirmed that he would not be in attendance on Tuesday night; not because he no longer supports Romney — he said he does — but because he had a personal issue to deal with instead. Siff gave Romney the $2,300 maximum donation during the 2008 primary election and told The Huffington Post that he planned to back his current run for the White House as well. MORE

POLITICO: Billionaire David Koch’s public proclamation that he’s uncommitted in the 2012 Republican field runs counter to what top Mitt Romney supporters had stated as fact for the past year — that the wealthy libertarian industrialist was firmly in Romney’s camp. As POLITICO first reported, Koch — who’d backed Romney in 2008 — held a major meet-and-greet event for the former Massachusetts governor at his Hamptons home last summer. Several top Romney supporters described Koch and his wife, Julia, as committed to the candidate shortly after the event, a notion that was repeated by some of Romney’s major donors as recently as last month. MORE

PREVIOUSLY: Mitt Romney had a major fundraiser event in the Hamptons yesterday at the home of mega-businessman David Koch and his wife, I’m told by several sources. MORE