Lobbyist Parties: What is the Jocelyn Hong Connection?
posted 11th February 2010 in Democrats, Ethics, Politics, Questions by Jim
Jocelyn Hong loves to throw parties.
It’s her job. As a lobbyist for the Twenty-First Century Group, Hong makes it her business to do favors for members of Congress so that later… well, to tell the truth, we don’t know what members of Congress do in return. That part of the transaction is off the table. But thanks to the Sunlight Foundation’s Political Party Time database, we know that Jocelyn Hong has been throwing parties for members of Congress. Lots of parties. Here’s a list of those taking place since January of 2009:
| Beneficiary | Date |
| Joe Baca (D, CA-43) | 1/22/2009 |
| Baron Hill (D, IN-9) | 3/24/2009 |
| Edwin (Ed) Perlmutter (D, CO-7) | 3/24/2009 |
| Steny Hoyer (D, MD-5) | 3/24/2009 |
| Elijah Cummings (D, MD-7) | 4/22/2009 |
| Nita Lowey (D, NY-18) | 6/10/2009 |
| John Barrow (D, GA-12) | 6/17/2009 |
| John Tanner (D, TN-8) | 6/25/2009 |
| Donald Payne (D, NJ-10) | 9/16/2009 |
| Mark Schauer (D, MI-7) | 9/16/2009 |
| Nita Lowey (D, NY-18) | 9/17/2009 |
| Tim Ryan (D, OH-17) | 9/21/2009 |
| Baron Hill (D, IN-9) | 9/24/2009 |
| John Barrow (D, GA-12) | 9/30/2009 |
| Lucille Roybal-Allard (D, CA-34) | 10/28/2009 |
| Ed Pastor (D, AZ-4) | 10/29/2009 |
| David Wu (D, OR-1) | 11/18/2009 |
| Eddie Bernice Johnson (D, TX-30) | 11/19/2009 |
| Ed Pastor (D, AZ-4) | 12/1/2009 |
| Tim Ryan (D, OH-17) | 12/1/2009 |
| Lynn Woolsey (D, CA-6) | 12/2/2009 |
| Michael Arcuri (D, NY-24) | 12/8/2009 |
| Nita Lowey (D, NY-18) | 12/9/2009 |
| Charles Wilson (D, OH-6) | 1/27/2010 |
| Mike Honda (D, CA-15) | 2/9/2010 |
| Baron Hill (D, IN-9) | 3/18/2010 |
| Sam Farr (D, CA-17) | 3/23/2010 |
| John Barrow (D, GA-12) | 3/25/2010 |
Jocelyn Hong is not giving members of Congress her personal attention; she’s arranging for checks of $1,000 and $2,000 and $5,000 to be collected from each partygoer and bundled up for these Democrats’ congressional campaigns. The larger the party, the bigger the bundle.
The question is, what’s the connection here? What links all of these members of Congress? Well, they’re all Democrats for starters. But within the Democratic Party, ideology does not unite them: Hong’s beneficiaries run the gamut ideologically from the rather liberal Lynn Woolsey to the rather conservative Baron Hill.
70% of the beneficiaries at Jocelyn Hong’s parties sit on either the House Appropriations Committee, the House Science and Technology Committee, or the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. That’s an unlikely coincidence from chance alone, given the 435 members of the House overall.
Jocelyn Hong’s clients as a lobbyist in 2009 included:
China Copyright Alliance (Hollywood media anti-piracy trade group)
Manatee County, Florida
Revere Data (Financial Information Software)
Sanofi Pasteur (Pharmaceuticals)
Schering-Plough (Pharmaceuticals)
Taxpayers Against Fraud (Group advocating qui tam suits against the government for financial reward)
The Sierra Group (Employment for Disabilities)
Transportation Intermediaries Association
Verizon
Can you see a pattern here? Or is this just noise?
Tags: campaign contributions, Democrats, jocelyn hong, lobbyists, parties, sunlight foundation, twenty first century group
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The influence peddling goes on apace . . .
meanwhile:
http://jonathanturley.org/2010/02/09/william-j-clinton-foundation-found-in-violation-of-better-business-bureau-standards/