Hillary Clinton is lobbyists' top pick for president


Clinton campaign disclosures reveal that 316 lobbyists and corporate PACs have donated more than $600,000 so far to put Hillary in the White House. The number of contributors — more than double runner-up Jeb Bush's 140 lobbyist backers — makes Clinton the clear K Street favorite for 2016.
While the Obama campaign in 2008 and 2012 refused donations from registered lobbyists as part of a poorly kept promise to limit lobbyist influence in the administration, Clinton has long been noted for her ties to corporate interests, particularly on Wall Street. "[T]here is a list of people who are very committed to her from eight years ago," said Al Motteur, a lobbyist who is bundling donations for Clinton.
At the other end of the spectrum, Bernie Sanders, one of Clinton's rivals for the Democratic nomination, took in just $420 in lobbyist donations, while Republicans Carly Fiorina and Rand Paul received the least K Street support on their side of the aisle.
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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
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