MWW Group CEO Michael Kempner was cited as one of President Barack Obama's influential campaign “bundlers” in a critical Friday article in The New York Times. (Talking Points Memo defines bundlers as “super-donors who are very rich, max out their personal fundraising amounts, and then call on their wealthy friends to do the same.”)
Obama had pledged not to take money from lobbyists, so the article doesn't paint Kempner's fundraising work - reportedly he's helped to raise more than $500,000 for the president's reelection campaign - in a positive light. The Times explains that MWW “runs a team of Washington lobbyists,” but adds Kempner is not himself registered in DC as a lobbyist.
For its part, Obama's reelection team defended the president's record. Campaign press secretary Ben LaBolt said in a blog post that the Times article “misses the forest for the trees, obscuring the president's long history of advancing ethics and government reform and brushing right past his opponents' records with nothing but a shrug.”
Obama had pledged not to take money from lobbyists, so the article doesn't paint Kempner's fundraising work - reportedly he's helped to raise more than $500,000 for the president's reelection campaign - in a positive light. The Times explains that MWW “runs a team of Washington lobbyists,” but adds Kempner is not himself registered in DC as a lobbyist.
For its part, Obama's reelection team defended the president's record. Campaign press secretary Ben LaBolt said in a blog post that the Times article “misses the forest for the trees, obscuring the president's long history of advancing ethics and government reform and brushing right past his opponents' records with nothing but a shrug.”