It turns out that only 35 percent of political donations raised by U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet from January through June came from folks who actually live in Colorado, while the other 65 percent came from out-of-state interests.
Judging by his travel and out-of-town catering tabs, this kind of makes sense.
Bennet’s last FEC report filed in June lists dozens of catering bills totaling nearly $35,000 for glitzy fundraisers that were held in the Washington, D.C., area, New York, California and Chicago.
Only a handful of catering bills were submitted for Colorado totaling $16,700, and half of that was spent on only two events in Denver and Englewood. Not sure who got treated to that $17 Costco extravaganza. If we were Bennet contributors reading this post, we’d demand our money back if our hors d’oeuvre platters were covered with plastic lids.
Bennet’s campaign required a lot of airplane tickets totaling more than $25,000, and judging by his hotel bill that racked up nearly $10,000 he was travelling a lot to California and New York to pick up checks.
While on the ground, this Man of the People spent $136 on Uber, but shelled out more than $8,000 for chauffeur and limousine rides plus more than $1,500 on valet service and only $25 on parking. Seriously though, the Uber and parking receipts probably belonged to a staffer who wasn’t allowed to sully the limo.
So, what did Bennet get in return for this investment? A lot of PAC dollars and money from other special interest folks!
The top individual donors came from California investment company Oaktree Capital Management who kicked in $53,000, followed by Goldman Sachs who donated more than $52,000, Blackstone Group with more than $47,000, Citigroup with more than $41,000, and rounding out the top five was Brownstein Hyatt with nearly $40,000, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
In fact, finance, insurance and the real estate sector were the top PAC donors kicking in $66,500. More than $40,000 came from the health care sector, which we are guessing were thrilled with Bennet’s support of Obamacare. Lawyers and lobbyists donated more than $22,000.
Interestingly, Bennet hasn’t received a lot of support yet from the environmental community, only a paltry $500. His pro-Israel support was also lacking at $6,000, and based on his controversial vote to support President Obama’s Iran deal, we don’t expect to see that support grow.