BOSTON—The timing of a handful of political fundraising events this week is again raising questions about the nexus of politics and policy on Beacon Hill.
On Thursday, Democratic House Speaker Robert DeLeo will hold a fundraiser at a North End restaurant in Boston, the same night the Massachusetts Democratic Party will hold a major annual fundraising dinner at a downtown Boston hotel.
Earlier in the day, Senate President Therese Murray is planning to attend a morning fundraiser for a fellow Democrat, Sen. Steven Tolman from Boston.
The flurry of fundraisers come as the Democratic-controlled House is preparing to vote on a contentious casino bill and House leaders are set to unveil their state budget plan. The Senate is expected to take up the casino issue and release its own budget plan later in the spring.
The timing of the fundraisers helps politicians pull in donations from lobbyists and others with business before the Legislature even as those issues are being debated, according to Pam Wilmot, director of the government watchdog group Common Cause Massachusetts.
"This is the time for fundraisers, always around budget time," she said. "Ideally, politicians would be out of the fundraising game, especially from lobbyists who are trying to get something from government."
A spokesman for DeLeo's campaign declined to say how much they hoped to raise, but said DeLeo has held spring fundraisers for the past two decades.
"The scheduling is based on the traditional, 20-year timing of this event during the spring season and is not connected to the timing of any legislative activity," said campaign treasurer David Martin.
The maximum donation to candidates in Massachusetts is $500 per donor each calendar year. Lobbyist donations are capped at $200 per year.
The public won't see totals of who is giving how much to which lawmakers until well after the debates on the casino bill and the state budget will likely have concluded.
Under the state's campaign finance laws, candidates for the Legislature -- both incumbents and challengers -- won't have to file their first campaign finance reports this year until Sept. 7, just before the primary election.
An ethics overhaul law approved by lawmakers and signed by Gov. Deval Patrick last year requires lawmakers to file two reports during off-election years. Previously, lawmakers only had to file only one campaign finance report at the end of an off-election year.
But a proposal to require lawmakers to file monthly reports -- like candidates for statewide office already do -- failed to make it into the final version of the ethics bill.
"That's the ideal system," Wilmot said. "It helps keep candidates out of trouble."
Democrats aren't the only ones raking in money.
The Massachusetts Republican Party held a major fundraiser on March 25 at the Alibi Lounge of the Liberty Hotel in Boston, helping to add more than $145,000 to the party coffers during the last two weeks of the month.
Admission to the event was advertised at $1,000, with $5,000 for an additional cocktails and briefing session. Contributors to the state parties can donate up to $5,000 per year.
The fundraiser helped bring the party's campaign war chest to $509,053, putting the GOP nearly on par with the Democratic Party, which reported a total of $535,662 at the end of March.
The Democrats are likely to add to that total on Thursday when they hold their annual Roosevelt Awards at the Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel in Boston, one of the party's top fundraising events. Tickets are $250 each.
Democratic Party Chairman John Walsh said it's the 11th year the party has timed the dinner in the spring before the party's annual convention in June.
"It's just an annual event. It's not targeted to any piece of business," he said.
Walsh said the party hopes to raise about $200,000 from the 600-700 people they expect to attend the event.
Unlike legislative candidates, the two parties report their political contributions every two weeks.
The years-long casino debate in Massachusetts is emblematic of the lure of campaign dollars.
Firms, unions and interest groups spent more than $2 million in 2009 hoping to influence the debate, up from just $800,000 in 2006, according to an Associated Press review of records filed with the secretary of state's office.
The vast majority of that money was spent by groups pushing for casinos.
Lobbyists working for firms hired by those gaming interests also made thousands of dollars in campaign contributions, according to the AP review, including $8,000 to Robert DeLeo, $7,800 to Murray, $4,900 to Patrick and $8,100 to Lt. Gov. Tim Murray.
Spokesmen for the elected officials say it's unfair to characterize all that money as casino lobbying dollars since many of those donations come from lobbyists working for firms that have contracts with multiple groups interested in gambling and non-gambling topics.
