Recording industry serenades partiers
The place to be in Denver tonight is this concert featuring Kanye West, sponsored by the Recording Industry Association of America and a long list of companies, as well as the One Campaign. I'm heading there shortly to try my (so far) not so good luck at party crashing.
The Washington Post recently reported the House ethics committee ruled this week that House members and top staff are required to pay $90 apiece for tonight's concert. However, the Senate committee said that senators and staff can go for free, because the event qualifies as a "widely attended event" under the new ethics law:
At a minimum, ethics lawyers said the industry will have to post signs warning House aides that they must pay the $90 fee and set up a booth to collect the money, or else the industry could face criminal charges from the Justice Department for knowingly giving illegal gifts to congressional staff members.
(Indeed, reported the Post, the House "blue dog" Democrats who attended a party on Sunday night were required to pay $22 apiece. Apparently that party included an open bar and a show by pop rocker KT Tunstall--I wouldn't know, because a bouncer told me I couldn't venture on private property.)
As for tonight's event, of course the RIAA has a big agenda before Congress. The Center for Responsive Politics earlier this year reported how the recording industry is supporting a bill that would make radio broadcasters pay royalties to the recording industry in exchange for playing their songs:
The music industry's spending is buoyed by its lobbying juggernaut, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), which in the first quarter of 2008 has already spent $1.5 million on lobbying efforts, more than it spent in all of 2007. Since 2002, the RIAA has contributed to the campaigns of 17 of the 24 members of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property. These contributions total $115,070. Of those 17 subcommittee members, seven have come out publicly in favor of the bill (Reps. Robert Wexler (D-Fla.), Stephen Cohen (D-Tenn.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Anthony Wiener (D-N.Y.), Berman, Issa and Conyers).
I'll report back later.
PARTYFINDER™ Hints
Beneficiary: congressional candidate, lawmaker, or entity which collects funds raised at party
Host: person who is hosting party-often, but not always, a registered federal lobbyist
Venue Name: where the party is
Entertainment Type: type of gathering, such as "breakfast," "ski trip," "bowling"
Other Lawmakers Mentioned: lawmakers mentioned on invitation who are used as a draw for the event
Note: You may wonder why you often see repeat entries for the same party. Sometimes we receive the same invitation from more than one source. We are working on eliminating these duplicates.
Sunlight's Party Time is a project to track parties for members of Congress or congressional candidates that happen all year round in Washington, D.C. and beyond. (read more)
We also post information we receive about parties where members of Congress are expected to participate—such as convention or inaugural parties.
Since we don't hear about all the parties, you can also tell us if you know where the party is and we don't.
