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Documenting the Political Partying Circuit
From the early hours of the morning until late in the evening, politicians are partying. Sunlight's PARTY TIME can help you find out who is partying, where and when.

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ethics • POSTED - 04.14.2011 BY Keenan Steiner

Once again, DCCC taps top aides for donor circuit

Four top aides to House Democratic leaders have been tapped to host a fundraiser for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee tonight, at least the second time in less than one month that the campaign arm tapped aides for its cause.

Unlike the $100-per head fundraiser last month, this event may be out of reach for young donors, asking for $500 to spend an hour-and-a-half with the aides at Ping Pong Dim Sum in downtown Washington.

One of the staffers, Jason Cole, the chief of staff to DCCC leader Jim Himes, D-Conn., is a repeat host from the March event. The others are Stacey Bernards and Brian Romick, top aides to Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer, R-Md., and Hayden Rogers, the chief of staff to Rep. Heath Shuler, D-N.C., a leader of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition.

There is nothing improper about aides participating in fundraising when not working in their official roles but the line between aides fundraising and official duties has come into question before, including during a recent investigation by the House Ethics Committee.

The House Democrats out-raised their Republican counterparts in the first quarter by bringing in $19.6 million compared to the NRCC's $18 million, the DCCC reported today.

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.

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