There’s snow on the ground here in Denver. Last summer’s Democratic convention here and the GOP convention in Minneapolis/St. Paul seem like distant, balmy memories. Unfortunately,  disclosure of donors to the convention committees comes only long after the fact.

So it’s not until today that the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) and the Campaign Finance Institute (CFI) are able to come out with joint, detailed analyses of who exactly these donors were and how much they gave: some $118 million for both conventions, $61 million for the Democratic National Conventionand $57 million to the GOP convention. Of that amount, “heavy hitters”–those giving $250,000 to $3 million–supplied 80 percent of the private financing. And those heavy hitters included some corporate faces that look awfully familiar these days–from their appearances lately in Washington with figurative hands out to receive bailout funds. From CRP:

Embattled insurance giant American International Group (AIG), which received an $85 billion loan from the government just weeks after the GOP convention, gave $750,000 to each gathering. And AIG isn’t the only high-profile company that sought a handout from taxpayers after writing a big check toward the summer’s political gatherings. Others included Citigroup (which spent a total of $600,000 on the conventions), Goldman Sachs (which spent $505,000), Ford Motor Co. ($100,000 to each convention) and Bank of America (which spent $100,000, entirely on the Democratic convention). The federal government took over Freddie Mac just weeks after the mortgage buyer split half a million dollars between the two conventions.

The Democratic convention benefited from labor contributions.The drug industry was the top spender, splitting its contributions nearly evenly between the two conventions. However, compuater and Internet companies, along with individuals working int he industry gave $4.1 million to the GOP convention compared to $3.1 million to the Democrats.

All in all, it’s a lot of cash from a lot of folks who now find themselves pleading their financial cases in Washington. And these totals don’t even include the unreported amounts that special interests poured into private parties to entertain members of Congress and staffers while they were conventioneering. If there had been disclosure of this information at the time of the parties, how would that have affected the path of bailout legislation in Congress?

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Long after the partying is over, the host committees for the Democratic convention in Denver and the GOP convention in Minneapolis/St Paul have filed their disclosure forms with the U.S. Federal Election Commission on their donors. The Democrats report raising $60,966,482 for their convention; the Republicans,$51,229,299 for theirs. The Denver host committee’s report is here and the Minneapolis/St. Paul host committee’s report is here.

Here’s the Minneapolis Star Tribune on the GOP donors:

Seven Minnesota companies gave a million dollars or more to help stage the Republican National Convention in the Twin Cities last month.

Target Corp. and Best Buy led the local pack, offering $3 million and $2.25 million respectively. US Bank gave $1.05 million and UnitedHealth Group gave $1.5 million. Others in the million-dollar club included Pentair Corp., St. Jude Medical, 3M Company and Travelers. Six other firms located outside Minnesota also tossed in more than a million dollars.

According to the Minneapolis-St. Paul Host Committee’s fundraising report, filed with the Federal Election Commission late Wednesday, the committee took in more than $51 million, donated by corporations and individuals. It has spent more than $46 million so far on the convention, and has about another $1 million in remaining debts.

And here’s the Denver Post on the donors to the Democratic convention:

The majority of the corporate donations came from outside the state, the host committee said, but local donors included a little more than $1 million from Xcel Energy; $1 million from Forest City Stapleton, a Denver-based developer; $510,000 from Hensel Phelps Construction Co., which is building the city’s new justice center and built the Wellington E. Webb Municipal Building; and more than $800,000 from Qwest.

The cash raised from these corporate donors does not include all the partying expenses at the conventions.  Corporate and special interest donors spent additional money, which is not required to be reported, for hundreds of private parties hosted during the conventions.

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Read here for an account from Politico of the adventures of Sheila Krumholz and Massie Ritsch, executive director of and communications director for Center for Responsive Politics (CRP), respectively, and their own party crashing activities at the Democratic and Republican conventions.

In the story, Krumolz recounts how she managed to get a ride with some lobbyists in an SUV to a “financial literacy” luncheon in Denver, and how they also helped her get into the party:

Krumholz’s most extensive look inside the lobbyist-lawmaker bubble came when she set out for a “financial literacy event,” sponsored by the Financial Services Roundtable.

The title seemed a fishy front for a classic meet-and-greet between the advocacy and political classes. The event was to take place at the Denver restaurant Mile High Station - and was for credentialed guests only.

Krumholz decided to crash it, if she could.

Locating it, though, was her first challenge. The first cabby she hailed had no idea where Mile High Station was, so she got out of the cab.

The second cabby promised he’d gotten her close, within a few blocks. But when Krumholz couldn’t find it, she learned from a local police officer that she was still about a dozen blocks away.

Frustrated but determined, she cast her gaze to the street for a third cabby when an SUV carrying two lobbyists stopped to ask the same policeman for directions to the Roundtable event.

The neighborly officer gave them directions, then suggested they give Krumholz a ride since she was headed to the same place.

One of the lobbyists sized Krumholz up and silently buckled back up in the SUV. But the other called her over and told her to climb in.

On the way to Mile High Station, the trio got turned around a few more times and got to know each other. When Krumholz divulged her job, she was surprised when the friendlier of the two lobbyists exclaimed, “I love that site.”

After finally arriving at the restaurant, Krumholz still wasn’t sure how she was going to get past the credential table with its neat array of acceptable name tags - none with her name on it.

As she pulled out her business card, complete with her organization and title, the friendlier lobbyist said quietly, “Stick with me. I’ll see if I can get you in.” She did.

Once inside, Krumholz said she didn’t see people who appeared to be consumers in need of financial literacy lessons. But she did spot several members of Congress, including Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), a member of the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, and Rep. Paul E. Kanjorksi (D-Pa.), chairman of a House Financial Services subcommittee, and more than 50 or so lobbyists and Roundtable association members sidling up to the open bar for Bloody Marys and mimosas.

The pitch to lawmakers helped explain the event’s inscrutable title: Despite the housing slump, Congress didn’t need to pass new consumer protection regulations because the industry was already upgrading its own consumer financial literacy efforts.

It was an event not unlike many others that take place in Washington every day, albeit without a saloon décor. And one that complied with the new ethics laws, Krumholz concluded.

“The more things change,” she said, “the more they stay the same.”

CRP also blogged earlier on the event.

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Check out this video featuring our party crashing activities at the conventions. It comes from The Takeaway, a new national news program from a partnership of Public Radio International, WNYC Radio in collaboration with the BBC World Servce, The New York TImes, and WGBH Boston.

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Did you know Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) has a penchant for singing Johnny Cash songs–specifically, “Folsom Prison Blues”? Read all about it here, where newwest.com’s Robert Struckman reports on the a “Big Sky” Montana delegation party at the Democratic convention. Here is Struckman on the food–and the guests–at the party (he admits to being pretty hungry when he got to the party):

It was good stuff: a plateful of elk bison sliders was arranged next to crackers and cheese and other bite-sized fare. (Remember the “toothpick rule?”)

A waiter brought me another beer—the bar was wide open. And a few other scruffy attendees and I wolfed down those mini-burgers. (I took advantage of the cheese plates and nearby greenery—as well as huckleberry ketchup—to transform my bare elk patties into deluxe ungulate burgerettes.) Most of the attendees wore suits or other professional attire. Bingo, I thought. Lobbyists. I started asking people where they were from. Most were lobbyists. Not Montana. I did meet one actual Montana lobbyist, from PPL, the power company. Great guy.

The Colorado Independent also takes a look back at all the partying:

While many of those events were bare-bones, advocate-sponsored forums focused on issues, others were lavish, corporate-sponsored galas targeting members of Congress and other Democratic officials - everything from an AT&T-funded luncheon for the Maine, Vermont and Rhode Island delegations at the Pinnacle Club, a private event space high atop the Grand Haytt, to a gathering of Democratic attorneys general at the Ritz-Carlton, sponsored by AstroZeneca, a pharmaceutical giant facing numerous suits in federal and state courts.

Like many lobbying groups, the Poker Players Alliance sponsored events in both cities. To generate attention among many convention-related activities, the alliance brought along Hollywood stars. In Denver, for example, celebrities like Ben Affleck and Sarah Silverman were at the event. The alliance’s Web site does nothing to disguise the group’s intentions, saying it “is taking advantage of the concentration of delegates and members of Congress … to continue to lobby for the legalization of online poker.”

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The Democratic and Republican convention parties are over. I can’t say that I’m sorry. After spending two weeks–the first in Denver, the second in Minneapolis/St. Paul–trying to crash as many corporate and special interest-sponsored parties as I could and blog about them here, I’m in recuperation. Enough with the security guards and their omnipresent earpieces, the black limos and SUVs depositing their politician cargo, the red velvet ropes-and most of all, the constant rejection as I was turned away from yet another party.

That said, I can’t help looking back fondly and blogging some highlights. Party Time documented in our database some 400 parties at both the Democratic and Republican conventions. We’re pretty sure there were more, but we didn’t have inivitations for all of them. There’s no official requirement that these parties be reported anywhere, so our knowledge was limited to what ever information we got from our anonymous lobbyist sources. We also don’t know how much money was spent on these parties. Some of this information may be reported months from now on federal lobbying disclosure forms under ethics laws, but it’s doubtful it will be comprehensive.

We don’t have a full list of sponsors of these parties, either, although we know that the ones we saw-companies such as AT&T, Qwest, and Visa-were also donors to the Democratic and Republican convention host committees. A loophole in campaign finance law allows unlimited contributions to these groups. We don’t know how much they gave yet-those reports aren’t due until October.

Certainly what we saw in Denver and Minneapolis/St Paul was that the parties continued, despite new restrictions in ethics law in effect for the first time this year. Members of Congress made merry with lobbyists, even if the rules were a bit different. Here are the highlights.

Best slogan. “Vote for real estate!” read the placards free for the taking at a party thrown by travel industry associations at the St. Paul airport. (We’re still trying to figure out what that means.) We got a photo of Minnesota Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty doing photo ops with lobbyist attendees. The same list of sponsors had thrown a party at the Democratic convention.

Best “toothpick exemption” food: We saw caesar salad in a shot glass at a reception thrown by the lobbying firm Akin, Gump for senior council Vernon Jordan attended by several members of Congress and a long list of corporate lobbyists. “You’ll notice the absence of forks,” said Jordan, in the speech he gave as part of the reception. “I must admonish you not to try to eat the food with spoons served with the coffee.” That got a chuckle. Jordan was referring to an exemption under ethics laws that allows members of Congress and senior staff to attend receptions where finger food is served.

Best no show: In Denver, a reception to honor the freshmen class sponsored by U.S. Bank and Visa appeared to be missing a crucial ingredient: members of Congress. The party had gotten a lot of attention in the press-perhaps it was all the sunlight that scared the lawmakers away.

Most creative application of ethics law: The House ethics committee ruled that members of Congress and staff were required to pay the face value for tickets to a Kanye West concert in Denver sponsored by the Recording Industry Association of America, the One Campaign, and a long list of corporate sponsors. But the Senate ethics committee said the same event was a “widely attended event” under the ethics law and therefore it was ok for Senators and Senate staffers to go free.

Best party-attendee perk. These luxury porta-potties were reserved for guests at a private party in Denver. You had to show an ID before you could use them.

Best definition of a “customer”: A Qwest spokeswoman explained we couldn’t go in a party sponsored by Qwest CEO Ed Mueller at the Denver Art Museum’s Pallettes restaurant because it was a “private event.” When we asked why Qwest was a donor to both the Democratic and Republican conventions, she explained that Qwest believed Democrats and Republican convention attendees alike were their “customers.” I mentioned that as a Denver resident I was a Qwest customer myself-the company provides my telephone and DSL service-but that still didn’t get me in.

Party Time doesn’t end now that the convention parties are over. In our database we have thousands of invitations to fundraisers and members of Congress that are ready for scrutiny. There seems to be plenty of partying going on in September, not a surprise as congressional candidates will be reporting their third-quarter fundraising totals to the U.S. Federal Election Commission on September 30. Please keep visiting!

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Check out this gossipy blog on the parties at the GOP and Denver conventions here.

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Apparently all the sunlight on partying this week at the Democratic National Convention is having some effect. One party that had gotten a lot of attention–a reception to honor the freshmen class sponsored by U.S. Bank and Visa–appeared to be missing a crucial ingredient: members of Congress.

Jim McElhatton, investigative reporter for the Washington Times, blogged that while reporters were kept out of the event, there didn’t appear to be many, if any, members of Congress attending:

John Chiang, controller of the state of California, said he was there to learn more about “financial literacy” issues, but didn’t spot any members of Congress inside.

One man said he didn’t see any lawmakers, either, saying only there appeared to be some sort of “glitch.”

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Some one sent us this photo of deluxe porta-potties outside a party here in Denver this week. Apparently if you had to “go,” you needed an invitation!

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A truck parked on the street blared the music of Bono, co-founder of the One Campaign. Searchlights skipped through the night sky. There was a bevy of photographers to photograph celebrities going in a VIP entrance. A line of lucky people wearing concert tickets like credentials around their necks snaked around the block. It wasn’t the usual kind of scene for a Wednesday night in Denver outside the Kanye West concert sponsored by the Recording Industry Association of America, the One Campaign, and a long list of companies.

Shocker: I didn’t get in. Who did: by appearances, lots of young Hill staffers and other politically connected people, judging by the conversations I overheard. Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) was sighted. He’s gotten nearly $160,000 in campaign contributions from the TV/movies/music industry over the course of his Senate career, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

The presence of the new ethics law was evident. An event staffer walked back and forth along the line, proclaiming, “If you’re House staff and you haven’t paid, you have to pay at this table.” At the table was a sign with a long legal disclaimer explaining why House staff were required to pay–because the House ethics committee said they did. Senators and Senate staff faced no such requirement. The price for House members and staff: $90 per ticket.

I stood in line with everyone else. When I got to the table, I said who I was–that I was from the Sunlight Foundation, and we were writing about parties this week at the convention, and that I didn’t have a ticket. Could I go in anyway?

“No,” said the staffer, who wouldn’t give his name. “It’s by invitation only.”

“Who is invited to this event?” I asked.

He waved me around the corner to talk to a p.r. person. I gave my name to another staffer, who told me to wait for the One Campaign’s public relations person. I waited for awhile and when he didn’t show, I decided to go home and get some sleep.

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