Several powerful lobbying groups for the banking industry paid congressional representatives nearly $300,000 in the days before and after they voted this year on an important consumer-friendly credit card bill that the banking industry strongly opposed.
Several of the House lawmakers who received contributions voted "no" on the Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights Act of 2009 -- which placed a number of restrictions on interest rates and fees that issuers could charge cardholders -- but many more voted yes on the legislation, which passed in the House of Representatives on April 30 by a vote of 357 to 70.
Rep. Addison Wilson (R - South Carolina) received $2,000 in campaign contributions from the American Bankers Association (ABA) three days before he voted "no" on the bill, and $5,000 from the Credit Union National Association one day before the vote. Both groups opposed the bill.
Rep. Lamar Smith (R - Texas) received $9,500 from Bank of America, US Bankcorp and Credit Union National Association days before his "no" vote and an additional $2,000 from the ABA and Citigroup after his vote.
Rep. Donald Manzullo (R - Illinois) received $3,000 from the ABA prior to the bill, for which he voted "no." He received an additional $1,000 from US Bankcorp five days after the vote.
Rep. John Boehner (R - Ohio) received $5,000 from US Bankcorp five days after he voted "no" on the bill.
“Companies would not invest in politicians’ election campaigns if it didn’t buy them influence or access,” said Daniel Newman, executive director of MAPLight.org, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that disclosed the information during the launch of a new tool it's made available on its web site to track lobbying contributions.
The tool, Money Near Votes, combines campaign-contribution data from the Center for Responsive Politics with the voting records of federal politicians to provide an easy way to follow the money trail and see which politicians are being courted for votes.
In the case of the credit card bill, if the campaign contributions were designed to sway politicians to oppose the bill, not all politicians fell in line with the donor's intent.
Rep. Barney Frank (D - Massachusetts) received $4,000 from the American Bankers Association eight days before the vote and an additional $3,750 from other groups opposed to the bill. But he voted "yes" for the bill anyway, which didn't seem to anger the ABA too much because it donated an additional $1,000 to his campaign eleven days after his vote.
Rep. Gary Ackerman (D - New York), who voted "yes" on the bill, received $2,000 prior to the vote but $4,500 after the vote -- all from groups opposed to the bill.
