Photograph by Evan Vucci/AP Photo
Former Sen. John Breaux and other Democratic lobbyists were big early donors to their party’s effort to defend its Senate majority in the 2014 elections.
Breaux, a Patton Boggs senior counsel and a Louisiana senator from 1987 to 2005, donated $30,800 last month to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, according to a Federal Election Commission filing this week.
Gerald S.J. Cassidy, the founder and chief executive officer of Cassidy & Associates, also gave $30,800 to the DSCC. Democratic lobbyists Jimmy Ryan, a former adviser to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and Heather Podesta, a lawyer and frequent Democratic donor, each gave $32,400.
The Federal Election Commission last month raised the annual limit on what an individual donor can give to a national party committee to $32,400 from $30,800.
The lobbyists’ donations helped the DSCC raise $4.2 million last month compared to $1.5 million for its partisan counterpart, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the filings show.
Home Depot Inc. CEO Frank Blake and New York real estate developer Jerry Speyer each gave $30,800 to the NRSC.
The DSCC began February with $3 million in the bank and $15.7 million in debts, compared to $3.3 million in cash-on-hand and $10 million in debts for the NRSC. Both parties borrowed millions of dollars to finance their spending on the 2012 Senate elections. Democrats increased their majority to 55 seats from 53.
