Monday, March 5, 2018

Companies Court Lawmakers with Charitable Giving, Don’t Always Disclose It

 
The full version of this story was originally published by The Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative news organization in Washington, D.C.

In August, a nonprofit group dedicated to archiving the official and personal papers of Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, R-Utah, gathered donors for golf at an "authentic yet refined" luxury mountain resort boasting "the largest spa in Utah."

The fundraising event was also an opportunity to spend two days with Hatch himself — the powerful chairman of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee.

Companies and trade associations that spent much of 2017 seeking to influence landmark tax 
legislation, which Hatch took a leading role in shaping, were hit up for the soiree. Among them: drugmaker Merck & Co., which, like almost every other big company last year, was lobbying for favorable tax provisions. Among other contributors writing checks to the Orrin G. Hatch Foundation in four and five-figure amounts last August: the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America and Visa, Inc.

Top donors reportedly gave $100,000 or more. 

Click here for the full article.

Source: NBC News 

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