Ames Alexander and David Ingram of The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer reported that North Carolina Labor Commissioner Cherie Berry has collected at least half of her campaign contributions from executives and managers of companies that have been inspected by her department. The newspaper’s analysis also found that while the Labor Department routinely reduces fines for workplace safety violations, Berry’s contributors have usually gotten bigger-than-average breaks.

PAC to the Future, the political action committee of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, funneled almost $100,000 over the past nine years to her husband’s real estate and investment firm for rent and utility payments, according to a report by Jennifer Haberkorn of The Washington Times.  FEC records indicate that the payments quadrupled when Paul Pelosi took over as the PAC’s treasurer in 2007.  “Last year, Mrs. Pelosi supported a bill that would have banned members of Congress from putting spouses on their campaign staffs. The bill — which passed the House in a voice vote but did not get out of a Senate committee — banned not only direct payments by congressional campaign committees and PACs to spouses for services including consulting and fundraising, but also ‘indirect compensation,’ such as payments to companies that employ spouses.”

The Secret Money Project, a joint endeavor by the Center for Investigative Reporting and NPR, tracks the influence of hidden money from independent groups funding advertising campaigns during the 2008 elections. Changes in campaign finance laws and political strategies have ratcheted up the influence of such groups in the current election cycle, as these groups are not limited in how much money they can raise and often aren’t scrutinized like the candidates or party committees. An interactive map identifies the groups behind the smear campaigns by state.

Newly released Congressional documents show that the lobbying firm of William Timmons Sr., who Republicans say has been tapped to lead Sen. John McCain’s transition committee, receive $260,000 this year from Feddie Mac prior to the government’s takeover of the mortgage company, report Jonathan D. Salant and Timothy J. Burger of Bloomberg.  The midyear financial-disclosure form of Timmons & Co.  lists Timmons Sr. as a lobbyist for Freddie Mac.  Speaking about the current financial crisis in Green Bay, Wis. last week, McCain stated, “At the center of the problem were the lobbyists, politicians, and bureaucrats who succeeded in persuading Congress and the administration to ignore the festering problems at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.”

Despite accepting $84 million in public financing for his Presidential campaign, John McCain “has found a way to work around these limits. The Republican Party — and not his campaign committee — has paid for more than half of his campaign ads and outspent Obama on television in the first week following the conventions,” reports Peter Overby of NPR.  McCain-Palin Victory 2008 is “a joint committee to raise money for the RNC, four of the state Republican parties and the legal compliance committee for McCain-Palin, which pays for the campaign committee’s lawyers and accountants.” Donors can contribute up to $67,800 to the victory committee with all money being funnelled back to the McCain campaign.

Brian Ross, Rhonda Schwartz and Avni Patel of ABCNews.com report that lobbyist money is flowing freely at the Democratic National Convention despite Barack Obama’s position to ban lobbyist and special interest contributions to his campaign.  A spokesman for the Obama campaign stated the drawn out primary prevented Senator Obama from making changes to the handling of convention funding.  In 2006, Democratic party chairman Howard Dean tapped Steve Farber, a prominent Washington lobbyist and Denver lawyer, as co-chair and chief fundraiser of the Denver host committee.

Records show that one-third of Barack Obama’s campaign donors have made donations over $1,000, reports Michael Luo and Christopher Drew of The New York Times. While Obama claimed to forgo public financing due to his lucrative grassroots fundraising from small donors, he has a robust stable of “bundlers” — more than 500 — who have raised over $50,000 or more, and many of whom work in industries with strong interests in Washington. “An analysis of campaign finance records shows that about two-thirds of his bundlers are concentrated in four major industries: law, securities and investments, real estate and entertainment.”

An article by Washington Post reporter Matthew Mosk revealed that the oil industry made large contributions to the McCain campaign in June following his policy statement calling for an end to the federal ban on offshore drilling. “Oil and gas industry executives and employees donated $1.1 million to McCain last month — three-quarters of which came after his June 16 speech calling for an end to the ban — compared with $116,000 in March, $283,000 in April and $208,000 in May.”

Nigel Jaquiss of Willamette Week reported that Craig Berkman, a former Oregon Republican Party chairman, was found in a civil lawsuit to have defrauded some of Portland’s wealthiest investors out of millions of dollars and was ordered to repay $28 million. Despite the lawsuit and ailing personal finances, Berkman continued to give generous political contributions to Sen. John McCain and others. He maxed out his donations to McCain and gave $23,990 to the Republican National Committee on May 29 — three weeks after his fraud trial began, and two weeks before the jury’s verdict.

Adam Liptak of The New York Times reports that the “millionaire’s amendment” was struck down by the Supreme Court in a 5-to-4 decision on Thursday. “The law at issue in Thursday’s decision imposed special rules in races with candidates who finance their own campaigns. Those candidates are required to disclose more information, and their opponents are allowed to raise more money.” The majority decision called into question the constitutionality of allowing different contribution levels for candidates running against one another.