as posted 3.09.06 at Attytood.com:
UPDATE: The managing partner at Williams & Jensen tells us that Barbara Bonfiglio has left the firm to become a "senior compliance officer" at an unnamed Fortune 100 company. Will post more later if we learn more.
People who've been following our Rick Santorum coverage lately may know the name Barbara Bonfiglio. She's a one-time inside-the-Beltway lobbyist who still works for a leading governmental affairs shop, and who has pulled triple-duty for Pa's junior senator, as treasurer of his campaign fund; his leadership PAC, America's Foundation; and of his controversial charity/not charity, the Operation Good Neighbor Foundation.
Tonight, the ex-lobbyist who does Santorum's books has become a woman of mystery.
Bonfiglio is apparently out at Williams & Jensen, just days after she surfaced to write a letter defending the spending practices and the failure to register at the Santorum-founded Operation Good Neighbor. The wording in this Stockton (Calif.) Record article suggests she abruptly left there on Tuesday. We placed several calls to W&J, which didn't deny the report but -- perhaps because of some missed connections -- also did not provide any new information. (There's more in the Daily Muck.)
We've also emailed the Santorum campaign, though given our recent history we don't know if they'll get back to us. One other "leadership PAC," belonging to U.S. Rep. Richard Pombo of California, said it has severed its ties with Bonfiglio.
In hindsight, it's odd that Bonfiglio hasn't gotten more scrutiny before now. It's not exactly clear how many political committees that she oversees, although it's at least several dozen. Here's what the Center for Public Integrity said about her:
During her tenure as a lobbyist from 1998 to 2001, Bonfiglio mastered the demanding jobs of both overseeing the finances of 31 political committees—more than half of which were campaign committees and leadership PACs—while lobbying for six companies at the D.C. law firm Williams & Jensen. In addition to running FEC-regulated committees, Bonfiglio was also the treasurer of five 527 organizations once connected to Members of Congress, which were allowed to raise money without contribution limits.
In 2004, Bonfiglio's work for one of those politicians -- Tom DeLay (you may have heard of him?...he was in all of the papers) -- caused Texas lawman Ronnie Earle to serve her with a subpoena. And you may also know about one of Bonfiglio's other "leadership PAC" clients, Randy "Duke" Cunningham, who was just nailed for taking a whopping $2.4 million in bribes.
Suddenly, there's a certain irony in the title of Bonfiglio's book on campaign finance issues. It's called, "How to Cross the Potomac Without Falling In."
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