Many 2016 candidates don't disclose bundlers

Republican Jeb Bush and Democrat Hillary Clinton each have released the names of the financiers, philanthropists, political strategists and the hundreds of other wealthy supporters who have raised money for their presidential campaigns.

It doesn’t look like other presidential candidates will join them anytime soon.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who has drawn support in recent months from key Republican fundraisers such as hedge funder Paul Singer, has not released his bundlers’ names. Campaign officials “disclose what we're required to,” spokesman Alex Conant said in an email this week.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who is battling Donald Trump for first place in Iowa’s GOP caucuses, told CNN last year he would release fundraisers' names and do so on  “our own timetable.”

This week, Cruz spokesman Brian Phillips said “no decision has been made yet” on disclosing those names.

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Federal law doesn’t require candidates to release bundlers’ names and how much they collect, unless they are federal lobbyists and raise at least $17,600. But several candidates have opted to do so over the years, including President Obama, former President George W. Bush and the 2008 Republican nominee John McCain.

Campaign-finance watchdogs say seeing a full list of fundraisers helps voters understand the people and industries upon whom candidates are relying for campaign dollars. Candidates for federal office cannot collect more than $2,700 from an individual donor for the primary election. As a result, they lean heavily on volunteer fundraisers, known as “bundlers,” to gather together money from friends, relatives and associates to remain competitive.

Meet Jeb Bush's top White House fundraisers

Although super PAC can raise unlimited amounts to boost favored candidates, they are barred from coordinating their advertising spending directly with campaigns. Candidates generally use their own campaign dollars to pay for the staff and travel required to run a presidential campaign.

“Bundlers are these people who gather up very precious hard-money contributions that the candidates need,” said Viveca Novak, of the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks political money. “These are people who are extremely important to campaigns.”

They are so important that top bundlers often win access to White House candidates and their aides during the campaign and can secure plum government assignments – spots on commissions or ambassadorships in European capitals or on warm islands – if their candidate succeeds.

Rubio’s campaign, for instance, is planning a March summit in Miami for top donors, and those who collect $100,000 or more will be treated to a “special surrogate & staff lunch,” Politico reported this week.

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While candidates often tout the big names who have joined their "finance committees," only Bush and Clinton have released bundler lists indicating who actually has raised money. As of Oct. 15, Bush listed 341 bundlers as aiding his campaign. More than 830 people appeared on Clinton's list of "Hillblazers," in mid-October. Neither disclosed exactly how much each bundler has collected, instead describing the fundraising in broad terms.

Aides say Bush and Clinton will update their bundler lists in the coming days as presidential candidates prepare to submit details to the Federal Election Commission of their fundraising and spending during the last three months of 2015.

Officials at several other campaigns, including Ohio Gov. John Kasich and former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley, did not immediately respond to questions about their bundlers’ lists.

Bernie Sanders raises $33 million, within $4 million of Clinton

Officials with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign, meanwhile, say he has no bundlers to disclose as he battles Clinton for the Democratic nomination.

“We don't have bundlers. We don't have a finance committee.  We don't have a finance director,” Sanders’ spokesman Michael Briggs said in an email.  Instead, he said, the campaign has more than a million donors “who have made an unprecedented 2.5 million contributions ... because they want to fix the rigged economy propped up by a corrupt campaign finance system.”