Barack fills transition team with Contributors, Bundlers and Lobbyists

Well, well, it looks like President-elect Barack Ochange isn't changing much at all when it comes to doing business in DC - like he claimed he would be.

Open Secrets is in the process of reviewing Barack's transistion team and to date they have uncovered some very disturbing trends for a man that ran on the mantra of change. Below is the article and some of their findings - along with a link for the data bases they are creating.

From Open Secrets --

Members of Barack Obama's transition team weren't necessarily selected solely on their résumés and expertise--some may have scored positions over similarly qualified individuals because they supported the president-elect by bundling money for his presidential campaign or opening their own wallets to him. And although Obama prohibits registered lobbyists from making financial contributions to his transition, influence peddlers past and present are showing up on the team that's building the foundation for the next administration.

The Obama transition office recently announced nearly 400 individuals who have been dispatched to review the workings of federal agencies. Our researchers here at the Center for Responsive Politics are working to match these individuals to our databases of contributors, bundlers and lobbyists.

Check out the full list of names, along with tallies of their campaign contributions and links to their profiles in our Lobbying, Revolving Door and Bundler databases here. Here's a summary of what we've found:

$824,155: Minimum total that transition team members contributed to Obama's campaign and to joint fundraising committees formed to support his election. Like figures below, this amount may well be higher. Lacking more than just a name for many team members, CRP has not been able to match everyone to our databases.

$3,869.27: Average contribution to Obama and joint fundraising committees from those on the transition team who contributed to the president-elect this election cycle. Supporters were limited to giving $4,600 directly to Obama since the start of 2007 but could give additional money to the Democratic party.

56: Percent of all announced transition team members who contributed to Obama or a joint fundraising committee supporting his candidacy.

$2 million: Total amount that donating transition team members gave to Democratic candidates and committees this cycle.

$7,977.04: Average contribution that donating transition team members gave to all federal candidates, parties and committees this election cycle. Any individual could give up to $108,200 this election cycle. The percentage of Americans who give even $200 to federal politics is less than one-half of 1 percent.

6: Number of team members who, apparently, didn't give money to any Democratic party committee or candidate, including Obama, but contributed to Republicans or other parties.

23: Number of transition team leaders who are, or have been since 1998, federally registered lobbyists. Seven of them were registered lobbyists as of the start of this year. Obama has prohibited currently registered lobbyists from working on his transition team in fields of policy on which they've tried to influence Congress in the last year. They're also required to stop all lobbying activity during their transition
work.

14: Number of transition team members who raised at least $50,000 for Obama's campaign. Every one of these bundlers also gave at least $2,300 to Obama out of his or her own pocket.

$2.8 million: Minimum total amount bundled by members of the transition team.

As we continue to match names, please check our new Transition Team Tracker for
updates.

"Bipartisan Barack" doesn't look so bipartisan either - only 6 Republicans?!?