Tiger Woods Meet NJ's GOP and their finest Lobbyists

[fearnobush]

Aug. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Tiger Woods and Vijay Singh won't be the only golfers playing for dollars this week in New Jersey. As the world's top players compete at the Baltusrol Golf Club for the PGA Championship in Springfield, donors paying $2,000 each will tee off at nearby Trump National Golf Course with a local congressman, Mike Ferguson, then get a day to see the pros.

Ferguson, 35, a Republican whose district includes both courses, plans to spend much of Aug. 12 near Baltusrol's signature over-the-water, 200-yard, par-3 fourth hole.

``The sports world will be focused on our district,'' he says. So will a lot of Washington lobbyists and executives: About a dozen contributors will join him at the fourth hole.
Campaign-finance watchdogs say the events are paid for with funds raised from companies that have issues before Congress and give executives and lobbyists access to lawmakers that's not available to ordinary voters.

Lobbyists are increasingly following lawmakers around the country, pledging as much as $5,000 apiece for the privilege of putting with politicians. It's a way for public officials and representatives of companies such as CSX Corp. and Cigna Corp. to mix business with pleasure, free from scrutiny. Spending by U.S. lawmakers to hold the events shot up at least 18 percent in the first half of 2005 -- a non-election year -- from the first half of 2004, federal records show.

``This system makes it an unfair playing field for citizens,'' says Alex Knott, political editor of the nonpartisan, Washington-based Center for Public Integrity. ``They are going to remember before they vote the fun time they had at their weekend extravaganza,'' he said of the lawmakers. ``They may not remember one scrap of constituent mail.''

Republicans Top List

Republicans, who control Congress, are the most avid golfers. Of the 15 fund-raising events the National Republican Congressional Committee listed on its Web site in August, 10 involve golf. Republicans accounted for about 85 percent of the total of at least $1.8 million spent on golf events since 2003.

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<http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=ag8L8eO4fsiE&refer=us>

[applegrove]

1. The GOP - always after the African American Icons. Did they bring

the confederate flag?

[Bumblebee]

2. I never liked him -- and now I know even more why!

[Kahuna]

3. Ditto here.

:puke:

[blue_7th_nj]

7. The didn't meet Tiger as an African American

They met his as an Asian/Pacific Islander. :-)

[blue_7th_nj]

4. That's my boy!

We started a group called Blue 7th PAC which is raising money and doing op research to win Mike Ferguson's 7th Congressional district. He's received more money than any other member of Congress from Tom DeLay, and recently donated a thousand bucks to Rick Santorum. You can see our sites in my sig.

We've got to take this guy down. Anyone who wants to help is welcome!

[NNadir]

5. The article's title is misleading.

It simply says that Tiger Woods was playing golf in a PGA tournament while a Repuke congressman was holding a golf fundraiser nearby.

There is no evidence that Tiger Woods is involved with the fundraiser in any way.

I have no idea whether Woods is a Repuke or not, but he may not be.

[DawnneOBTS]

6. Now I know why I will never play golf n/t