Big Biden Donors Are Grumbling

Teddy Schleifer: “While bundlers do like to complain, bundling is not easy work, and the unspoken promise of low-stakes political appointments is the grease that makes the big-money machine run. An ambassadorship is like the goodie bag that newlyweds give their guests in exchange for schlepping to the ceremony. Tokens of appreciation matter. Or as one Biden bundler summarized the relationship to me: ‘People need to be thanked more.’”

“Cutting out the perks of fundraising, whether it’s a V.I.P. badge at a nominating convention or an appointment to an exotic country, could make some donors less likely to participate in the process, despite bipartisan, highfalutin’ rhetoric about fundraising being a labor of love. That’s a concern that some Biden bundlers tell me they hold. Over time, according to a Biden official, the White House expects about 30 percent of its ambassadors to be political appointees — that would be more or less in line with the average before Trump, who gave away 44 percent to his friends.”