Hatch backers hit up K Street for ‘Orrin Hatch Foundation’ funds
Allies of GOP Sen. Orrin Hatch have launched a multimillion-dollar fundraising campaign to build a center honoring the chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee — and they’ve begun hitting up Utah-based donors, K Street lobbyists and major corporations, according to sources familiar with the efforts.
Hatch signed off on the effort by supporters, launched about a year ago, to create a nonprofit called the “Orrin G. Hatch Foundation.” They’re aiming to raise tens of millions of dollars for a “Hatch Center,” which would be located at a university in Utah and function as a research library.
It would house several thousand boxes of Hatch’s official Senate papers, as well provide a “place of civic engagement for students and the broader community,” according to a pamphlet circulated to potential donors. Hatch, the longest-serving Republican in the Senate, was first elected to the chamber in 1976.
For months the foundation has been quietly seeking to raise money without drawing public attention. The fundraising operation for the nonprofit has ties to Hatch’s political fundraiser, Heather Larrison. They’ve held at least one official gathering for K Streeters, many of whom represent clients before the Finance Committee.
Several sources said Hatch’s supporters have reached out to pharmaceutical and tech companies as they look to solicit high-dollar contributions.
A source with knowledge of the foundation’s fundraising goals said it was “looking for something substantial — certainly more than $10 million ... I don’t think they are gunning for $100 [million] or $150 [million], whatever the Kennedy thing was.” The source was referring to the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the Study of the Senate. Hatch and Kennedy were longtime friends, collaborating on numerous bills together.
While some current lawmakers have active foundations, the decision to solicit funds from companies and individuals that have business before his committee raises potential conflict-of-interest questions. As chairman of the Finance Committee, Hatch has jurisdiction over taxes, trade, health care and huge entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare.
Congressional ethics expert Rob Walker of Wiley Rein has been retained as outside counsel to the foundation. Walker, who served as chief counsel and staff director of the Senate and House ethics panels, said the organization went above and beyond the requirements for ensuring the foundation complies with federal law and Senate rules.
“Before agreeing to be part of this project, Senator Hatch insisted it comply with every applicable guideline to avoid any of the problems associated with some other foundations,” Walker said in a statement. “Out of an abundance of caution, we sought direct guidance from the Senate Ethics Committee in structuring the foundation and the Senator’s limited participation.”
Neither Hatch nor any of his family members or Senate staffers serve on the foundation’s board or receive a financial benefit from the organization. Hatch is not involved in day-to-day operations of the nonprofit.
According to the 10-page pamphlet given to potential K Street donors, some of the items from Hatch’s personal collection include: “Personal notes, meeting minutes and internal memoranda relating to the confirmation hearings for Robert Bork, Justice Clarence Thomas, and virtually every judicial nominee over the past 40 years"; “A copy of H. Res. 611, the Resolution of Impeachment of President Clinton, signed by all the House Impeachment Managers"; “Private Correspondence between Senator Hatch and Senator Ted Kennedy on issues arising during negotiations over landmark legislation to address children’s health"; and a “painting by the late Senator Ted Kennedy of the Hyannis Port seascape, one of the many personal gifts from Kennedy including in the Collection.”
“Thanks to Senator Hatch’s critical role in many of the pivotal events of the last forty years, the Collection will be a crowning feature of the Hatch Center — one of its enduring contributions to historical scholarship and popular memory of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries,” the pamphlet added.
Hatch has employed an archivist on his Senate payroll for a number of years to curate his records even as his career has continued to unfold.
Several sources familiar with the legacy project likened Hatch’s foundation to those created in honor of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), among others.
Scott Anderson, a Utah businessman, longtime friend and Hatch donor who chairs the foundation board, said in a statement that the foundation was established “to ensure public access to historically significant records from the inner workings of the Senate during the past four decades and to promote constructive, bipartisan legislative efforts to address critical challenges facing our country.”
Tax documents for the Orrin G. Hatch Foundation are not yet publicly available.
It’s unclear whether Hatch, 82, will run for reelection in 2018. He had previously signaled that he would not, but several sources said he could change his mind. The fundraising effort has already downshifted as speculation over Hatch’s political future has grown. Lobbyists close to Hatch said they would not be involved in the fundraising effort if Hatch runs.