Following David Rubenstein's Money

NYT reports:

...employees from more than two dozen investment firms, including well-known firms like Blackstone Group and Carlyle Group, contributed more than $1.97 million to the campaigns of various officials — governors, would-be governors and treasurers, among others — who could have influenced which firms won lucrative contracts to manage public pension fund money.

The contributions by executives such as Stephen Schwarzman, a Blackstone co-founder, and David Rubenstein, who co-founded Carlyle, were completely legal.

But for some, the donations to officials such as Alan Hevesi, the former New York comptroller whose aides recently pleaded not guilty to corruption-related fraud charges, will raise questions. Some of the donations would no longer be allowed under policies that the investment firms have since put in place.

USA Today found that Mr. Rubenstein contributed $48,000 since 2002 to Mr. Hevesi’s election campaigns. Mr. Schwarzman; his wife, Christine; and Pete Peterson, another Blackstone co-founder, gave a total of $30,000 to Mr. Hevesi and two other candidates who ran in 2002 to succeed H. Carl McCall as New York comptroller, the newspaper said.

All of the firms in USA Today’s analysis were mentioned, but not charged, in connection with so-called pay-to-play investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the office of New York state’s attorney general, Andrew M. Cuomo.

Rubenstein lives in Washington D.C. Why would he be donating to the campaign of the New York state Comptroller, other than for access?

Asked about the Carlyle contributions, a Carlyle spokesman, Christopher Ullman, told USA Today that they “were given by Carlyle employees on their own behalf and were properly disclosed to the public.” He added that the firm now has a $300 limit on contributions to state or local officials.

What this new limit means is that Carlyle will go out and hire a middleman "adviser" that will get them the access, and it will be the middleman "adviser" that will make the contributions. Money flow to power points, like water going down hill, is not stopped by a rock in the way, water and aggressive operators will find a way around it.