The Centre for Public Integrity / Barack Obama's ambassador legacy: plum postings for big donors

President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference in the briefing room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 16, 2016. 

Will Donald Trump similarly reward his political patrons? 

By Dave Levinthal, Chris Zubak-Skees

President-elect Donald Trump has begun nominating the people who he wants to represent U.S. interests abroad. But even Trump, who despite his "drain the swamp" mantra has been rewarding major campaign donors with prime positions in his cabinet, will find it difficult to match President Barack Obama's legacy of sending top political patrons to the world's poshest capital cities, according to a Center for Public Integrity analysis. (The practice has been embraced by Democratic and Republican presidents alike for generations.)

During his second term, Obama named 31 campaign "bundlers" — supporters who raised at least $50,000 to fund his presidential campaigns — as ambassadors. Obama tapped nearly all of these bundlers to serve in Western European nations or other highly developed and stable countries such as Canada and New Zealand.

Another 39 of Obama's second-term ambassador nominees are political appointees who either gave his campaign money or are known political allies. They, too, largely enjoyed postings to wealthy and peaceful nations — Ireland, Denmark and Australia, for example — or high-profile countries such as China and India.

Career diplomats, meanwhile, largely represent the United States in less developed (and sometimes, more violent) nations, from El Salvador and Haiti in North America to Somalia in Africa to Afghanistan and Pakistan in Asia.

Obama voluntarily identified his biggest campaign bundlers, making it possible to determine whether he was offering them ambassadorships. Trump, however, took what federal law allowed him during his presidential campaign — the ability to keep all his campaign bundlers secret, save for those who are federally registered lobbyists.

Here's a final, interactive look at Obama's ambassador-bundlers and other political patrons. Leaked documents indicate the fundraising totals below are likely conservative estimates:

Kirk W.B. Wagar 
Founder and managing partner of Wagar Law firm
Confirmed to Singapore 
'12'08'09 Inaug.raised at least $1.2 million for Obama

Matthew Winthrop Barzun
National Finance Chair for Obama's 2012 campaign
 Confirmed to United Kingdom
'12'08'09 Inaug.raised at least $1.2 million for Obama

Mark D. Gilbert
Director at financial services firm Barclays
 Confirmed to New Zealand and Samoa
'12'08'09 Inaug.raised at least $1.2 million for Obama

Michael Anderson Lawson
Former president of Los Angeles World Airports’ Board of Airport Commissioners
 Confirmed to UN Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization
'12'08'09 Inaug.raised at least $950,000 for Obama

Timothy M. Broas
Attorney at Winston & Strawn LLP
 Confirmed to Netherlands
'12'08'09 Inaug.raised at least $945,100 for Obama

Crystal Nix-Hines
Lawyer at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges
 Confirmed to UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
'12'08'09 Inaug.raised at least $872,500 for Obama

Jane D. Hartley
CEO of Observatory Group, an economic and political consultancy
 Confirmed to France and Monaco
'12'08'09 Inaug.raised at least $820,000 for Obama

Suzi LeVine
Former Microsoft executive
 Confirmed to Switzerland and Liechtenstein
'12'09 Inaug.raised at least $800,000 for Obama

John B. Emerson
Executive at investment firm Capital Group Companies
 Confirmed to Germany
'12'08'09 Inaug.raised at least $775,000 for Obama

Denise Campbell Bauer
2012 finance chair for Women for Obama
 Confirmed to Belgium
'12'08'09 Inaug.raised at least $753,500 for Obama

Bruce A. Heyman
Executive at Goldman Sachs & Co.
 Confirmed to Canada
'12'08'09 Inaug.raised at least $750,000 for Obama

Alexa Lange Wesner
Former president of technology recruiting firm HireTECH
 Confirmed to Austria
'12'08'09 Inaug.raised at least $750,000 for Obama

Andrew H. Schapiro
Partner at law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart and Sullivan
 Confirmed to Czech Republic
'12'08raised at least $700,000 for Obama

Pamela K. Hamamoto
Former executive at Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch
 Confirmed to Representative to the Office of the U.N. And Other International Organizations in Geneva
'12'08raised at least $700,000 for Obama

John R. Phillips
Founder and partner at Phillips & Cohen law firm
 Confirmed to Italy and San Marino
'12'08raised at least $700,000 for Obama

Robert C. Barber
Attorney at Looney & Grossman LLP
 Confirmed to Iceland
'12'08raised at least $600,000 for Obama

Charles C. Adams, Jr.
Lawyer at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld
 Confirmed to Finland
'12'08raised at least $550,000 for Obama

Robert A. Sherman
Attorney at Greenberg Traurig, LLP
 Confirmed to Portugal
'12'08raised at least $550,000 for Obama

Colleen Bradley Bell
Producer for Bell-Phillip Television Productions
 Confirmed to Hungary
'12raised at least $500,000 for Obama

Samuel D. Heins
Former attorney at Heins Mills & Olson
 Confirmed to Norway
'12raised at least $500,000 for Obama

Azita Raji
National Finance Vice-Chair for Obama's 2012 campaign
 Confirmed to Sweden
'12raised at least $500,000 for Obama

Dwight L. Bush, Sr.
President of financial and business consulting firm D.L. Bush & Associates
 Confirmed to Morocco
'12raised at least $500,000 for Obama

George J. Tsunis
Founder, chairman and CEO of Chartwell Hotels, LLC
Nominated to Norway — nomination expired
'12raised at least $500,000 for Obama

James Walter "Wally" Brewster
Senior managing partner at consulting firm SB&K Global
 Confirmed to Dominican Republic
'12raised at least $500,000 for Obama

Keith Michael Harper
Lawyer with Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP
 Confirmed to UN Human Rights Council
'12raised at least $500,000 for Obama

James Costos
Home Box Office (HBO) vice president
 Confirmed to Spain and Andorra
'12raised at least $500,000 for Obama

Anthony Luzzatto Gardner
Executive at private equity firm Palamon Capital Partners
 Confirmed to European Union
'12raised at least $500,000 for Obama

Noah Bryson Mamet
Founder and president of consulting firm Noah Mamet & Associates
 Confirmed to Argentina
'12raised at least $500,000 for Obama

Michael Froman
Former deputy national security advisor
 Confirmed to US Trade Representative
'08raised at least $200,000 for Obama

David McKean
Former CEO of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation in Boston and former staff director of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee
 Confirmed to Luxembourg
'12raised at least $100,000 for Obama

Stafford Fitzgerald Haney
Principal at Pzena Investment Management
 Confirmed to Costa Rica