2002: Jack Conway supported a ban of unregulated ‘soft money’ campaign contributions to political parties or committees

2011: He’s relying – via his actual friends and former staffers running them – committees funded by soft dollars

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2002: Jack Conway wanted to prohibit non-U.S. citizens from making soft money contributions to national parties and committees

2011: Nary a peep

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2002: Jack Conway wanted to require full disclosure of funding sources of issue advocacy (527s and 501 orgs) commercials appearing within 60 days of an election

2011: Not a peep. You know he’ll fight that sort of disclosure this time around. Wouldn’t want everybody to find out daddy drops hundreds of thousands into those groups.

Oh — ever wondered why Jack Conway’s alleged efforts against Marathon always puff out in a poot of nothingness?

Maybe it’s because Marathon gives mountains of cash to the folks who back Jack:

If there was any doubt about whether Tony and Heather Podesta qualify as one of Washington’s top power couples, it can now be erased.

The pair, already known as top-tier Democratic donors and lobbyists, appear back to back at the top of the Federal Election Commission’s database of lobbyist bundlers.

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To outside watchdogs, few things are as controversial as the role of big money bundlers and big money lobbyists. Lobbyists bundling large amounts of cash “raises the specter of this quid pro quo that is so disturbing,” says Mary Boyle, vice president of communications for Common Cause. She describes bundlers as the “power brokers” of the regulated financial system, who do a valuable service for candidates that, in return, “buys them access, influence and, certainly prestige within the campaign.”

-SNIP-

In second place is Heather Podesta, Tony’s wife and a powerful lobbyist in her own right. Like her husband, her bundled donations have gone exclusively to Democrats — more than $322,000 went to the DCCC and DSCC. An art collector and board member for several collections, Heather Podesta is also the owner of her own successful lobbying firm that works for a broad range of clients, including the American Beverage Association, Marathon Oil and Prudential Financial. Heather Podesta + Partners has brought in at least $3.3 million in contracts since January.

“Tony and I started this cycle immediately and wanted to not wait until 2012 to engage,” she said. “So we really jump-started our fundraising early this cycle.”

Now we know why his former U.S. Senate campaign staffers were always tepid about criticizing Marathon when questioned privately.