Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's (Heavy) Hand in Government AffairsThis week's government takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac marked the shutdown, apparently, of one of Washington's most robust influence machines. Together, the two mortgage buyers spent nearly $200 million on lobbying and campaign contributions over the last two decades, throwing their weight around more like corporations than the government-sponsored enterprises they were. And when Fannie and Freddie faced collapse, those in government were there to help, ironic considering that for so many years the companies' political strategy was to avoid government involvement in their business. So how much did Fannie and Freddie's contributions and lobbying contribute to Congress's hands-off approach? That's hard to determine, but we do have hard data to measure the companies' investment in politicians. Not only have more than 350 current members of Congress collected a total of $4.8 million in campaign contributions associated with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac since 1989, but 28 lawmakers had up to $1.7 million of their own money invested in the companies last year.