Via Bloomberg:

When it comes to job benefits, Matthew Barzun is about to enjoy some of the best. As the new U.S. ambassador to the U.K., he’ll live in Winfield House, a London mansion set on 12 acres with gardens second only to those in Buckingham Palace in size. He’ll be able to borrow art from museums for free and host the president as an overnight guest when he’s in town.

Barzun, a 42-year-old technology entrepreneur nominated this month to the Court of St. James’s, earned those perks: He raised at least $1.2 million as finance chairman for President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign.

While Obama ran in 2008 on a pledge to limit the influence of money in politics, a review of ambassadorial appointments five years into his presidency shows that big donors have landed dozens of top overseas assignments. Since the president’s November re-election alone, posts in Italy, Belgium and Spain, as well as London, among other assignments, have gone to donors.

At least 26 of Obama’s current and nominated ambassadors were major Democratic campaign contributors, giving a total of at least $13.6 million to him, the Democratic Party, and congressional candidates, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

“When he talked about toughening up lobbying rules, the sense was that this is a president really committed to international engagement,” said Dan Kurtzer, a 29-year veteran of the foreign service and former ambassador to Egypt and Israel under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. “Instead, we so devalue diplomacy that we assume anyone can walk off the street and do it.”