Longtime Republican donor Edwin Phelps used to write five-figure checks regularly to the national party and the GOP senatorial committee. Now he has a different political passion: being part of an elite roundtable program that has pumped tens of millions into the Republican Governors Association. In return, the program’s members are invited to quarterly seminars with governors — and potential 2016 White House contenders — such as New Jersey’s Chris Christie, Louisiana’s Bobby Jindal and Indiana’s Mike Pence.