For U.S. congressmen such as Michael Oxley, Jim McCrery and Tom DeLay, the perks of power are found in five-star hotels, corporate jets and fundraisers at golf resorts.
They are among the top congressional spenders on luxury travel financed by their “leadership political action committees,” Federal Election Commission data show. Lawmakers set up such PACs to channel donations into their allies’ election campaigns, helping them build loyalty and influence. They are increasingly using the PACs to throw costly fundraisers – often elevating their lifestyles in the process.
“Members use them as slush funds,” says Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21, a Washington-based advocacy group that’s pushing for tougher campaign-finance laws. “You just don’t have to do this to raise money.”
Bloomberg analyzed the data based on a tally of stays at 31 U.S. hotels awarded five stars by the Mobil Travel Guide; reimbursements for corporate air travel; and expenses for fundraisers featuring ski and golf trips identified through a search of FEC data. The analysis didn’t include candidates’ individual campaign committees, which also sometimes pay for such travel. It only looked at expenses that have been reported so far this year.
The number of leadership PACs is surging as lawmakers seek ways to overcome campaign-finance limits. And they are drawing closer scrutiny since DeLay, a Texas Republican, was indicted Oct. 3 on money-laundering charges stemming from cash transfers by an offshoot of his leadership PAC.
More than 40 percent of congressional members have leadership PACs, which can take in higher donations from companies than can the campaign committees. The PACs’ expenditures aren’t regulated, giving lawmakers wide latitude in spending money given by such companies as General Electric Co. and FedEx Corp., two of the biggest donors.
Both Sens. Ken Salazar and Wayne Allard of Colorado have leadership PACs, but neither had the kind of extravagant spending seen among other lawmakers. Salazar spent about $10,000 in the past year, with most of it going to pay two people who raise funds for the Democratic senator. Allard spent less than $18,000, and $15,000 of that went as contributions to other lawmakers.
Many leadership PACs spend so much putting on fundraisers that their expenses outstrip the amount of money they give to candidates or parties. Oxley’s PAC this year has spent $292,458 on overhead – everything from consultants to ski-lift tickets to postage bills – while giving $114,000 in donations.
The PAC of Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., spent $168,807 on overhead, including $24,821 at the five-star Ritz Carlton Hotel in Naples, Fla. In the first eight months of the year, it gave $52,500 to candidates and party committees.
McCrery, R-La., a member of the tax-writing House Ways & Means Committee, is the top spender on luxury travel associated with fundraisers, according to a review of FEC disclosures by Bloomberg News and Political MoneyLine, a Washington-based company that tracks spending in politics. The records show McCrery paid at least $98,237 from his PAC in the first eight months of the year for such luxuries. Next on the list is Oxley, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee whose name has been synonymous with good corporate governance since his sponsorship of the 2002 law that cracked down on fraudulent accounting by companies.
Some lawmakers say the need to hold costly golf and ski events has increased since unregulated “soft-money” contributions were banned by Congress in 2002, making it harder to raise funds.
“When we take trips to raise money, folks want to go to nice places,” says Chambliss, who is seventh on the list. While his supporters “do have the opportunity to enjoy themselves,” the point is to raise money, he said.
The fundraising success of Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., suggests extravagance isn’t the only, or even the most efficient, route to collecting money.
Shelby, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, oversees the same industry as Oxley. Unlike Oxley, Shelby hasn’t reported taking any corporate jets this year, has hosted no golf tournaments, hasn’t stayed at a five-star hotel and hasn’t used his PAC money to buy lift tickets. Yet his PAC took in $718,469 in the first eight months, 40 percent more than Oxley’s, and has more cash on hand than any other committee.
Denver Post staff writer Anne C. Mulkern contributed to this report.
