Republic, Lost_ How Money Corrupts Congress--And a Plan to Stop It - Lawrence Lessig [101]
Raising money, however, costs money. These costs are the expenses that a leadership PAC incurs. A member of Congress might want to take a potential contributor to dinner. That costs money—especially today in D.C., which now has some of the most expensive restaurants in the United States. Or if the member really wants to impress the potential contributor, she might take him on a golfing trip, or to a “retreat” in a work-inducing location such as Oahu. These things cost money, too. So the leadership PAC must raise money to spend money to raise money.
But much of the way the leadership PAC spends its money benefits, in a perverse sort of way, the member of Congress. A member from California, not independently wealthy, with a spouse who doesn’t work, and who is trying to raise three kids, doesn’t have much money for fancy dinners if the family lives near D.C. Even less if the family stays in the district and the member has to maintain two residences.
So how does that member get to go to fancy restaurants?
He sets up a leadership PAC, and all doors are open. As Jeff Birnbaum reports, “More than one lawmaker… was willing to declare almost any lobbyist-paid meal a fund-raiser as long as the host of the dinner didn’t just pick up the check but also provided one as well—eventually.”10
The numbers here are really quite amazing. In the 2010 election cycle, leadership PACs collected more than $41 million in contributions.11 But there’s no actual obligation that members spend this PAC money on other members. So here’s just some of the delicious/disgusting (you pick) tidbits that public records reveal:
“[Thirty] Democrats and 17 Republicans… collected $1.07 million collectively without spending a dime on other candidates.”
“A committee created by Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-La.) [2003–], called Restore Our Democracy, collected nearly $100,000 this [2010] cycle and spent nearly two-thirds to finance his participation with donors or friends in two Mardi Gras balls…. Alexander’s committee has not used any funds directly for an election campaign.”
Two-thirds of expenditures of then–House minority leader John Boehner (R-Ohio; 1991–) have gone toward fund-raising costs, which included “fine meals and trips to luxurious resorts,”… “including $70,403 at the Ritz-Carlton in Naples, Florida, and more than $30,000 at Disney” resorts.
House majority leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.; 1981–) spent more than $50,000 on “travel with donors to resorts” in the 2010 election cycle, including $9,800 on entertainment tickets and limousines.
House minority whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.; 2001–) raised $2.1 million for his leadership PAC, and spent $136,000 on golf events, baseball games, skiing, and restaurants. In November 2009 his leadership PAC spent $30,000 “on a Beverly Hills fundraising event.”12
Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.; 1971–) used funds from his leadership PAC to commission a portrait of himself.13
All this luxury would go away if Congress were to end special-interest fund-raising as the means to getting reelected. Members would have to live on the salary they got. They would have to pay for their own dinners. Holidays would be at Ocean City (New Jersey), not Oahu or the south of Florida.
Now, again, I’m sure there are members of Congress who’d be okay with this. I’m sure many would be happy to make do with the salaries they got.
But I’m equally sure that there are many who recognize that a congressional pay raise is not in the offing, and that living life on $187,000 is not what they bargained for. Some who recognize this might well decide to leave office. But many more would fight the reform of this system to its death.
There’s no easy way to figure out if a candidate for Congress is either (a) the sort who’s going to be happy living frugally, or (b) the sort who’s going to pretend he’ll be happy, but then live life taking every advantage he can. Other countries get this, and rather than risk it,