NYTimes | A new book from a conservative advocate of
tighter campaign finance regulations seeks to draw attention to a number
of questionable but legal fund-raising activities — some potentially
damaging, others certainly embarrassing — that could prove uncomfortable
for some on Capitol Hill.
The author is Peter Schweizer, a fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution,
whose last book focused on how members of both parties enriched
themselves by trading stock based on information they obtained by virtue
of their positions in Congress. The book — and the news coverage of it —
helped lead to the Stock Act,
which banned insider trading for representatives and senators but
stopped far short of the systemic changes advocates like Mr. Schweizer
said were necessary.
Mr. Schweizer hopes his new book, titled “Extortion,” will help push
Congress to address loopholes in the campaign finance system, including
banning “Leadership PACs,”
which allow politicians to spend and solicit money without many of the
restrictions they face when using their dedicated campaign committees.
These groups, Mr. Schweizer argues, have essentially become slush funds
that enable lavish lifestyles while they exist ostensibly to help
members of Congress finance their own campaigns and help political
allies.
The book details the extravagant expenses of Senator Saxby Chambliss,
Republican of Georgia, for instance, whose leadership PAC spent $10,000
on golf at Pebble Beach, nearly $27,000 at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, and
$107,752 at the exclusive Breakers resort in Palm Beach, Fla. The amount
Mr. Chambliss spent at the Breakers in the 2012 election cycle, the
book reports, is three times what the senator gave to the National
Republican Senatorial Committee during the same period.
Senator Roy Blunt, Republican of Missouri, racked up $65,000 in expenses
during the 2012 cycle at a resort on South Carolina’s exclusive Kiawah
Island, the book says. That was more than he transferred to his party’s
senatorial committee, despite raising $1.1 million.
A spokeswoman for Mr. Chambliss said that every fund-raiser and
expenditure was documented and reported according to the law, and that
he gave the maximum allowed to his colleagues. Mr. Blunt’s office did
not respond to a request for comment.
