Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

Leadership PACs often used for creature comforts, not campaign cash, study finds

Plenty of the special fundraising committees that members of Congress are supposed to use to help their congressional peers continue to be used instead as slush funds for their own fancy eats and fun in the sun, a new report concludes.

"All Expenses Still Paid" was issued Wednesday by a pair of campaign finance reform advocacy groups, Issue One and the Campaign Legal Center, that have done several previous studies of the behavior of leadership political action committees, which lawmakers establish separately from their re-election organizations with the stated aim of raising money to be donated to the House or Senate campaigns of their political allies. (The Fulcrum is being incubated by Issue One but is journalistically independent.)


But less than half of the money spent by all leadership PACs in recent years has actually gone toward contributions to other candidates and political groups, the groups found. Instead:

  • Members used their leadership PACs to spend more than $87,000 in the last three months of 2018 at upscale restaurants near Capitol Hill, including 13 members who spent $16,939 at Charlie Palmer Steak.
  • Four members spent a combined $113,000 through leadership PACs last fall at Sea Island, a luxury resort in Georgia, while three others spent almost $73,000 at Kiawah Golf Resort just up the coast in South Carolina.
  • Among the members called out in the report were Republican Rep. George Holding of North Carolina, who directed only 18 percent of the $321,000 he spent between January 2017 and December 2018 to other candidates and political groups. Only 32 percent of the spending by the leadership committee of Democratic Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York during this same period went to candidates and political groups.

Legislation, introduced in the House in January, would extend to leadership committees the personal use ban that applies to campaign committees. No action has been taken on it.

Read More

Close up of a judge hammering a gavel

Judges will likely be asked to rule on how changes to federal rules were made and what conclusions were drawn from that process.

Chris Collins/Getty Images

‘Administrative law’ sounds dry but likely will be key to success or failure of Trump’s plans for government reform

There’s a lot of speculation about what Donald Trump’s second term in the White House will bring. But there’s one thread that’s likely to tie together many of the changes and conflicts: the subject I teach – called “administrative law.”

That’s because administrative law spells out the procedures that an administration must use to make changes in existing policies or adopt new ones. The processes defined in those laws are also used by groups that go to court to oppose an administration’s proposals.

Keep ReadingShow less
Dictionary entry for "democracy"
Lobro78.Getty Images

Paving the path forward to strengthening democracy

Kristina Becvar and David L. Nevins, co-publishers of The Fulcrum, announced recently that effective Jan. 1, Hugo Balta, The Fulcrum’s director of solutions journalism and DEI initiatives, will serve as executive editor. What follows is a message from Balta about his new responsibility.

In the aftermath of this year’s contentious presidential election, it is imperative to heal a democracy fractured by polarization, emphasizing the importance of dialogue, accountability, and inclusive and transparent governance.

Journalism plays a pivotal role in upholding democratic values and ensuring the health of democratic systems. As our country faces complex challenges, the significance of a free and independent press becomes increasingly evident.

Keep ReadingShow less
Rear view diverse voters waiting for polling place to open
SDI Productions/Getty Images

Open primary advocates must embrace the historic principles of change

This was a big year for the open primaries movement. Seven state-level campaigns and one municipal. Millions of voters declaring their support for open primaries. New leaders emerging across the country. Primary elections for the first time at the center of the national reform debate.

But with six out of eight campaigns failing at the ballot box, it’s also an important moment of reflection.

Keep ReadingShow less
Supreme Court

The Supreme Court

Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Is the rule of law in trouble? If so, judges could be the problem.

The results of a new Gallup poll offer alarming evidence of a serious erosion of confidence in the American judicial system. And if that was not enough of a signal, a survey done by Monmouth University delivered more bad news for people concerned about the rule of law in this country.

It found that almost a quarter of the American public would not be “bothered at all” if the president suspended some “laws and constitutional provisions.” Another quarter would only be bothered “a little.”

Reading these results, I was reminded of the quote from the Pogo comic: “We have met the enemy, and it is us.”

Keep ReadingShow less