Hoover Institution research fellow Peter Schweizer is probably not a favorite on Capitol Hill these days.
His latest book, “Extortion: How Politicians Extract Your Money, Buy Votes, And Line Their Own Pockets,” takes Congress to task for what some might call legal corruption. Here are six examples from Schweizer’s book of how congressmen use campaign donations to enrich themselves, their families and sometimes their staff:
1.) Hiring family members to work — or “work” — for their campaign: Schweizer says 82 members of Congress did this during the 2008 and 2010 election cycles. Among his many examples, he points to former Republican Texas Rep. Ron Paul, who paid six different family members over $300,000, and Democratic Florida Rep. Alcee Hastings, who paid his girlfriend over $600,000.
2.) Having their campaign pay them rent: In 2010, for instance, Virginia Republican Rep. Randy Forbes’ campaign “paid 35,4000 to rent a building” that the congressman owns in Virginia, according to Schweizer.
3.) Rob Andrews is pretty “creative”: Schweizer writes that the New Jersey Democratic congressman might “get the award for creativity and artistic ability: He funneled campaign money to several theaters that would engage his daughter (an actress and singer) to perform.”
“His campaign donated money to the Rock School of Dance, where his daughter trained, and then paid the Prince Music Theater and the Walnut Street Theater, both in Philadelphia, tens of thousands of dollars in donations for the events and ‘expenses,'” Schweizer continues. “His campaign also bought tickets for school groups to attend performances. His campaign committee donated to the Broadway Theater in Pittman, New Jersey, where his daughter preformed. And when she performed at Six Flags Great Adventure Theme Park in New Jersey, his campaign picked up meal expanses.”
4.) Earning interest off campaign loans: Meet Democratic California Rep. Grace Napolitano. When she first ran for office in 1998, Schweizer writes, she “loaned her congressional campaign committee $150,000.” She won. So what about the loan?
“She never asked for the money back,” reports Schweizer. “Instead, she charged her campaign an eye-popping 18 percent interest for almost twenty years, never paying off the loan. She pocketed more than $200,000 in interest payments during the first decade of the loan. In 2006 she dropped the interest rate to 10 percent, but kept paying herself interest.”
As Schweizer further notes, “Napolitano is a longtime member of the House Committee on Natural Resources and the House Transportation Committee, which means that donations from industries in those areas were not only donating to her campaign but also putting money in her pocket.”
5.) Leadership PACs allow congressmen to raise money and spend it on themselves and their staffs too: Schweizer provides this example:
“How unregulated are these leadership PACs? Consider the case of Ohio Republican Paul Gillmor’s leadership PAC. During a recent election, PAUL PAC spent almost $6,000 on personal expenses: fast food, doughnuts, bar tabs, and golf. The problem? Congressman Gillmor was dead. He had tragically fallen down the stairs months earlier. And yet PAUL PAC was picking up the cost of pizza deliveries, visits to Mexican restaurants, Dunkin’ Donuts, and more. Intrepid Wall Street Journal reporters Brody Mullins and Brad Haynes uncovered the story and asked the PAC manager about expenditures. He had a simple explanation: the expenditures were necessary because the PAC members had ‘gathered many times as we were all grieving to help each other with the job search process.’ There was apparently nothing illegal about using ‘grieving funds’ to go golfing.”
6.) Apparently there are some limits: Schweizer notes that though “candidates who are not in particularly tight races can put family members on the payroll,” elected officials “will have trouble using their campaign fund for personal benefit apart from high-interest loans.”
As an example, Schweizer cites New York Democratic Rep. Gregory Meeks. Meeks used campaign money to hire a personal trainer, which his staff argued was “legitimate because they helped him deal with the stress of his ‘official duties.'” But the Federal Election Commission said that was a step too far.
UPDATE:
Alex Gray, press secretary for Randy Forbes, responded to Schweizer’s charges in an email to The Daily Caller.