The law stipulates that leftover campaign funds should be returned to donors, transferred to a political party or candidate, or donated to charity. Because of the logistics of returning partially spent donations of different sizes to an array of contributo rs, that option is not widely exercised. So far the retiring lawmakers have given away $200,000 to charities, churches, little league teams, alma maters and other nonprofits of their choosing. Besides being generous with their donors' money, some of the departing representa tives appear to be going out in style, with spending on "events" and "meetings" —code for meals at high-end restaurant s and lavish fundraiser s—totaling $1.2 million last year. The Capitol Hill Club alone, a perennial favorite hangout for GOP congressme n and their staffs, last year made $84,000 in meals paid for with retiring members’ campaign funds.
The use of campaign contributions for purposes other than financing the campaign of the candidate who collected them is troubling to reform advocates. "There’s an unspoken contract between the contributo r and the candidate that it’s going to be used to run for office," McGehee said. "When you start using it to give to other candidates , or give to charity, you’re breaking the contract with the contributo r."
About Elections 2012
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