The Good Life: Livin' Large with the ROYB fund
On holidays like today, I like to splurge and grill up some nice steaks. I can't do it all of the time, but it's nice to live like a king in my own backyard from time to time.
Sadly, I don't have a leadership PAC to finance my own expensive meals and luxurious trips. But fortunately for Roy Blunt, Roy Blunt has such a fund.
Leadership PACs are separate from politicians' main campaign accounts, and file separate reports with the Federal Election Commission. They're used to make donations to other candidates, build relationships with other legislators and leaders, and generally further a politician's ambitions. Blunt's PAC, the Rely on Your Beliefs Fund (ROYB Fund) has been one of the most active in the entire country over the past few election cycles. In 2006, for example, Blunt raised $985,281 into his PAC, and was surpassed only by Reps. Eric Cantor (R-VA) and John Boehner (R-OH) in total receipts. That money -- much of it from big special interest checks -- is then forwarded on to other campaigns or spent to further Blunt's career.
Recently, Blunt's PAC has been almost exclusively devoted to fancy resorts and meals. Since January 1, while his campaign has burned through cash and struggled to raise money, the ROYB fund has been writing some serious checks to resorts in places like Florida and South Carolina, and expensive restaurants in Washington, DC. (To be clear, all of these expenses are completely separate from the also-luxurious campaign expenses reported in April.)
The largest single expenditure from Blunt's reports this year was $43,929.03 to Kiawah Island Golf Resort in Johns Island, SC (seen above), in early January for "PAC Event Catering/Lodging" (www.kiawahresort.com). From the looks of the resort's website, it's a nice place to drop $44k in other people's money.
There have also been a couple of nice Florida trips, at least partially subsidized with the special interest cash:
- $507.02 at the Ocean Reef Club in Key Largo (www.oceanreef.com)
- $540.25 at the Four Diamond National Hotel in Miami Beach (www.nationalhotel.com, pictured here)
And a few nice dinners in Washington, DC:
- $500 at Johnny's Half Shell
- $484 at Paolos Georgetown
- $200 at Oceanaire
- $185 at The Caucus Room
- $163 at La Chaumiere
Not a bad way to live.
The chart below breaks down all of the expenses and receipts for the ROYB Fund for this year. If it's a little too cramped for your style, you can see it at full size here.
