More Than 60 Politicians Relied Mostly On Out-of-State Money
Tuesday, May 7, 2013 15:41
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All lawmakers get campaign checks from people who are not their constituents. But in the last election, at least 66 senators and House members received most — yes, more than 50 percent — of their campaign funds from donors who don’t live in their home states.
There are several key reasons why a member of Congress might attract so much cash from people who can’t even vote for him or her, an analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics suggests.
Some candidates have significant national footprints. Think Reps. Michelle Bachmann (R-Minn.) and Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) and former Rep.Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio). In other cases, the attraction may be a lawmaker’s powerful position: Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) collected almost $10.8 million in out-of-state donations, about 85.3 percent of his total. And in some instances, a candidate becomes a proxy for a national fight; a number of top recipients of out-of-state cash ran in heavily-contested, closely-watched races.
And House members with a lot of seniority — particularly those who have seats on powerful committees, or better yet a chairmanship — also rely less on their own states for campaign cash.
The contributions we’ve analyzed are only those above $200, given by individual donors (not PACs). Smaller contributions must be reported to the Federal Election Commission, but without identifying donor information, so it’s not possible to say which of those contributions are from in-state or out-of-state.
Given his national prominence, it’s no shock that Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) was the number one recipient of out-of-state cash in 2012.
Top House Democrats, though lacking in chairmanships, also did well with out-of-state donors. House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) received $901,000 from them, and Rep.Sander Levin (D-Mich.) who is the top-ranking Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee (the man who would replace Camp, should the Dems gain the majority) picked up 70.8 percent of his individual contributions ($326,000) from outside Michigan’s borders.
The contributions we’ve analyzed are only those above $200, given by individual donors (not PACs). Smaller contributions must be reported to the Federal Election Commission, but without identifying donor information, so it’s not possible to say which of those contributions are from in-state or out-of-state.
Proxy Candidates
Topping the list of members of Congress who take money from out-of-state donors are a number of senators — or House members who ran for Senate — who found themselves in pitched electoral battles that seemed to reflect, on a smaller scale, larger partisan fights at the national level.
The second-biggest recipient of out-of-state campaign cash, for instance, was Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), who picked up $7.4 million in non-Missouri money along the way to fending off Republican Rep. Todd Akin in a race that drew national attention.
Nevada Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley, who lost a no-holds-barred bid for a Senate seat to Republican Dean Heller, raised $4.3 million from out-of-state sources, 68.4 percent of the total amount she received in contributions of greater than $200.
Tammy Baldwin, a Democrat who won a similar fight for a Senate seat in Wisconsin in 2012, raised $4.5 million from outside the state, or about 72 percent of the funds she received in large donations.
TOP TEN SENATE CANDIDATE RECIPIENTS OF OUT-OF-STATE CASH
| Name | Amount | Percentage |
| Claire McCaskill (D – Mo.) | $7,479,333 | 60.3% |
| Robert Menendez (D – N.J.) | $7,366,999 | 54.6% |
| Jon Tester (D-Mont.) | $6,057,952 | 77.6% |
| Orrin G. Hatch (R -Utah) | $5,360,274 | 88.5% |
| Tammy Baldwin (D -Wisc.) | $4,564,389 | 72.7% |
| Shelley Berkley (D – Nev.) | $4,383,123 | 68.4% |
| Denny Rehberg (R – Mont.) | $4,288,512 | 78.6% |
| Maria Cantwell (D – Wash.) | $3,768,144 | 54.9% |
| Debbie Stabenow (D – Mich.) | $3,399,022 | 54.8% |
| Jeff Flake (R – Ariz.) | $3,105,010 | 52.3% |
Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.), who wasn’t vying for a crucial Senate seat but is a tea party hero, was a magnet for out-of-state contributions in 2012. At least $4.2 million (or 59.6 percent) of the individual donations to his campaign were from donors who do not live in Florida.
Dennis Kucinich, as much a hero to the far left as West was to the far right, only received $294,000 from out-of-state donors, but that accounted for 85.2 percent of his donations above $200.
Power A Factor
Given his national prominence, it’s no shock that Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) was the number one recipient of out-of-state cash in 2012.
But a key position on a congressional committee, or simply seniority, can also attract attention from geographically distant contributors.
Numbers three and four on the list of lawmakers who received the most out-of-state cash were two powerful senators: Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), who is in the minority, but after 37 years in the Senate is one of its most powerful members.
In the House, Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.), chairman of the powerful, tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, received more than 80 percent of his large individual donations (about $968,000 out of a total $1.2 million) from out of state. Similarly, fellow Michigan Republican Rep. Fred Upton, who chairs the House Energy and Commerce committee, raised 64 percent of his $1.2 million in contributions of greater than $200 from out-of-state.
Top House Democrats, though lacking in chairmanships, also did well with out-of-state donors. House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) received $901,000 from them, and Rep.Sander Levin (D-Mich.) who is the top-ranking Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee (the man who would replace Camp, should the Dems gain the majority) picked up 70.8 percent of his individual contributions ($326,000) from outside Michigan’s borders.
Other far-flung friends
Members of Congress from some of the smallest and most distant parts of the U.S. rely to an extradordinary degree on money that originates far from home. Del. Eni F. H. Faleomavaega, the Democrat who represents American Samoa, received more than 96 percent of his campaign cash from outside his home territory in the 2012 campaign cycle. Faleomavaega, who cannot vote on final bills but can propose legislation and sit on committees, raised just $110,000 in 2010, but $94,400 of that came from individual donors writing checks larger than $200. Only one of those donors was from American Samoa. Faleomavaega also received $9,750 in large checks from PACs — none of them based in the territory he represents.
Similarly, Del. Donna Christian-Christensen, the Democrat from the U.S. Virgin Islands, raised $115,340 from donors who gave her more than $200, $76,800 of it from off-island donors. Christian-Christensen got just $15,233 from small donors, or about one-fifth of what large contributors from outside the territory gave her.
Democratic Del. Eleanor Holmes-Norton, who represents Washington, D.C., in Congress, had a similar profile, raising $139,000 from large individual donors, 53 percent of whom were not District residents.
Image: Dollar map via bigstockphoto.com
Article: From OpenSecrets with permission
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Odd that this doesn’t mention FOREIGN money obama received from OUTSIDE of the united states of America! which is ILLEGAL!! but will anyone call him on it? OF COURSE NOT, that would be RACIST!
America has been usurped by wussifing communists who tell the sheeple what is and isn’t acceptable…
ENOUGH!!!