Confidential DRAFT ONLY NOT For Circulation or Quotation Research Paper:
Saxby Chambliss’ Lobbyist-Financed Slush Fund How a Senator Turned a Political Action Committee (PAC) Into a Slush Fund For Luxury Golf Resorts and Corporate Jets With Money from Lobbyists and Their Clients
Introduction Republican Don Nickles of Oklahoma retired from the US Senate at the end of 2004 in order to establish a Washington lobbying office, and he bequeathed his political action committee, the Republican Majority Fund, to Sen. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia. “He is very well liked by the business community and he is a very competitive golfer,” Nickles said of Chambliss.1 A Political Action Committee (PAC) is an organization that can receive political contributions in order to make political gifts to other campaigns. Many corporations, business associations, and unions establish PACs from the contributions of their executives and members to increase their contributions to political campaigns. For example, while an individual is limited to $2300 in contributions to any a federal candidate in a general election, a PAC can contribute as much as $5,000.2 During the last decade, an increasing number of members in both the US Senate and the US House of Representatives have created PACs -- in addition to their own campaign re-election committees -- in order to raise money to help other candidates of the same political party. These are often called “Leadership PACs” since incumbents can enhance their standing among colleagues in their own party by helping to finance their campaign from the funds they raise through leadership PACs.3
1
Roll Call, June 7, 2005. “Quick Answers to PAC Questions,” Federal Election Commission (FEC), 2008, http://www.fec.gov/ans/answers_pac.shtml. 3 See data from the Center for Responsive Politics at http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/industry.php?txt=Q03&cycle=2008. 2