What do Rep. Gresham Barrett’s day of golfing, Rep. Bennie Thompson’s night out at a Janet Jackson concert, Rep. Kendrick Meek’s afternoon watching the Cleveland Browns play the Resdskins, and Rep. Stephanie Herseth’s annual pheasant hunt, have in common?

First, they are all fundraising parties scheduled for this week and next for these lawmakers’ leadership PACs or campaign committees. Second, they’re all for lawmakers whose seats are all safe, according to the Cook Political Report. That means they don’t need the cash, particularly, for their election fights this year.

Rep. Barrett, a Republican, has a golf event planned today at Sage Valley Golf Course, a “Golf Digest Top 100 Course,” in South Carolina, where he represents the third district. According the Center for Responsive Politics, he’s raised $873,000 this election cycle to his opponent’s $21,000. His campaign’s expenditure’s records show he has spent $10,000 at the golf course in the past.

Mississippi Democrat Rep. Thompson is using this week’s Janet Jackson concert at Washington, DC’s Verizon Center as an opportunity to raise cash for his leadership PAC, Secure PAC. Secure PAC’s recently filed third quarter report shows it raised $128,375 so far this calendar year–not an enormous amount when it comes to leadership PAC-dom.

Rep. Meek’s afternoon watching the Cleveland Browns v. the Redskins also benefits his leadership PAC–in this case, the “Help Elect America’s Team PAC.” Meek, a Florida Democrat, has used the PAC to spread more than $200,000 around this election cycle to help fellow lawmakers, including $43,500 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Finally, there’s Democrat Rep. Herseth’s pheasant hunt in her home state of South Dakota. Meek has raised more than $1 million to her opponent’s $333,000. The cost to participate is $2,500 for PACs, $1,000 for individuals. Pheasant hunting is big in South Dakota. Herseth’s pheasant hunt is an annual affair. The Rapid City Journal ran this photo from her hunt last year. Rep. Mike Thompson, a Democrat from California, is on the left. In the middle is Herseth, and on the right, her husband, Max, a former congressman from Texas.

0 Comments