This invitation to an October fundraiser for a new leadership PAC for Rep. Tim Holden (D-PA) shows how Party Time can serve as an early warning system for fundraising before detailed campaign contribution reports are filed with the U.S. Federal Election Commission (FEC).

Leadership PACs are not as strictly regulated as lawmakers’ re-election campaign funds. Theoretically lawmakers are supposed to pass along the money they raise to their colleagues, as a way to build clout and help their parties. However, many lawmakers use these PACs to cover expenses that would not be allowed for a regular campaign committee. (See this recent expose by Propublica centering on Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) and his propensity for using his leadership PAC to fund golf trips.)  Some 70 percent of lawmakers now sport leadership PACs.

While the invitation in our database clearly connects Holden to PENNPAC, the committee is not associated with Holden’s candidate summary report on the FEC’s website, nor does the committee’s first monthly receipts/disbursements report indicate that it is affiliated with Holden in any way. The only official FEC record is an August filing for the creation of the leadership committee.

However, the committee raised no money between the August 19th filing date and the September 30th third quarter deadline, meaning it has remained virtually invisible to databases designed to track these kinds of committees.  The Center for Responsive Politics has compiled a list of 247 leadership committees and associated those committees with members of Congress, but there are still several mystery PACs and, as evidenced by Holden’s committee, others that remain hidden.

Maybe the congressman was waiting for the fourth quarter to kick start his new leadership committee. The only invitation for PENNPAC in the Party Time database may be the committee’s first fundraiser.