Wall Street and Washington never cease to amaze me with their creativity in bending, skirting and flouting laws intended to restrict and monitor the flow of money into their pockets. Fortunately, the public has more powerful tools than ever to track that money. Much of recent campaign finance reforms are all about disclosure - forcing politicians to say who’s giving them money and how they’re spending it. Of course, none of that disclosure makes any difference if no one looks at it.

Our Washington correspondent Kevin Diaz wrote earlier this week about “leadership PACs,” organizations that politicians use to “expand their networks, raise their profiles and, on occasion, live well. The PACs also permit pols and donors to get around ordinary fund-raising limits and rules on giving gifts, throwing parties and paying for travel.”

PACs, which stand for political action committees, are typically used by groups and individuals that want to influence the political process. Now members of Congress and candidates are finding them helpful as well, Diaz reported.

Diaz’s story built on the extensive analysis performed by a Washington nonprofit group, the Center for Responsive Politics, which has numerous ways to look up the names of individual campaign donors, politicians and lobbying groups. The most comprehensive source is the Federal Elections Commission - although it’s not the easiest thing to navigate, Diaz said.

I had no trouble finding the reports for U.S. Rep. John Kline’s Freedom and Security PAC on the FEC campaign finance search page. And there in the March monthly report, on page 6, you’ll find the item that Diaz highlighted in the first lines in his story: Freedom and Security PAC’s $4,800 payment to Hazeltine Golf Course for “down payment for golfing event”.

My Strib colleagues have also set up a look-up database for campaign contributions from Minnesotans to federal candidates.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 28th, 2008 at 12:33 pm and is filed under Government spends your money, Public records. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.