Sen. Mike Crapo

Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo is flush with campaign cash as he seeks a fourth six-year term, with more than $4.2 million in the bank and a record fundraising haul in the past quarter that eclipsed any reporting period since he was first elected to the Senate in 1998. “It is a privilege to serve the people of this great state and very humbling to see the tremendous support we have received,” Crapo said in a statement. “I have always put Idaho first and will continue fighting in Washington, D.C. for our conservative values.”

But the folks filling Crapo’s campaign coffers for the record fundraising quarter largely weren’t from Idaho – only 8 percent of the money he raised came from individuals in Idaho. Just over half came from PACs, with financial services and insurance interests dominating, and 84% of his individual donations came from out-of-state residents, many of them in the financial services industry.

Crapo got almost as much from Arkansas residents as from Idaho residents, because 19 top executives of a single privately held investment bank in Little Rock all donated generously. The senator serves on the Banking and Finance committees.

“The banking committee is a highly sought-after committee for a variety of reasons, many of which have to do with access to major donors,” said Boise State University political scientist emeritus Jim Weatherby. He said it should matter to citizens who funds their lawmakers’ campaigns. “It raises the questions about who the member of Congress is representing – the special interests and lobbies in Washington, or the residents of the state of Idaho,” he said.

Among the PACs that gave Crapo maximum $10,000 donations were the American Bankers Association PAC; Consumer Bankers Association PAC; American Institute of CPAs AICPA; TIAA-CREF PAC, Liberty Mutual Insurance PAC; LPL Financial Corp. PAC; Investment Company Institute PAC; Metlife Inc. PAC; and MORPAC, the Mortgage Bankers Association PAC. You can read my full story here from Saturday’s Spokesman-Review.