Disgraced former Rep. Trey Radel (R-Fla.), who resigned yesterday, was a man of the PAC people, at least in 2013.

PAC contributions made up 71 percent of the almost $300,000 that Radel, a former television reporter, raised in the first three-quarters of last year — before reports of his cocaine purchase broke on Oct. 29.

Three of them gave him $10,000 or more: New York Life Insurance ($10,500); Home Depot ($10,000); and Every Republican Is Crucial PAC ($10,000), the leadership PAC of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.).

Altogether, leadership PACs were Radel’s third largest contributing industry in the 2014 cycle, giving him $18,184 — behind air transport ($22,726) and health professionals ($20,750). Besides ERIC PAC, House Speaker John Boehner‘s (R-Ohio) Freedom Project and Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy‘s (R-Calif.) Majority Committee contributed to Radel.

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It’s not unusual for freshman lawmakers to draw contributions from their party’s leadership PACs, as they often lack the clout or experience to have built a Rolodex of deep-pocketed donors. In a swift reversal, as this blog has noted, the party leadership dropped Radel almost instantly once news of the drug bust surfaced.

Radel ended the third quarter of 2013 with $255,730 on hand, but listed $206,000 in unpaid loans — that he made to his own campaign. Indeed, Radel personally financed 19 percent of campaign expenses during his 2012 bid (that’s about the same amount PACs gave him in that race). It’s unclear if the “Hip Hop Conservative” and tea party favorite will pay himself back, though he may not be too worried about it: OpenSecrets.org’s analysis of his personal financial disclosure report for 2012 estimates his net worth at between $1.7 million and $6.4 million. Radel’s campaign also listed a debt of almost $14,000 to the law firm Bracewell & Giuliani.

Follow Emily on Twitter: @emilyakopp



Image: Former Congressman Trey Radel (R-Fla.) poses with House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) at the Capitol. (Source: the flickr stream of Rep. Steve Chabot (R-Ohio ))



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