Ex-House members spend campaign money after they depart

WASHINGTON — Former House members are spending their leftover money to pay for everything from luxury cars to foundations that bear their names, a USA TODAY review of new campaign-finance reports shows.

The practice is legal but raises questions among government watchdogs about whether these accounts are used as political slush funds.

Florida Republican Allen West, for instance, spent more than $17 million in his unsuccessful bid for a second House term, but he had enough leftover campaign cash to donate a combined $500,000 to two foundations, including the Allen West Foundation.

Ex-congressman Norm Dicks, a Democrat from Washington state, gave $25,000 to the athletic department of his alma mater. Nearly three years after New York Democrat Eric Massa resigned from Congress amid allegations that he inappropriately touched male staffers, his campaign pays his wife nearly $700 a month.

Federal rules bar former lawmakers from using leftover campaign money for their personal use, but a review of new reports show their contributors' dollars pay for a wide range of expenses. Of the 82 House members who were defeated or resigned from the last Congress, more than one in four had more than $100,000 remaining in their campaign accounts at the end of 2012, according to a USA TODAY analysis of recently filed Federal Election Commission reports.

West, a Tea Party favorite known for his fiery rhetoric and prodigious fundraising, has among the biggest leftover campaign war chests. He ended the year with a stockpile of more than $900,000 – even after donating $500,000 to the new groups Dec. 28.

The Allen West Foundation and American Legacy Guardians each received $250,000.The organizations share a post office box in Boca Raton, Fla., according to campaign filings.

In an interview, West declined to describe the groups' missions or whom they would employ. "That will be coming out later this month," he said.

Asked why he used campaign money, West said, "It's something that's been done before."

Federal law allows former lawmakers to keep their campaign accounts active indefinitely and dole out leftover funds to candidates, political parties and charities. The money also can be used to pay any lingering campaign expenses – such as gifts for volunteers and salaries for any remaining staffers.

"They have a fair amount of latitude, as long as they can justify the expense as a legitimate campaign expense," said Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a watchdog group. Sloan said politicians should be required to close their campaign accounts after a fixed time period "because they give the appearance of being treated as slush funds."

Year-end filings show:

Massa's campaign paid his wife, Beverly, $692 a month in the last quarter of the year for "accounting services," though the campaign took in no money in 2012. The Democrat's campaign had more than $62,000 left in the bank at year's end. More than 80% of $3,148 that it spent in the last three months of 2012 went to Beverly Massa or to cover payroll taxes and fees. Attempts to reach Massa were unsuccessful, but his attorney, James Doyle, said "somebody's got to file" regular campaign reports with the federal regulators as long as the campaign account remains open. He said it's cheaper to pay Beverly Massa than to hire an outside firm.

Dicks, who retired from the House after more than 30 years in Congress, donated $25,000 on Dec. 4 to the University of Washington athletics department, where he was a star lineman in the early 1960s and went to the Rose Bowl. Attempts to reach Dicks were unsuccessful, but university spokesman Norm Arkans said the donation will go toward the $260 million renovation of the Huskies' football stadium. Dicks, a former top appropriator, "has done a lot for the university in terms of legislation," Arkans said.

The campaign committee for ex-congressman Edolphus Towns, a New York Democrat who announced his retirement in April 2012, continued $602 monthly payments through November to Infiniti Financial Services for a "leased vehicle." The campaign bought a $2,300 computer from an Apple store in Manhattan on Nov. 28 and ended the year with $19.44 in the bank. Attempts to reach Towns were unsuccessful.

Other year-end campaign donations include a $500,000 contribution from ex-Alabama congressman Terry Everett to the R. Terry Everett Foundation.

Everett, who retired from Congress in 2008, said he created the foundation as a place to combine his leftover campaign cash with other personal funds to make donations to charitable causes. The Republican turns 76 this month and is no longer active in politics.

Everett, a former member of the House Intelligence Committee, said the first donation from the foundation will go to the CIA Officers Memorial Foundation, which helps cover educational expenses for the children of CIA officers killed in the line of duty. He said he expects to contribute to organizations that support education and animal welfare.

Although Everett has written the occasional check from his campaign account to candidates for public office, the foundation is prohibited from doing so. "That will have to come from private funds from now on," he said.

Contributing: Christopher Schnaars, USA TODAY; Mary Orndorff Troyan, Gannett Washington Bureau