Members of Congress have earmarked at least $3.11 billion since 2007 for organizations connected to them or their family members - such as clients, employers or alma maters.
That's one number that emerges from a ground-breaking database LegiStorm has compiled of family ties of members of Congress, built on an exhaustive report by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). The work highlights the intersection of the public work of members of Congress with their private interests. The full CREW report can be found at http://www.citizensforethics.org/familyaffair.
CREW explored a range of family ties, including: Family members on the campaign or official payroll; lawmakers directing earmarks to family members' groups; lobbyists trading on their family connections to Capitol Hill.
For example, Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.) has paid his girlfriend Patricia Williams more than $1.5 million in salary from his official congressional office since 2000 even while he privately owes her as much as $1 million in legal fees. Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) paid six family members salary or fees from his campaign - more than any other member - and five other family members were reimbursed for expenses. Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) paid his wife nearly $240,000 in salary over two campaign cycles to act as treasurer. CREW's report examines these and scores of other examples in which members of the House of Representatives may have conveyed advantage to their family members based on their public office.
CREW's report is the first-ever complete study of how members of the House of Representatives use their positions to benefit themselves and their families. The organization did a similar, smaller study in 2007, but expanded the scope this time to review the family ties of every current representative.
Meanwhile, LegiStorm has been quietly mapping family relations among members of Congress, their staff and lobbyists for years. Now, with the partnership of CREW, we are able to give a more complete picture of how those relations can sometimes benefit from their family ties, whether in the form of earmarks, lobbying contracts or campaign payments.
LegiStorm has expanded on CREW's work to use the power of our database to explore more wide-ranging family connections of current and former members of the House and Senate. Unlike CREW, we did not limit our efforts to the House or the most recent members. And we examined all organizations with connections to members and their family, including alma maters. Besides adding family and organization connections that CREW found where our database lacked them, we did not attempt a comprehensive review of all family and organizational connections, so it's likely that our numbers greatly understate the connections.
Among LegiStorm's other findings:
- 258 family members of 208 current members of Congress have worked as federally registered lobbyists, helping out on lobbying contracts worth $4.47 billion.
- 16 members have paid 17 family members (including Hastings' girlfriend) a total of $5.56 million from their congressional office payroll
