By Alex Knott, CQ Staff
July 2, 2008
Catering for Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia: $14,063. A fundraising
event for House Minority Leader John A. Boehner of Ohio during
an Arizona PGA tournament: $5,500. Beverages from Georgetown
Wine & Spirits for contributors to Rep. Jesse L. Jackson
Jr. of Illinois: $1,186. Being able to charge expenses for
your congressional campaign on a credit card: Priceless.
These are just a few examples of charges that turned up recently
on the credit cards of congressional candidates this cycle.
Of course, it's perfectly legal to use credit cards instead
of writing checks. Credit cards are commonly used by presidential
candidates and congressional candidates.
Though the money is paid to companies like American Express,
Visa and MasterCard, each campaign still lists the vendors
that received these funds in memo notations when they file
their campaign disclosures.
The top 10 House candidates with the most campaign costs listed
as "credit card" expenses:
- Rep. Eric Cantor , R-Va., $344,334
- Rep. Shelley Berkley , D-Nev., $340,615
- Rep. Jesse L. Jackson Jr. , D-Ill., $313,477
- Rep. Joseph Crowley , D-N.Y., $310,604
- Rep. Robert E. Andrews , D-N.J., $313,477
- Rep. John A. Boehner , R-Ohio, $215,965
- Rep. Charles B. Rangel , D-N.Y., $178,991
- Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy , D-R.I., $175,780
- House candidate Terri Bonoff, D-Minn., $137,203
- Rep. Roy Blunt , R-Mo., $137,011
The Federal Election Commission requires all the expenditures
to be listed by each campaign if they exceed the threshold
of $200.
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