House Majority Whip Steve Scalise delivers remarks during a press conference after the Republican Conference meeting in the US Capitol. (Photo: SHAWN THEW, EPA)
WASHINGTON – A donation of $100,000 will get you a one-on-one coffee with House Majority Whip Steve Scalise and access to more than a dozen other private political events throughout the year, according to a sliding scale menu of benefits for donors to the Louisiana congressman.
The fundraising brochure for the Scalise Leadership Fund -- titled "2017 Team Scalise Programs and Benefits" -- is a nine-page fundraising menu for donors to choose their level of access, which increases with the size of the check written.
The document was obtained and published by the Center for Media and Democracy, a left-leaning Wisconsin government watchdog group. It provides a rare look into how prominent members of Congress and their parties collaborate to give deep-pocket donors one-stop shopping opportunities.
Campaign finance experts say the fundraising structure is legal. It follows donation limits and the rules for how several different organizations divide the proceeds. And it is a procedure used by any number of other joint fundraising committees created by Democrats and Republicans.
At its core, the program for the Scalise Leadership Fund is similar to a basic Washington fundraising event, where a group of donors write checks and spend a couple of hours mingling with the candidate or member of Congress at a cocktail party. The difference is that with Scalise’s joint committee program, the donation limits are higher and the benefits it provides extend throughout the year.
The fund divides the donations between Scalise’s re-election fund, his leadership political action committee, and three other accounts managed by the National Republican Congressional Committee.
Government watchdog groups say the Scalise Leadership Fund program is a brazen display of buying and selling access to a powerful member of Congress.
“It’s the specificity of it. What is so surprising about it is that it is so blatant,” said Larry Noble, general counsel for the Campaign Legal Center and a former general counsel at the Federal Election Commission. “This is just beyond meeting at a fundraiser. It sets up future events and private opportunities.”
The fund’s political director, however, said it is a matter of scheduling and convenience to lay out a year’s worth of fundraising events all at once.
“Like many joint fundraising committees, SLF plans its events on an annual basis, far in advance,” said Tyler Daniel. “So it makes sense to share that calendar with our supporters in advance and allow them to plan their calendars accordingly, which is the same thing other (joint fundraising committees) do.”
Under the Scalise program, a member of the Fleur de Lis Council – for $100,000 donors – gets the private coffee with Scalise, plus “exclusive access” to four quarterly retreats around the country, two private dinners, participation in national finance committee annual fly-in, VIP access to National Republican Congressional Committee events, monthly conference calls with Scalise or members of his finance team, biannual briefings with members of Team Scalise or top strategists, invitations to all Scalise Leadership Fund events, and a commemorative gift. For $5,000 donations from individuals, donors become a member of the Crescent City Council and get a private “opportunity” with Scalise, three coffees with Scalise and other House Republicans, one private Crescent City Council dinner, participation in the fly-in, invitation to VIP House leadership reception, priority registration to two of the four quarterly retreats, plus other conference calls and briefings.
The set-up is similar to how the national political parties and presidential inaugural committees underwrite conventions and inaugurations. Indeed, the inaugural committee for President-elect Donald Trump has tiered benefits for donors of $25,000, $100,000, $250,000, $500,000 and $1 million, including special access tickets to luncheons, balls, concerts, receptions, and the swearing-in itself.
Craig Holman, a lobbyist for Public Citizen, called them “access-buying schemes” that only wealthy donors can afford and not regular constituents.
“These are offensive enough, but sometimes justified as not being candidate-related. For Scalise, the package of privileged access he is selling is specifically candidate-related,” Holman said.
House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin also has a Team Ryan joint fundraising committee, which made a similar donor pitch last year, according to documents obtained by the Washington Post. In it, top donors or bundlers – those who raise at least $250,000 -- received a VIP package for the Republican National Convention, conference calls, tickets to Ryan’s holiday reception, invitations to retreats and monthly policy briefings, the paper reported in 2016.
Joint fundraising committees are not new in campaign finance, but a recent Supreme Court ruling and changes to donor limits passed by Congress have contributed to their rise. The Scalise Leadership Fund, as it discloses in the brochure, can accept maximum PAC donations of $120,000, and individuals can contribute up to $244,200. For those who write one check, the brochure also delineates how the money will be divided among the various committees.
The Hillary Victory Fund, which supported Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, was the largest joint fundraising committee in the 2016 cycle and raised $529 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
The Scalise Leadership Fund ranked sixth in money raised during the 2016 election cycle at $7.1 million, according to the center. Of that, about $1.9 million went to Scalise’s re-election account; $952,395 to the NRCC; and $588,330 to Scalise’s leadership PAC.
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