Way back in 2009 I had a look at John Boehner's FEC disclosures for his Freedom Project PAC and wondered then whether anyone would take notice of how popular he was with corporate PAC donors. It's taken four long years, but it seems the FEC has some concerns about the amount of money he has received from those same PACs.
Letters the Federal Election Committee sent Monday toFriends of John Boehnerindicated that donors including coal, energy, and gambling interests, exceeded contribution limits to Boehner's committee by more than $150,000.
Among the groups that were allegedly overgenerous to Boehner were Coalpac and Minepac, which represent the mining industry, as well as political committees representing the Exelon, Constellation and Luminant power companies, and the Ceasars and Penn National gambling enterprises.
"Although the commission may take further legal action concerning the acceptance of excessive contributions, your prompt action to refund the excessive amount will be taken into consideration," the letters say.
Friends of John Boehner is one of several political organizations that Boehner uses to raise money for GOP candidates and solidify his party's control over the U.S. House of Representatives. Records compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics list him as the top fundraiser in the House of Representatives during the 2012 election cycle, raising more than $22 million.
Boehner's greed must have been excessive for the Republican-dominated FEC to take notice. Either that, or they're getting ready to smooth any rough waters that he might actually encounter from taking excessive contributions from his corporate pals.
From the response Boehner's representative filed with the FEC, it seems they wanted to simply write it off to a database error. Aww, just a database error. Just an error that enabled John Boehner to flood his district with ads in the final days of his campaign. A campaign where there wasn't even a credible challenger!
By the way, in addition to the $12 million Boehner raked in during the 2012 cycle, his Freedom Project PAC pulled down another $3.7 million from PACs and corporate donors. Nice work if you can get it. I guess handing out smokes on the House floor has its advantages.
