Despite 3 Congressional races in Washington State where Democrats were challenging Republicans last year, Washington’s six incumbent Congressmen ended the campaign year on Dec 31st 2006 with $2,693,833 in cash on hand.
It is not immediately clear why this is so because looking at the data on OpenSecrets.org and the Federal Election Commission shows that a total of $10,331,886 was raised by all Democrats running for Congress in Washington State in the last election cycle. And of the $10,331,886 raised, some $9,875,407 was reported as being spent by all 9 campaigns. The campaigns saw a net increase of $456,479 dollars as cash on hand not spent this cycle.
The startling truth is that the $2.7 million is the accumulated unspent cash on hand from all campaigns as of Dec 31st 2206, including the carryover from previous years. The 3 Democratic non-incumbent challengers had only $42,942 in cash left.
The $2.7 million represents some 21% of Democratic Congressional campaign money that was really available to be spent. Very little of this money came in after election day, but was available to help Democratic candidates.
One has to question why is such a critical year , when Democrats nationally were trying to regain control of the House and Senate, incumbent Democratic Congressmen in this state did not feel compelled, particularly by October, to spend everything they had available to help in the effort to regain control of Congress.
The November elections turned out to be a very close national referendum on Bush and the Republicans and the Democrats were picking up momentum. At stake was who controlled Congress and whether or Democrats would the Majority or Minority Party. Being the Majority Party meant having Democratic Committee Chairs, subpoena power and the ability to pass legislation. Being in the minority you weren’t even consulted by the Republicans on any bills.
This is not to say our six Democratic Congressman didn’t help but did they give it their all? Were they united in helping the Democrats fight to the finish or did they hold back? Except for Rick Larsen, they faced pretty weak opposition.
I will let you judge for yourself. Reported below are figures for each Congressman and their campaigns and the money raised and money spent helping other campaigns. Most of our Congressman helped in one form or another, just some did more than others.
Meanwhile in this state Democrat Darcy Burner and Republican Dave Reichert each raised just over $3 million in the WA CD-08 race last November. In the end Reichert narrowly edged Burner with 7341 more votes. Burner got 48.54% of the votes and Reichert got 51.46% of the votes.
Would Darcy Burner have won if she had received more money? We’ll never know but the issue is ripe for speculation. And what might a little more help for Peter Goldmark have done over in Spokane? Feel free to speculate.
Money raised by Democrats in Washington State in 2006 races ( most to least)
Darcy Burner CD-8 challenger………$3,060,927
Rick Larsen CD-2 incumbent……….. 1,456,945
Peter Goldmark CD-5 challenger… $1,194,878
Norm Dicks CD-8 incumbent………… $975,071
Jim McDermott CD-7 incumbent…. $888,559
Jay Inslee CD-1 incumbent…………… $883,376
Brian Baird CD-3- incumbent……… $834,003
Adam Smith CD-9 incumbent………. $739,885
Richard Wright CD 4 challenger…… $298,242
Cash on Hand – Incumbent Washington Congressman on Dec. 31 2006
WA CD-1 Jay Inslee, D………………………$803,362
WA CD-02 Rick Larsen, D……………………. $84,677
WA CD-02 Rick Larsen, D……………………. $84,677
WA CD-03 Brian Baird ………………………..$784972
WA CD-06 Norm Dicks, D………………….. $210,238
WA CD-07 Jim McDermott, D……………. $422,848
WA CD-09 Adam Smith, D ………………….$387,736
WA CD-07 Jim McDermott, D……………. $422,848
WA CD-09 Adam Smith, D ………………….$387,736
Total cash on hand 12/31/2006 …………….$2,693,833
Money raised by opponents to Democratic Incumbent Congressmen
Inslee opponent CD-01…………………. $43,733
Larsen opponent CD-02………………. $665,334
Baird opponent CD-03…………………. $150,237
Dick’s opponent CD-06………………………….. $0
McDermott 2 opponents CD -07 ……..$69,948
Smith opponent CD-09 …………………..$39,838
Total raised by opponents to 6 incumbent Congressman $ 969,090
So considering that the 6 incumbent Congressman raised some $5,777,839 plus had about $2 million carried over from previous years, and all of their opponents collectively raised less than $1 million dollars, how generous were they in helping the other three Democrats in Washington State challenging incumbent Congressmen?
In addition to helping directly, they could also have helped the effort to become the Majority Party in Congress by giving to the Washington State Democratic Central Committee (WSDCC) or to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) nationally or directly to the out of state Congressional campaigns of other Democratic challengers.
While these figures do not give a complete picture of the Congressmen’s overall campaign involvement, because Congressmen can also help by hosting fundraisers for others or help solicit contributions through other PACS, they do reflect on the issue of the $2.6 million surplus left in December. Below are these breakdowns.
Breakdown of Contributions
2006 Congressional Campaigns by Washington’s 6 incumbent Congressmen
Brian Baird
Burner ……………………………………………… $4600
Goldmark …………………………………………..$1000
Wright…………………………………………………….. $0
39 other Congressional Candidates … $43,500
DCCC ……………………………………………….$75,000
WSDCC …………………………………………….$10,000
total $134,000
Jay Inslee
Burner ………………………………………………………$0
Goldmark …………………………………………….$3700
Wright ……………………………………………………….$0
39 other Congressional candidates…….$66,100
DCCC ………………………………………………$210,000
WSDCC ……………………………………………..$82,000
total $361,800
Rick Larsen
Burner ……………………………………………….$1000
Goldmark …………………………………………………$0
Wright ……………………………………………………..$0
other Congressional candidates ………………..$0
DCCC ……………………………………………….$12,500
WSDCC ……………………………………………$20,000
total $33,500
Norm Dicks
Burner ……………………………………………..$2000
Goldmark …………………………………………$4000
Wright …………………………………………………….$0
3 other Congressional candidates………$6000
DCCC……………………………………………$381,000
WSDCC ………………………………………….$61,100
total $454,100
Jim McDermott
Burner………………………………………………… $500
Goldmark……………………………………………….. $0
Wright ……………………………………………………..$0
other Congressional candidates ………………..$0
DCCC………………………………………………………..$0
WSDCC……………………………………………$25,000
total $25,500
Adam Smith
Burner …………………………………………………$2000
Goldmark …………………………………………….$2500
Wright ……………………………………………………….$0
27 other Congressional candidates……….34,500
DCCC ………………………………………………$125,000
WSDCC ……………………………………………. $46,000
total $210,000
What stands out to me is the Congressional delegation did not make a full scale assault on winning back Congress because they ended the year with some $2.7 million in cash on hand. They did not even maximize out contributions directly to the 3 Democratic challengers running against Reichert, McMorris and Hastings.
In fact they seem to have done a complete boycott of the Wright/Hastings race. What is unfortunate about this is that the lack of Republican ethics was a high factor in voter’s decisions to oust the Republicans from Congress. Hastings was the Chair of the House Ethics Committee. His inaction and deliberate efforts to do nothing should have made him vulnerable to defeat.
In addition I am disappointed in Jim McDermott’s bottoming out in helping Democrats with fundraising. He is in the safest Democratic seat in the state, had a tepid race by weak opponents, and should have been able to help raise money for other Democrats. I have heard the excuse before that it’s his lawsuit with Boehner over the cellphone calls that is holding him back but that has been going on 8 years. At what point do you say McDermott’s decision to continue the fight is hurting his ability to help the larger Democratic cause in our country?
The issue goes for all the incumbents though. They all are easily able to raise money. Why do they think it was O.K. to end the campaign year with some $2.7 million in the bank? Will they be doing the same next year? Don’t they see anything wrong with this when it could have been used to help elect more Democrats?
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4 Responses to Congressman, Can You Spare a Buck?
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Steve,
Can you add a table to this that shows what the maximum contribution is for these donations so we can see how much they could have given to Burner, Goldmark or Wright? This does bring into question our priorities.
off topic:
I heard an interesting story that I want to share, perhaps be verified. I bought a burrito from the following
Taco-Del-Mar:
8004 Greenwood Ave. N
Seattle, WA 98103
(206)706-4063
I was told that a republican group about 3 weeks ago ordered 500 burritos for a meet up of some kind this Saturday, may 12, 2007. This week, they requested to know which political party this Taco Del Mar supported. Upon finding out that it wasn’t republican, they canceled the order. Although this small business received a 25% deposit, they will be receiving a bunch of food that will perish by the end of the weekend.
I’m not sure if it’s accurate as I haven’t been able to find any republican meet ups this weekend. But it sounds like something they’d do, the frickin’ hypocrites.
If you want a lunch this weekend, maybe buy a burrito from them?
Chad,
Candidate Committees for Congressman could give $2100 per election in the last cycle, meaning to max out they only had to give $4200. If they had a Leadership PAC, they could give $5000 to the candidate. In addition money can be given to the state party as well as to the DCCC – the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
In the 2007/2008 cycle Candidate Committees like Congressman have in this state can give $2300 for the primary and $2300 for the General election to other cnadidates running for Congress. It is not a huge amount, but would equal $27,600 and encourage others to give.
The more significant area they can give is to the WSDCC and the DCCC. They can also give to other PAC’s.
My main question here was why was there some $2.7 million left as cash on hand in the bank accounts of the 6 incumbent Congressmaen’s campaign committees in a crucial election year determining the fate of Congress. This money could have been used to help elect more Democrats to Congress nationwide as well as in this state.
I should add that if all 6 Democratic Congressman had just maxed out on giving the maximum they could to the 3 Democrats challenging incumbent Congressmen in this state, they could have given a total of %82,800.
They collectively only gave a total of $21,300 directly to the 3 challengers and ended the year with almost $2.7 million dollars in the bank. Even when they helped in other ways as some did, the additional money and support that was possible directly to the candidates would have helped the challengers raise additional funds and enhanced their credibility.