Some members of Congress maintain a “Leadership PAC”. These committees have become an established part of the campaign finance framework. Leadership PACs are unconnected PACs.
Leadership PACs are used by members to raise funds and contribute to other members of Congress or congressional candidates. Traditionally, members of the House and Senate leadership maintained these PACs in order to demonstrate their ability to assist other members and increase their stature within their political party[1].
Leadership PACs are controlled by candidates or officeholders, but are not authorized committees of that candidate or affiliated with the candidate’s principal campaign committee[2]. This means that a Leadership PAC does not share a limit with a candidate’s primary account: a candidate may raise $2500 per election for his or her campaign committee and $5000 per calendar year for his or her Leadership PAC.
A member of Congress can make contributions to other congressional candidates from his or her campaign committee. However, when BCRA indexed contribution limits to inflation it excluded the candidate-to-candidate limits. Therefore a candidate may only contribute $2000 per election to a candidate. A Leadership PAC may contribute $5000 per election to a candidate.
A Leadership PAC cannot directly support the campaign of its affiliated candidate. However, Leadership PACs can be used to provide indirect support by paying for things such as travel and consulting expenses or polling. Member of Congress often use Leadership PAC funds to pay for travel or expenses that cannot be covered by their official congressional funds[3].
[1] "Leadership PACs: Background." OpenSecrets. Oct. 2010. Web. 11 Dec. 2011. <http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/background.php?cycle=2012>.
[2] "Leadership PACs and Sponsors." Federal Election Commission. Web. 11 Dec. 2011. <http://www.fec.gov/finance/disclosure/leadership.shtml>.
[3] "Leadership PACs: Background." OpenSecrets. Oct. 2010. Web. 11 Dec. 2011. <http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/background.php?cycle=2012>.
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