Quotes

The article cited below says that St. Louis area congress members have established "leadership PACs," which are "typically use[d] to raise money for their colleagues and the national parties." "From the perspective of the sponsor, they're ideal," said Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan campaign finance watchdog group. "From the perspective of establishing meaningful limits on contributions, they're antithetical to the goal of election law." Krumholz said that although some lawmakers didn't tout their PACs to the general public, they advertised loud and clear to lobbyists and other donors. "It's with a wink and a nod that these are allowed to exist as unaffiliated PACs," Krumholz said. "This is another pocket of your campaign." Quotes from the article about Clay: Whether Rep. William Lacy Clay, D-St. Louis, has a leadership PAC is unclear. Steven Engelhardt, the congressman's spokesman, told the Post-Dispatch that his boss had set one up but that it was inactive. After repeated inquiries, Engelhardt provided the name of the PAC: Just Permanent Interests, the title of a book written by Clay's father. But a search of FEC records found no record of the PAC.