Super PACs Are Cushy Jobs

Rebecca Burkett’s ties to Newt Gingrich paid off handsomely this year. The Atlanta-area fundraiser created Winning Our Future, a super PAC, to back the former House Speaker’s presidential bid, pulling in $23.9 million before Gingrich dropped out in May. More than six months later, Burkett was still drawing a check. According to data from the Federal Election Commission, she collected almost half her $500,211 compensation as the super PAC’s executive director after Gingrich quit. “We continued to take calls from lots of people who were upset that he got out; we continued to monitor the presidential race,” says Burkett, who ran the group until November. “There was lots to do.”

Super PACs can raise infinite amounts of money and spend it pretty much as they wish, with few restrictions and little oversight from the FEC. This election cycle, 420 super PACs poured $104.4 million into operational expenses such as travel and salaries, FEC data show. Of those groups, 151 spent their money on overhead rather than on mailings or ads to promote candidates. One example: ChristinePAC, formed by former Delaware Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell, used up $469,425 on consulting, travel, marketing, and other administrative costs without spending anything to support or oppose 2012 candidates, according to the FEC data. Matt Moran, the super PAC’s director, says the spending reflects “the basic cost of doing business.” The group educates voters on the estate tax and other issues, primarily through a website, he adds. O’Donnell, now a marketing consultant, doesn’t draw a salary from the super PAC.