Ten members of Congress spent a total of more than $15,000 at Las Vegas resorts in the last three months of 2018, according to a new study by a Washington, D.C.-based campaign watchdog group.
“Las Vegas is an incredibly popular destination for lawmakers of both parties to raise money for their leadership PACs,” said Michael Beckel, one of the authors of the study, which was conducted by One, an organization that monitors campaign spending, in partnership with the Campaign Legal Center.
The study focused on spending by so-called “leadership” political action committees, which are run by most members of Congress to support other candidates for federal and non-federal offices. The PACs are popular among lawmakers because they can use the money they raise for personal expenditures, which by law they cannot do with funds raised by their own campaigns.
“In recent years, only a minority of leadership PAC spending𑁋about 46 percent—has actually gone toward contributions to candidates and political groups,” the report stated.
Instead, “Members of Congress routinely use leadership PAC funds to pay for expensive meals, rounds of golf and luxury hotel stays, often under the guise of fundraising.”
The big spender in the Las Vegas study was Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming, chairman of the Senate’s Republican Conference, the No. 3 post in the party’s leadership in the upper house. Barrasso is also a member of the Senate’s Indian Affairs Committee, and spent $9,699 during the three-month period, including more than $6,000 at Morels French Steakhouse & Bistro at the Venetian Las Vegas, the Strip flagship of Republican mega-donor Sheldon Adelson.
Barrasso, who also is chairman of the Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee, is a proponent of relicensing Yucca Mountain north of the city as a nuclear waste repository, a position the Las Vegas tourism industry and the state’s congressional delegation vehemently opposes.
Next was Southern Nevada’s own Catherine Cortez Masto, the state’s Democratic senator, who spent $1,330, followed by the state’s former Republican Senator Dean Heller, who spent $1,126.
Senator Kamala Harris of California, who is running for the Democratic nomination for president, spent $1,076, most of it at the SLS Las Vegas.
House Majority Whip James Clyburn of South Carolina spent $665; former Republican Rep. Carlos Curbelo of Florida spent $617; and Democratic Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York spent $543.
They were followed by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, who is also seeking the Democratic nomination. She spent $503. Republican Senator Mike Lee of Utah spent $295. Democratic Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, who is also running for president, spent $46.
“When lawmakers come to Las Vegas to raise money, they aren’t staying at budget hotels,” Beckel noted. “They are often staying at some of the fanciest resorts in town.”
