Davis Depends on PACs and Tax-Funded Brochures

1st District Congressman David Davis, a Republican, earns a place in the Top Ten members of congress for spending tax dollars on campaign-boosting mailers to potential voters in his district. Of course his glossy mailers are labeled "official business", but the mail was being sent out as his re-election efforts got under full swing.

An investigative report in the Bristol Herald-Courier says:

"The freshman congressman racked up $69,000 in postage costs during the first quarter of 2008 by blanketing Northeast Tennessee with 180,000 mailers ranging from his stance on illegal immigration, support for the military and driving tips to save gas.

His use of a little-known congressional privilege that allows spending money from taxpayer-funded Capitol Hill office budgets to cover massive postage bills ranked him as the ninth-highest spender for mass mailers in the 435-member House.

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"House law bans mass-mailings within 90 days of a primary or an election, and Davis sent his brochures before the May 9 cutoff mark for the Aug. 7 primary.

In contrast to Davis’ 2008 congressional postage tab, his re-election campaign – the David Davis Victory Fund – has spent a total of $22,355 in donations on postage and fundraising mailers since last year, federal campaign finance records show."

Of course, this use of tax dollars to fund brochures falls under a process called "Franking".

Using money from others is a hallmark for Rep. Davis. His recent financial disclosure reports some 49% of all his donations raised so far comes from PACs, with the London-based military contractor BAE leading the donations.

Money was funneled to Rep. Davis from BAE just as he and Senator Alexander began pushing for earmarks for BAE - contracts worth $4 million, which BAE ultimately did receive. More on that series of events is here.