Allyson Schwartz's We the People PAC and the 2008 Elections

Leadership PACS are political action committees started by or associated with, someone who usually is or was in office. It is a way for influential politicians to assist other candidates or causes.

A number of Pennsylvania officials have leadership PACS and I've started looking at some of them. Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz (D-13) has a PAC called We the People. It started in 2007. The reports on the www.fec.gov are, like her campaign reports, very tidy. She spends very little on administrative costs. There are a variety of ways to review these funds. Since Schwartz's have very little to review as far as money raised or administrative disbursements, one factor to examine is how effective her donations to candidates have been.

Looking at the 2008 election cycle, from September to December, 2007 she raised $45,801.35 and spent $17,869.37. In 2008, she raised $92,539.80 and spent $116,103.70, leaving her $4,367.98 cash on hand. She raised funds from some individuals and a few PACs (nothing surprising here and I think most had also donated to her congressional campaign but did not double check). Her donors include more women that one usually sees in political donor lists.

Her disbursements, as mentioned, show little administrative costs. Most candidate donations were for $1000 in congressional or senate races. There were three groups among the recipients; all others were candidates. It was interesting to look at who she donated to and how well she could pick winners. I have compiled a list below for the 2008 cycle (2007 and 2008). Note the number of traditionally female names -- the congresswoman not only talks the talk about getting more women involved, she walks the walk, putting her money where her mouth is. She also does well when picking new blood. I have italicized the names of challengers. The congresswoman is willing to give challengers a chance. While all but one of those she donated to who were not elected were challengers, look at the number of challengers she backed who DID win. The names are given in the order she first donated to them (some received more than one contribution). As the elections got closer she got better at picking winners.

Note also the number of Pennsylvania candidates -- she was looking out for the home team.

After the 2010 elections we'll take a look at how she did selecting candidates in this election cycle.


Elected
John Barrow / Georgia
Melissa Bean, Cong / IL
John Boccieri / Cong / OH
Joseph Courtney / Cong / CT
Jack Mardell / Gov / DE
Kirsten Gillibrand / Cong / NY (now in the Senate)
Debbie Halvorsen / Cong / IL
Stephanie Herseth Sandlin / Sen / AL
Baron Hill / Cong / IN
Mary Jo Kilroy / Cong / CT
chris Murphy / Cong / Ct
Carol Shea-Porter / Cong / NH
Zack Space / Cong / OH
Andre Carson / Cong / In
Dan Maffei / Cong / NY
Suzanne Kosmas / Cong / FL
Travis Childers / Cong / MS
Chris Carney / Cong / PA
John Adler / Cong / NJ
Jason Altmire / Cong / PA
Jeanne Shaheen / Sen / NY
Patrick Murphy / Cong / PA
Dina Titus / Cong / NV
Betsy Markey / Cong / CO
Harry Mitchell / Cong / AZ
Jerry McNerney / Cong / CA
Steve Driehaus / cong / OH
Mark Udall / Sen / CO
Kathy Dahlkemper / Cong / PA
Brendan Boyle / State House / PA
Matt Bradford / State House / PA
Rick Taylor / State House / PA
Tim Briggs / State House / PA
Gerry Connolly / Cong / Va
Larry Kissell / Cong / NC
Martin Heinrich / Cong / NM
Glenn Nye / Cong? / VA
Jim Himes / Cong / CT
Gary Peters / Cong / MI
Barbara McIlvaine Smith / State House / PA
Steve Santarsiero / State House / PA

Not Elected
Kay Barnes / Cong / MO
Nancy Boyda / Cong / KS
Linda Steyder / Cong / NJ
Robin Weirauch / Cong / OH

Sam Bennett / Cong / PA
Bob Roggio / Cong / PA
Anne Barth / Cong / WV
Christine Jennings / Cong / FL
Darcy Burner / Cong / WA
Joan Fitz-Gerald / Cong / CO
Judy Feder / Cong / VA
Judy Hirsch / State House(?) / PA
Rich Costello / State House / PA
Daniel Johnson / Cong / NC
Frank Custer / State House / PA
Lisa Romaniello / State House / PA
Judy Baker / Cong / MO
Jill Derby / Cong / NV
Ashwi Madia / Cong / MN
Sharon Neuhardt / Cong / OH
Annette Taddeo / Cong / FL
Victoria Wells Wulsin / Cong / OH
Dan Seals / Cong / IL
Alice Kryzan / Cong / NY
Fern Kaufman / State House / PA
Steve Rovner / State Senate / PA
Paul J Carmouche / Cong / LA