Hoyer's caucus costs

Last week, we looked at what Roscoe Bartlett and his Armed Services committee competitors had in their warchests, finding their sums to be sub-par for a real leadership bout.

Majority Leader is incomparable to that of a mere ranking member, but this should illustrate just what it costs Steny Hoyer to maintain his post – for one measly quarter.

Through his personal campaign committee and his leadership fund, AmeriPAC, Hoyer gave out $169,000 to fellow members’ committees in the first quarter of this year alone.

The big winners are the Democratic congressmen of Indiana. Through his PAC and personal committee, he donated a total of $16,000 to brand new Rep. Andre Carson, who succeeded his late grandmother Julia in a special election earlier this year. AmeriPAC gave another $5,000 to the Indiana Democratic Congressional Victory Committee, protecting three GOP seats flipped in ’06, while his committee gave yet another $5,000 to the Indiana Democratic Party.

Rep. Paul Kanjorski (PA-11) got $14,000 from Hoyer’s committees, while $7,000 went to Representatives Bill Foster (IL-14) (the recent winner of a special election, though he was in Congress when the donation was made), John Lewis (GA-05) and Al Wynn (MD-04). $5,000 went towards Rep. Dan Lipinski’s successful primary battle (IL-03) and Rep. Jim Matheson (UT-02) got a $4,000 boost.

As for challengers, Dan Seals (IL-10), Anne Barth (WV-02), Christine Jennings (FL-13), Debbie Halvorson (IL-11), Raul Martinez (FL-21) and Bobby Bright (AL-02) did the best, garnering $7,000 each from Hoyer’s committees.

Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ-01) received $5,000, as $4,500 each went to John Adler (NJ-03), Eric Massa (NY-29), Gary Trauner (WY-AL) and Martin Heinrich (NM-01).

Those getting $4,000 include Dan Maffei (NY-25), John Boccieri (OH-16), Darcy Burner (WA-08), Kay Barnes (MO-06), Suzanne Kosmas (FL-24) and Don Cazayoux, who’s running in the Saturday's Lousiana Sixth special election to replace GOP Rep. Richard Baker.

Jill Derby (NV-02), Bob Daskas (NV-03), Charlie Brown (CA-04) and Ellizabeth Markey (CO-04) were in the $2,500 category, and finally, $2,000 went toward the campaigns of Frank Kratovil (MD-01),Vic Wulsin (OH-02), Colleen Callahan (IL-18), Steve Driehaus (OH-01) and Gary Peters (MI-09).