Read this powerful GOP senator’s pay-to-play 'benefits package' for lobbyists
Are you a lobbyist itching for a fishing trip with Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID), the top Republican on the powerful Senate Finance Committee?
How about skiing and face time with Crapo?
For years, Crapo has brazenly given donors to his political action committee a veritable menu for the access that their money can buy.
This year, according to a flier obtained by Raw Story, $5,000 given to the Crapo Victory Committee buys donors one of the following:
- Annual Ski Fest at Sun Valley, Idaho (last February).
- Fishing on the Chesapeake at Solomons Island, Md., in June.
- 25th Annual Hook ‘n Bullet at Sun Valley, Idaho, in August.
- 12th Annual Greenbrier Resort Retreat at White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., in November.
What the committee calls the “Max Out Benefits Package” — a reference to donations reaching the legal limits — also includes the Holiday Potato Fest Reception in Washington, D.C, in December and a “donor or industry event.”
In case that’s not enough flexibility, there is another option for donors of $5,000. They can get a “DC Luncheon” in addition to the Potato Fest and donor or industry event.
Crapo, 72, who was elected to his fourth term in the senate in 2022, used to be even more aggressive in marketing his “Max Out Package.” He had gold, silver, and bronze levels of donating, all of which included “quarterly virtual calls or briefings” and a “reception or Zoom” with the senator, Business Insider reported..
Crapo’s office did not immediately respond to Raw Story’s questions.
In a 2019 article in the Idaho Statesman, former Illinois Lt. Gov. and former Boise State University President Bob Kustra criticized Crapo’s fundraising methods.
“The issue here is not whether a law was violated, but how the influence of campaign contributions from special interests affects the behavior of our elected officials when performing their official duties,” Kustra wrote. “Money might not always talk, but, at the very least, it whispers in cases like this, and aids and abets the interests of those who have the most cash to supply.”
The Crapo Victory Committee raises money for his election committee, Mike Crapo for U.S. Senate, and the Freedom Fund, a leadership PAC that Crapo operates.
While Crapo aggressively courts contributions from corporate PACs, some members of Congress, from both parties, have sworn off that particular kind of cash.
Election law limits individuals from contributing more than $3,300 per election to candidate committees and $5,000 per year to PACs
PACs may contribute up to $5,000 per election to candidate committees and $5,000 per year to other PACs.
Crapo appears to have been successful in encouraging donors to “max out.”
His campaign committee reported $2.3 million in cash on hand at the end of March.