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Meehan’s early fundraising haul was fueled by governor’s race

After former U.S. Attorney Pat Meehan jumped from the race for governor to a congressional bid last fall, his nascent House campaign trumpeted a fundraising haul of more than $200,000 in just 16 September days. Though his campaign never explicitly said so, the subtle implication was that early money raised had come from scratch, a “groundswell” of support for his new race.

But recently-published records make clear that most of Meehan’s early federal fundraising haul came almost directly from his state campaign committee. Of the almost $211,000 he raised in the third quarter of 2009, about $178,000 came courtesy of donors to his gubernatorial campaign who had their contributions refunded and then kicked that money right back into his House race, according to a detailed analysis of state and federal  campaign finance data. All together, about 84 percent of Meehan’s early war chest was built on money from the gubernatorial race.

There’s nothing improper about refunding money from one campaign to donors who immediately contribute it to another for the same candidate. But it underscores that, despite the Meehan campaign’s pronouncements of a rapid fundraising pace, the financial advantage he is likely to enjoy in one of the country’s most competitive House races was originally built on a run for governor that lasted almost a year.

“Whether individuals were supporting Pat Meehan for Governor or are supporting Meehan for Congress, they are doing so because they believe he will provide the leadership we need,” Meehan spokesman Pete Peterson said. “The fact that so many individuals who had contributed to his gubernatorial campaign chose to support his campaign for Congress is a testament to people’s belief in Pat’s character and ability to help put our nation and Pennsylvania back on the right track.”

Campaign manager Bryan Kendro added: “I don’t think it’s misleading to say it was raised in 16 days. It was their choice to contribute. Whether it was for congress or governor, they were going to support him.”

In about 20 instances, donors to Meehan’s gubernatorial campaign had money refunded and then contributed to Meehan’s House race the very same day. In many other cases, the donations to Meehan’s House account came within a few days of the state contribution refund. In a few instances, the donation to Meehan’s House account actually came before the refund from his state account—though there’s no indication that refunds were held back pending future donations.

In many cases, the amount refunded from Meehan’s state account was $4,800, the maximum individual contribution allowed to federal races under campaign finance law. Most of the time, the amount refunded from Meehan’s state account was identical to the amount given to his House account. All together, Meehan raised about $32,000 in September that didn’t come from donors who got refunds on their state campaign contributions.

Meehan, the presumptive Republican nominee, finished last year with about $791,000 in cash on hand, compared to $515,000 from state Representative Bryan Lentz, the likely Democratic nominee.

March 4, 2010 at 5:20 pm

--Dan Hirschhorn

Tags: Bryan Lentz, PA-7, Pat Meehan

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