How Jane Hamsher Spends Her PAC Money

Firedoglake publisher Jane Hamsher has become one of the most polarizing figures in the liberal blogosphere, moving people sharply to the pro or con column with her outspoken opposition to the health care reform bill, appearances on Fox News bashing the Obama administration and the letter she sent with conservative activist Grover Norquist demanding the resignation of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.

Hamsher wields a lot of influence by operating two Democratic political action committees, FDL Action PAC and Accountability Now PAC. By the end of 2009 these PACs had accumulated $454,000 from thousands of individual donors. Because all PACs are required by law to report their donors and expenditures with the Federal Election Commission, I thought the FEC disclosure database would provide a revealing glimpse of how money is moving through the netroots.

PACs have different policies regarding whether they compensate the people who run the committees. Some don't accept one cent of donor money and devote it all to their cause, while others pay themselves salaries, travel expenses and office rent. I interviewed Darcy Burner, a former Democratic Congressional candidate from Washington state who runs the not-for-profit Progressive Congress Action Fund, to learn whether it's common for left-wing PACs to pay themselves. "The bigger PACs require full-time staff to operate -- to raise money, to vet candidates [and] to file reports," she said. "I think the key question would be more one of whether people giving the money understand what it will be used for. ... There's a trust relationship with donors that requires some truth and transparency about how money is going to be used."

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