Washington — There is a $12 million difference between what members of Congress reported getting from political action committees and what the PACs reported giving for the 1998 elections, a private group reports.
Candidates reported getting nearly $8.5 million from PACs that the groups themselves did not report, the analysis found. PACs reported giving more than $3.6 million in donations that did not show up on candidates' disclosure forms.
The Federal Election Commission doesn't check candidates' reports against PAC reports to find discrepancies, the nonpartisan Project On Government Oversight said in a report to be released today. This and other flaws make FEC campaign finance data unreliable, said researcher Nicole Harkin, who wrote the report.
"Their job is to follow the money, and they're not doing that," Harkin said Tuesday.
The watchdog group analyzed reports filed by incumbent members of Congress for the 1998 elections. Harkin and other researchers cross-checked those reports against the monthly reports that PACs must file detailing their campaign contributions.
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