Hillary Clinton’s not-so-cheapskate campaign

Hillary Clinton’s cheapskate campaign is sure spending a lot of cash.

The Democratic front-runner, who has pledged to run a thrifty operation, started off with a historically lucrative fundraising quarter, but it’s also gone through campaign funds at a rate surpassing any of her rivals in either party.

Racing against a Republican field full of highly funded campaigns and super PACs, the Clinton machine spent more than $18.7 million since launching in mid-April — that’s more than the rest of her Democratic rivals raised, combined, according to filings released on Wednesday.

It could afford to do so after raising roughly $47.5 million — including $46 million in primary money, the most of any campaign in its first quarter, ever.

The report, which came in late Wednesday as the federal filing deadline loomed, showed a campaign investing heavily in organizing, but also in a large staff around the country.

It also showed an operation heavily reliant on a handful of large donors: Just $8 million of its haul came from donations of $200 or less, though the campaign said 94 percent of its contributions were less than $250.

In a bid for transparency, the campaign voluntarily disclosed its bundlers of over $100,000 — a long list that included several stand-by Democratic megadonors and a handful of elected officials.

But, for a campaign that has publicly promoted its allegedly frugal ways, the report also showed a few particularly large or eyebrow-raising expenditures and liabilities.

Hillary for America reported a debt of $574,000 for the first three months of its campaign since its April 12 launch, including over $553,000 owed to pollster John Anzalone’s firm.

When Clinton last ran for president, in 2008, her campaign finished in debt, and the candidate used nearly $13 million of her own dollars — circumstances the operation has been keen to avoid repeating. So far this time, Clinton herself donated about $279,000 to her own 2016 campaign.

And while the campaign has highlighted how it encourages even its top staffers to take the cheap Bolt Bus to travel along the Northeast corridor, the filing showed the campaign has also spent more than $8,700 on Amtrak. The Bolt Bus tab for 11 trips: $346.50.
Much of the campaign’s money was spent on payroll and organizing expenses, but some expenditures — such as nearly $180,000 for a charter plane company — stood out.

Other noticeable items included a $500 in-kind contribution from former Rep. Anthony Weiner — husband of top aide Huma Abedin — of office furniture, and over $387,000 in legal fee expenses.

The campaign also spent about $106,000 on midtown office space, where Clinton keeps her personal office and often works while much of her staff operates out of the hip and hyped Brooklyn headquarters. Part of Clinton’s contributions to the campaign was for $76,000 in unidentified rent.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/hillary-clinton-official-haul-46-million-120189.html#ixzz3gAUHiNE3