Even though Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) couldn’t find it in his heart to do his full part in ponying up to help his party in elections, he managed to donate to Rep. Charlie Rangel’s legal defense fund, according to a TPM search of his campaign finance records.
Weiner cut a check for $2,000 to Rangel’s defense fund in January to help defray the roughly $2 million in legal fees Rangel amassed after a nearly three-year investigation into a string of financial irregularities, which resulted in a House censure last year.
But the embarrassed and embattled Weiner has yet to donate any money to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee so far this cycle. The stinginess has been duly noted, party insiders say, and has contributed to his reputation as a shameless self-promoter who was only using his Congressional post as a stepping stone to the New York mayor’s office.
His lone-wolf reputation is coming back to bite him now as several Democratic lawmakers distance themselves from him in the wake of his sexting scandal. Indeed, several party colleagues, including former Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine, Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR), Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-PA) and Rep. Nikki Tsongas (D-MA), are calling for his resignation.
Members are required to contribute based on a sliding scale that takes into account factors like time in Congress, whether a member holds a leadership position and how tough a reelection the the lawmaker faces.
Weiner was supposed to give the party $200,000 a cycle to help out vulnerable incumbents, according to The Hill. With his sights already set on the mayor’s office, in 2010, when Democrats lost the majority to Republicans, Weiner paid only $15,000 and raised just $56,000 for the committee.
At the same time, he gave $10,000 to the New York State Democratic Committee in June of 2010, and appears to have paid the Democratic Organization of Queens County some $2,200 in office rent, according to a review of his campaign-finance records.
In previous cycles, Weiner was more generous but still failed to meet his dues requirement. During the 2008 cycle, Weiner contributed $120,000 to the DCCC, as well as $5,000 to the New York State Democratic Committee and $3,000 to the Democratic Organization of Queens County. He contributed the same amount — $120,000 — to the DCCC in the 2006 cycle, as well as $10,000 to the New York State Committee of Working Families Party, his records show.
