Talk:Bob Barr

It turns out that Bob Barr has kept his leadership PAC, Bob Barr Leadership Fund, active even though he was tossed out of the House in the 2002 Elections. Yesterday's AJC published a very informative article:

"Since 2003, Barr's PAC has raised $4.3 million with similar mailings.

But only a small portion of that money has made its way to Republican campaigns.

In the last five years the fund has given $125,200 — about three cents of every dollar raised — to federal candidates and other campaign committees, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has found in a review of reports filed with the Federal Election Commission. Another $81,875 went to state and local campaigns.

The fund spent more than $710,000 in that period on administrative costs, including office expenses, $41,109 in salary for Barr's son Derek and a $500 political consulting fee for his son Adrian. It also paid $865 for travel for Barr's wife, Jeri.

Most of the fund's spending — $3.3 million, or about 78 percent of all gifts from donors — paid for raising more money, including mailing lists, postage and telemarketing."

"It costs money to raise money," Barr said.

Cameron McWhirter, Megan Clarke, "For Barr's PAC, 'it costs money to raise money'", The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May 18, 2008

Barr has also been a Libertarian Party member since late 2006, and December 15, 2006 became Libertarian National Committee representative of Region 4. (for now: David Weigel, "Bob Barr, Unbowed: An interview with the Republican congressman turned Libertarian Party leader". Reason Magazine, December 18, 2006; but I'll source from the official LP website a bit later)

It turns out that what little of Barr's leadership PAC money was put into politicians' campaign funds has since 2007 been placed into some very un-libertarian minded Republicans.

I am planning to place this information, with better sourcing onto the main stub, and believe that the Open-Secrets data regarding Bob Barr's Leadership PAC need be a part of it. What I'm asking for is a little help with the proper formatting of the Open-Secrets data, to fit in with the current style of Sourcewatch. I am very much uninformed about how this is being done on Congresspedia. The Open-Secrets link is: opensecrets.org/pacs/lookup2.php?strID=C00340190.

Any information about formatting would be greatly appreciated.

I'll return in a bit, after I collect a few more pieces of data for this stub.

cheers, --hugh_manateee 17:51, 19 May 2008 (EDT)

Sources

AJC Series

• Rhonda Cook, "Barr may announce bid today", Atlanta Journal-Constitution, April 05, 2008
• Rhonda Cook, "Barr hints at a White House run - He explores voter interest in his candidacy as Libertarian", Atlanta Journal-Constitution, April 6, 2008
• Julia Malone-Cox Washington Bureau, "Barr in presidential race but denies spoiler role", Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May 13, 2008
• Aaron Gould Sheinin, "Pundits debate whether Barr is an alternative or a distraction", Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May 14, 2008
• Aaron Gould Sheinin, "Barr's run creates uncertainty", Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May 15, 2008
• Aaron Gould Sheinin-Cox News Service, "Spoiler label likely to follow Barr in presidential race", Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May 15, 2008
• Cameron McWhirter, Megan Clarke, "For Barr's PAC, 'it costs money to raise money'", Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May 18, 2008
• Cameron McWhirter, Megan Clarke, "Former U.S. Rep. Bob Barr of Georgia, a presidential hopeful, has raised a lot of money for conservative causes, but ... DOES HE SPEND IT WISELY?", Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May 18, 2008
• Cameron McWhirter, Megan Clarke, "GOP candidates see little money from Barr PAC", Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May 19, 2008

Reason Magazine

• Jacob Sullum, "Barr Exam - Why I'll miss the 'worst drug warrior in Congress'", Reason Magazine, August 23, 2002
• Jesse Walker, "Bob Barr, Civil Libertarian - The right wing of the ACLU", Reason Magazine, December 2003

David Weigel, "Bob Barr, Unbowed", Reason Magazine, December 18, 2006

• David Weigel, "Bob Barr and the Libertarians - A former Republican congressman joins a third party", Reason Magazine, March 2007
• David Weigel, "George Will on Bob Barr", Reason Magazine, April 14, 2008
• David Weigel, "Who's Going to Get Your Wasted Vote? - A guide to the wildest Libertarian Party nomination fight in decades", Reason Magazine, April 29, 2008
• David Weigel, "Bob Barr's Announcement", Reason Magazine, May 12, 2008

Misc

• Marc Ambinder, "Update From The Barr Campaign", The Atlantic, May 19, 2008
• "Former Congressman Bob Barr Accepts Leadership Position within the Libertarian Party", Libertarian Party Press Release, December 15, 2006