Mike Huckabee’s PAC Paid His Family Almost $400,000 [View all]

[Miles Archer]

Source: Mother Jones

Politics is a family business for potential Republican presidential candidate and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee. Over the last six years, the Fox News host's political action committee, which was created to raise money for GOP candidates, has paid nearly $400,000 to members of Huckabee's extended family, while spending just a fraction of its multimillion-dollar fundraising haul on the Republican contenders.

Huck PAC, which Huckabee launched in 2008 after dropping out of the Republican presidential race, "is committed to electing conservatives across the nation at all levels of government," according to a statement on its website. But according to review of Federal Election Commission records, a significant portion of the money the PAC has collected has gone into the salaries of family members or the coffers of direct-mail fundraising firms.

Katherine Harris, Huckabee's niece, was paid $165,042 between 2008 and 2013 (plus benefits), first as a staffer for the PAC and then as a contract worker. Sarah Huckabee, his daughter, received $104,308 between 2008 and 2010 as the PAC's executive director. And Huckabee's daughter-in-law, Lauren Huckabee, who Politico reported in 2012 manages her father-in-law's schedule, donor relations, and endorsements, has been paid $111,274 for her work at Huck PAC. The ex-governor's short-lived non-profit, America Takes Action, Inc. previously paid her $60,548.

Responding to questions about PAC expenditures to Huckabee relatives, Huck PAC executive director Chad Gallagher said in a statement, "The family who worked on Governor Huckabee's presidential campaign in 2008 helped get the PAC started and no family members have been on the PAC's payroll in over two years."

Read more: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/01/mike-huckabee-pac-paid-his-family-almost-400000

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