Review of federal records show that Senator swore off fundraising for his own campaign after appointment to supercommittee

Washington, D.C. – A review of Federal Election Commission records filed by Senator John Kerry’s (D-Mass.) campaign committee reveals that the Senator kept his pledge to end fundraising for his own campaign after his appointment to the joint congressional deficit reduction “supercommittee.”

Public Campaign, the watchdog group that reviewed Kerry’s quarterly filing, joined with two dozen groups in August to urge members of the supercommittee to give up fundraising while serving. On September 12, Sen. Kerry said he would end all fundraising for his campaign committee, though he did appear a week later at a party event.

“John Kerry deserves praise and appreciation for doing what is often pledged but rarely done in Washington, D.C. – he placed doing his job ahead of raising money to keep his job,” said David Donnelly, national campaigns director of Public Campaign. “While we will continue to hold the supercommittee members accountable in the coming weeks, we know that at least Sen. Kerry has taken the initial positive step in insulating himself from the undue influence of campaign contributions.”

Over the summer, Congress created a joint committee to propose up to $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction over ten years. The so-called supercommittee was appointed in August amidst news stories of lobbyist and campaign donor influence on their deliberations.

Sen. Kerry’s third quarter filings show that he raised just $16,710 from July 1 through September 30, 2011, and that very few donations were received by the committee after the Senator’s declaration that “I will not fund-raise; I will raise no money” while serving on the committee. The donations he did receive after that date came through ActBlue, a clearinghouse for individual donors to give to candidates, which is a clear sign Kerry did no solicitation of contributions for his committee.

By comparison, Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.) raised over $704,000, 44 times more money than Sen. Kerry. Public Campaign will continue to release analysis of supercommittee filings throughout the week.

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Public Campaign works to ensure that the voices of regular Americans are heard in the political process by advocating for far-reaching changes in campaign finance law and by holding our elected officials accountable for the access and special favors they give big political donors.