Hatch, Matheson war chests brimming

If money is the mother's milk of politics, then Sen. Orrin Hatch is operating a big dairy. And Rep. Jim Matheson is working the Holsteins, as well.

Hatch, R-Utah, is still fattening an already plump $2.4 million that he has sitting in his campaign accounts — even though his next election is a distant six years away.

And Matheson, D-Utah, is starting his shorter two-year re-election cycle with three times the cash he's had left from previous campaigns.

Both men's war chests could scare away potential challengers, who would need to overcome such vast head starts in money.

Utah's other incumbents have small head starts on fund raising. Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, has $85,814 in cash; Rep. Chris Cannon , R-Utah, $82,609; and Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, $114,825.

Despite Hatch's $2.4 million — which already is far more than what most Utah politicians spend on statewide races — he is trying to raise even more and is investing significant amounts of money to do so.

For example, the senator is keeping his campaign manager — Dave Hansen — on salary at $10,000 a month for the "indefinite future," as Hansen puts it. That's $120,000 a year managing a Hatch campaign six years away. Hansen is an experienced fund-raiser and strategist who once was the political director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

Hatch also continues to pay "Mr. Mac" Christensen, of local clothier fame, and longtime GOP activist Stan Parrish $6,000 a month ($72,000 a year) for "fund raising and other items," Hansen said.

Hatch's campaign cuts a check to C&C Advisors — which is a firm run by Christensen and Parrish — who served as Hatch's chief of staff in the early 1980s. And how those two men split up the money from there is up to them, said Hansen.

Parrish said C&C Advisors regularly gives some of that money to GOP candidates, and he and Christensen split the difference. C&C Advisors put on a large golf fund-raiser for Hatch each summer in Utah, meet with the senator and give advice often and also put together a quarterly "kitchen cabinet" seminar with other local advisers and the senator.

So, for just those three people — Hansen, Christensen and Parrish — Hatch is paying around $200,000 a year — what many candidates may spend on their whole congressional campaigns — for fund raising, public relations and other political activities.

In the first three months of this year, Hatch paid an extra $24,650 to other fund-raising consultants. He is also paying $757 a month in rent to keep open a campaign office in Washington, D.C., where a full-time fund-raiser works for him seeking donations from around the nation.

Flexible account