WASHINGTON
Former Rep. Martin Meehan is the first to admit he’s tight
with a buck.
But campaign finance reports show he spent liberally during
his final three months in Congress before becoming chancellor of the University
of Massachusetts at Lowell.
Meehan doled out more than $46,000 to reward various
congressional staffers, supporters, fundraisers and fellow congressmen with
campaign donations, dinners at restaurants in New York
City and Washington, D.C.
and other freebies, including Boston Red Sox tickets.
“I’m not generous by nature,” Meehan said in a
recent telephone interview with The Associated Press. “It was a painful
quarter for me … I wouldn’t call it a spending spree. These are more like
natural wrap-up costs as I was leaving Congress.”
Meehan left the House seat he held for nearly 15 years with
a $4.8 million campaign account that the Lowell Democrat plans to hold onto.
Current and former members of Congress are given broad
latitude on how they can use campaign funds as long as the spending relates to
politics or advances their political interests.
