Ron Paul super PAC spent most of its money on non-campaign activities

The pro-Ron Paul group Revolution PAC spent 83 percent of its $1.2 million total fundraising haul on administrative costs and not on campaign activities, Bloomberg News revealed Tuesday.

Bloomberg's report noted that Revolution PAC director Gary Franchi paid himself and his companies roughly $153,000, including money for the PAC's rent.

The PAC is just one of many that devoted an unusually large percentage of its resources to administrative and salary costs. Bloomberg noted that the founder of the Newt Gingrich supporting PAC Winning Our Future did something similar, paying herself almost $240,000 in the months after Gingrich dropped out of the Republican presidential race.

Overall, Federal Election Commission data provided to the paper found that all the super PACs combined spent over $86 million on administrative costs during the 2012 elections -- roughly 16 percent of what they took in. To top it off, out of the 782 super PACs operating in the 2012 elections, 167 spent nothing at all on advertising or political advocacy, instead opting to use all their money for administrative or consulting costs.

Super PACS, a creation of the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, are not limited in how much money they can take in, and FEC rules allow donors to keep their identities secret. Although President Barack Obama has called for a constitutional amendment to ban the practice, he also endorsed Priorities USA, a super PAC that supported his reelection efforts.

The Sunlight Foundation said in September that super PAC spending was on track to account for about 78 percent of all political spending in 2012.

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