DES MOINES --- Accommodations at luxury resorts and exclusive golf clubs are some of the ways money is spent by special committees of Iowa's members of Congress.

Iowa Democrats have been quick to criticize money spent by Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Latham's leadership political action committee for fundraising events at ritzy locales.

But records show Democratic U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin also has used his PAC in recent years to pay for expenses that are being questioned.

Spending by PACs has come under scrutiny as their use has grown across the country.

Meredith McGehee, policy director for the Campaign Legal Center, calls leadership PACs "political slush funds controlled by powerful politicians."

She said the funds allow politicians to supplement their lifestyles and finance their ambitions for higher officer or greater power.

"They also allow special interests another pocket in which to stuff money," McGehee said.

Her center, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization based in Washington, D.C., advocates pulling the reins on leadership PACs.

Latham's leadership political action committee, For America's Republican Majority PAC, or FARM PAC, picked up the tab for costs associated with two recent fundraisers, one in Atlantic City and one that included a golf outing at a luxury West Virginia resort.

Reports with the Federal Election Commission show the PAC paid $379 in June for lodging at the Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, W. Va.

The resort's Web site bills itself as the "preeminent resort in the ultra-luxury market" and is home to three championship golf courses and a 40,000 square-foot spa.

Latham's PAC spent another $1,377.36 in June at the Trump Taj Mahal casino and hotel in Atlantic City, N.J., for a FARM PAC fundraiser.

Democrats point to these events as examples of excess.

"It's still more than average Iowans can afford to spend, and they don't have leadership PACs to help them pay for this stuff," said Norm Sterzenbach, executive director of the Iowa Democratic Party.

James Carstensen, spokesman for FARM PAC and Latham, said these were fundraising trips for the leadership PAC. He said like any political fundraising event, they cost money.

"I think the last thing you could say about Atlantic City is the word glamorous," Carstensen said.

The expenditures Democrats are criticizing now pale in comparison to what Latham's PAC spent during the 2008 election cycle.

The PAC spent more than $21,000 at the St. Regis Monarch Beach, a five-star resort in Dana Point, Calif., on food, beverage and lodging for FARM PAC events, according to data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.

Another $7,500 was spent last year on lodging and meals at the Greenbrier for a FARM PAC event.

The PAC spent more than $6,000 in 2007 for food, beverage and lodging at the Caves Valley Golf Club, a limited-membership club in Owings Mills, Md.

Carstensen issued this written statement when asked about the spending:

"Tom Latham is dedicated to helping For America's Republican Majority assist and elect candidates who share his common-sense vision for Iowa and the country regardless of the year and regardless of baseless partisan attacks. As fully disclosed with the Federal Election Commission, these expenditures were for fundraisers for For America's Republican Majority to carry out the dedicated mission to assist and elect candidates who share our common sense vision for Iowa and the country."

Questions about FARM PAC's spending prompted Carstensen to point to spending by Democrat Harkin's leadership PAC.

FEC filings show Harkin's To Organize a Majority PAC, or TOMPAC, spent more than $7,500 with Des Moines florist Flowers by Anthony last year. Spokesman Matt Paul said the money was spent on Christmas poinsettias sent to Iowans. In other instances, the PAC sends flowers for funerals, he said.

"Congressman Latham should justify his own lavish spending," Paul said in a statement. "Trying to justify his five-star hotel stays compared to purchases from a local florist seems weak."

Golf and hotel expenses have also shown up on spending reports by Harkin's PAC. In 2003, TOMPAC spent over $5,000 with Renditions Golf in Maryland for what is listed in an FEC filing as "expenses for fundraiser."

Harkin's PAC also paid over $500 to the Caribe Hilton in San Juan, Puerto Rico in 2003. The FEC filing does not list a reason for the expense beyond "hotel accommodations."

In addition that year, Harkin's PAC shelled out $390 to the Baltimore Orioles for what is described in filings simply as "tickets for event."

Harkin and Latham aren't alone in their use of leadership PACs. All seven members of Iowa's delegation have such PACs to help raise money for candidates of their party.

Beth Levine, spokeswoman for Republican U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, said Grassley has stressed that dollars from his leadership PAC, Hawkeye PAC, are intended to go to GOP candidates.

"He's going to make sure that they're spent for what they were intended for, and that's to help candidates," Levine said.

Since its creation in 2002, the PAC has given nearly $1 million to candidates running for state office in Iowa and more than $900,000 to federal candidates, according to Levine.

Leadership PACs common

Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, said leadership PACs used to be mostly reserved for congressional leaders.

Those leaders collected money through them to distribute it to endangered members of their party or to promising challengers, he said, a practice that has increased among other members of Congress.

"It is really next to impossible to figure out what many of these expenditures are really for or who benefited," Sabato said of leadership PACs.

Dave Levinthal, communications director for campaign finance watchdog Center for Responsive Politics, said leadership PACs are being used to bring in more money to pay for travel, fundraisers or other activities for members of Congress.

And he said there are plenty of examples of money being spent by leadership PACs at posh hotels and golf clubs.

"There's nothing patently illegal about that," Levinthal said, noting regulations governing how the money can be spent are not very strict.

"Ultimately, it's very much up to the person in charge of the leadership PAC to dole out that money as he or she sees fit," Levinthal said.