Marketplace [1]took a look at leadership PACs -- and how members of Congress keep raising money that will never be spent on campaigns:

For ambitious legislators, there's an essential tool for accumulating power -Leadership Political Action Committees. They allow members of congress to raise cash and donate it to their political allies' campaigns. But when a politician retires, these accounts can also become a personal piggy bank....

...Take Michael Oxley, the former chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. Oxley retired from Congress a little over a year ago with more than $135,000 in his PAC account, according to Federal Election Commission filings. Those reports show in the year after he retired, Oxley's PAC spent more than half its cash, $74,000, on perks for himself and friends including Colorado ski trips, meals in New York, and tickets to Broadway shows.

CREW's Melanie Sloan offered perspective:

And Oxley's not alone, according to Melanie Sloan. She runs the watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

Melanie Sloan: As we'll see more and more members retire with greater and greater amounts of money in these leadership PACs, there are going to be real questions about whether legitimately that money should be spent on your next vacation to the Bahamas.

This year, close to 30 members of Congress who run these accounts are retiring. FEC reports show that in total their PAC accounts contain more than $2 million. How they'll spend the money remains to be seen.