Shocking News: Boehner Contributed Money to Republican Candidates!!!!

This story from the Columbus Dispatch makes it seem like new Republican Majority Leader John Boehner somehow "bought his election." The fact that Boehner raises and distributes funds to House members and Republican challengers is nothing new and perfectly legal.

In fact, Boehner's resurgence to power rests largely on his willingness to help members and challengers raise funds for their own re-election. Boehner has been patient in building a support based among the GOP Conference. The pay-off is his election.

Intersting, the story quotes "analysts":

While Boehner gave away campaign cash as part of an effort to curry internal House GOP favor, he wasn’t doing anything different than other Republicans and Democrats seeking party leadership posts, analysts say.

The report notes that Boehner gave out $181,000 in campaign contributions in December. Fine, but Blunt gave out $106,000.

Boehner long has been a prolific contributor to fellow Republicans: from his mid-1990s stint as House Republican Conference chair to his recent chairmanship of the House Education Committee, during which he hoped to return to a top GOP post.

Boehner has contributed $3.27 million to fellow Republicans and their causes since 1996 from his leadership political-action committee, according to figures compiled for The Dispatch by Dwight L. Morris and Associates, a campaign-finance tracking company. In the 2004 election cycle alone, Boehner gave away more than $768,000.

Meanwhile, the top House Democrat, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, of California, gave away tons of campaign cash before she was elected to her post in November 2002. During the 2000 and 2002 election cycles, her leadership committee handed out more than $2 million, according to Morris and Associates figures.

That’s why lawmakers set up leadership political-action committees, Dwight Morris said. "They are power-building mechanisms within the institution."

Finally, on a completely unrelated note, the story notes: Boehner

will make $180,000 a year in the new post, about $18,000 more than the base congressional salary.

Congressional leaders have always made more than base salary, in part because of their additional leadership duties. Why was this inserted into the story? What point does it make?