Understanding the relationship between special interests and elected officials has puzzled scholars for decades. Very little research has been able to effectively link campaign contributions to legislative outcomes. However, special interests continue to contribute large sums of money to candidates for elective office – there must be some payoff to this activity or why would it continue? In this study, we seek to identify whether or not committees are composed of “financial outliers” in terms of campaign contributions. Do the members of committees receive more money from relevant interests than other members in the chamber? Exploring the campaign contributions and committee memberships of five standing committees in the House and Senate chambers of five states, we find that there is compelling evidence that campaign contributions are linked to committee memberships. There is significant variation across states and chambers as well as different committee jurisdictions.