PACs Give Both to Smith and Sununu
WASHINGTON – Next year’s Senate race between incumbent Senator Robert C. Smith, R-N.H. and challenger New Hampshire 1st District Congressman John E. Sununu, R-Bedford, is beginning to heat up as is the campaign fundraising. As of the last filing deadline, Smith had nearly twice as much money on hand as Sununu.
At the end of June, Smith had raised a total of $925,760 and Sununu had raised a total of $564,815. Sununu had $553,384 cash on hand. With more time to fundraise since his 1996 election, Smith had over $1million cash on hand.
In non-election years, candidates only have to file to the Federal Election Commission twice a year, at the end of June and December. Most recent figures were filed in July. In election years, candidates file quarterly.
Out of Sununu’s total contributions, $253,699 came from political action committees; $354,504 of Smith’s total contributions were from PACs. A PAC is a political committee organized by a group to raise money to help elect a candidate.
At least 30 PACs gave to both Smith and Sununu, including giants such as FleetBoston Financial Corporation, the Boeing Company, Microsoft and the United Parcel Service.
The Boeing Company spokesman Jim Fuller said Boeing “supports a large number” of candidates.
“We don’t normally discuss those decisions, but they’re based on the candidates that support positions Boeing believes in,” said Fuller. “We support candidates of both parties based on their positions on issues that are important to the company.”
Boeing donated $500 to Sununu and $2000 to Smith. Boeing made its donation to Sununu on June 25 before he formally announced his candidacy.
“We gave to Sununu for his congressional race,” said Fuller. “Since he announced he was a candidate for the Senate, we have not made donations to either candidate.” However, Boeing has stopped contributing to any candidates because of a “lack of funds at this time.” Fuller said Boeing has not made any decisions about future contributions.
FleetBoston Financial Corporation gave $2000 to Sununu and $1000 to Smith.
Alison Gibbs, a spokesperson for Fleet, said Fleet normally gives to multiple candidates.
“This is not a formal endorsement of either or any candidate,” said Gibbs. Instead, she said contributions “allows the candidate to get their message out” by using the money for their campaigns.
The Sununu contributions was made on two different dates and probably at two separate events, said Brian Grip, Fleet’s vice president of Public Policy and Corporate Communications in New Hampshire.
Grip said the donations to the two candidates could not be compared because “this was made at a time when the two candidates were not running against each other.” Grip said he “would not want to even speculate” on whether they would give more money to one candidate over another in the future.
“I think there are many in the PAC community who are very concerned about Republicans holding this US senate seat and obviously they want to support the candidate who will run the strongest race and be the best choice for New Hampshire,” said Paul Collins, Sununu’s chief of staff.
Collins said that while they do accept PAC money, the majority of money raised comes from individual contributors.
“As a general rule, most of the money we have raised from individuals has come from individuals within New Hampshire,” said Collins. “We have a very strong fundraising base here in the state and those folks have been very supportive and continue to be.”
“The PAC community know what’s at stake in the next cycle, the 2002 cycle,” said Corey Lewandowski, Smith’s campaign manager. “They’ve been more aggressive, so they can turn around and give more to candidates.”
While Lewandowski said there are some PACs that have give to both Smith and Sununu, he thinks overall are “well-versed enough that they know Smith is going to be reelected.”
While the fundraising numbers will not be filed until the end of the year, Lewandowski said he has really been surprised by the “explosion of small dollars.” He said he has seen a three fold increase in contributions at the grassroots level.
Steven Weiss, spokesman for the Center for Responsive Politics, said it is “very common” for PACs to give to multiple candidates, as a way to “spread” their money around, so they can have greater influence over a group of elected officials.
“PACs want a close relationship with anyone elected,” he said. “They put money down on both candidates so they can have influence with both officials.”
While PACs do not give money for ideological reasons, they may often give if there is a piece of legislation or a set of bills that they want passed, said Weiss.
Weiss noted that the Smith and Sununu race is a special situation since both candidates are current members of Congress. No matter who loses, a contribution to both candidates could benefit a PAC since members are guaranteed to be in office another year.
