Bradley vs. Nadeau in Money Race
By Thomas Rains
WASHINGTON, OCTOBER 20 – With less than two weeks until Election Day, Republican Rep. Jeb Bradley and his Democratic challenger Justin Nadeau are heading into the final stretch of their campaigns with funding that has poured in from New Hampshire and beyond.
According to their campaign finance reports filed Friday with the Federal Election Commission, both candidates have benefited from special interest money and both have received at least a portion of their funding from outside the Granite State.
Bradley, running for a second term in the House of Representatives, had raised nearly a million dollars by Sept. 30.
Of this $925,197, 46 percent came from special interest groups that include defense-related political action committees and party committees nationwide among other organizations, while the rest came from individual contributions, according to Federal Election Commission filings and analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics, a non-partisan, non-profit research group. Bradley had spent $616,900 by the end of September.
Nadeau, a Portsmouth attorney, also has benefited from out-of-state special interest group money. However, as the challenger in a race against an incumbent, Nadeau faces an uphill battle in raising campaign funds, and at the end of September Nadeau had raised just over a quarter of a million dollars.
PAC contributions accounted for 17 percent, around $48,000, of Nadeau’s war chest at the end of September, while 22 percent, more than $62,000, came from the candidate himself and the rest from individual contributions, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
In all, Nadeau had raised $277,760 and spent $263,168 of it by Sept. 30.
Bradley, a member of the Armed Services and Veterans’ Affairs Committees in the House, has received $24,650 from the BAE Systems North America’s PAC and employees, making BAE his largest contribution source in the 2004 election cycle.
The Rockville, Md., based BAE Systems North America touts itself as “one of the top 10 suppliers to the U.S. Department of Defense” on its website and is one of the largest employers in the Granite State. It has locations in Hudson, Merrimack and Nashua and is a subsidiary of the multinational BAE Systems plc.
Bradley cited this New Hampshire connection as the reason for their contributions, noting that they provide more than 3,000 jobs in New Hampshire.
“I think it’s important to do everything I can to protect those jobs,” Bradley said, adding that he has “advocated for them to preserve jobs in New Hampshire.”
Nadeau’s top contributor is his own law firm, Nadeau Law Offices, which has given $9,000 to his campaign, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
But he also has received $5,000 from the Arab American Leadership PAC, which has donated to Republican Sen. John Sununu and former Democratic presidential candidate Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio in the past, according to the FEC. Both Nadeau and Sununu are of Lebanese decent, said Nadeau’s campaign director Steve Marchand.
Bradley has benefited from contributions from other congressional members around the country. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, more than $100,000 of Bradley’s campaign money has come from Republican campaign committees and “leadership PACs” from around the country.
Among others, Friends of Katherine Harris gave $1,000 to Bradley’s campaign. Rep. Harris, R-Fla., received national attention four years ago as Florida Secretary of State during the 2000 election recounts. The Hastert for Congress Committee of House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois gave a combined total of $3,000.
However, Bradley is not alone. Nadeau also has benefited from a campaign committee contribution. Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., donated $500 through his reelection committee to the Democratic challenger’s campaign.
Lantos, whose district includes the San Francisco Bay Area, is the father of Katrina Swett, who ran as a Democrat against Rep. Charles Bass, R-N.H., in 2002.
Geographically, both Bradley and Nadeau have received more money from greater Boston than any other area. Bradley received $98,450 from greater Boston, which includes southern New Hampshire, while Nadeau got $56,346, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
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