Bradley Nears $1 Million in Donations
By Erik Milster
WASHINGTON, Oct. 28 – Rep. Jeb Bradley, R-N.H., has received close to $1 million in donations during his first re-election campaign for Congress, according to the latest filing with the Federal Election Commission.
As of Oct. 13 the Bradley campaign had raised nearly equal amounts of money from individual contributors and political action committees (PACs). Bradley received $519,489 from individuals and $449,372 from PACs and has $173,876 cash on hand.
Bradley, in a telephone interview Thursday, said he was pleased with the amount of money his campaign has raised over the last two years.
“We didn’t have a specific goal,” Bradley said. “We were dedicated to running a grassroots campaign and raising enough money to maintain effective advertising. I believe we have done both of those.”
Throughout his first campaign for Congress in 2002 as well as this year’s re-election campaign, Bradley said he focused most of his attention on receiving donations from individual supporters rather than from PACs.
“I have done an awful lot of work with people from New Hampshire to connect with them,” Bradley said. “PAC contributions are what they are, and I appreciate the donations because they are in the interests of New Hampshire residents.”
While every candidate running for Congress counts on individual contributions, not everyone also accepts money from PACs. In fact, accepting PAC contributions has become controversial in some races.
Some members of Congress, such as Rep. Martin Meehan , D-Mass., have campaigned without accepting PAC contributions. Meehan relies solely on individual contributions to fund his campaigns., “Congressman Meehan has not accepted PAC money in his races for Congress,” his press secretary, Matt Vogel, said Thursday. “He prefers to rely on individual, grassroots contributors rather than contributions from interest groups.”
Bradley said he respects other candidates’ wishes to not accept PAC money, but he sees it as just one more outlet to help acknowledge the interests of constituents and supporters. “While I focus most of my energy on individuals, I see nothing wrong with accepting PAC money,” he said.
The goal of PACs is to raise and spend money to elect candidates. Most PACs represent business, labor or ideological groups. A PAC organized by a specific company, for example, allows employees to pool contributions, aside from their own individual contributions, to be distributed by the PAC.
A PAC can give up to $5,000 a year to a candidate. Individual contributions are limited to $2,000 per candidate per election, for a total of $4,000 for both the primary and general election, but individuals may give as much as $5,000 a year to PACs.
Bradley’s Democratic opponent, Justin Nadeau, also has accepted PAC money. Nadeau has raised $184,130 from individuals and $59,873 in PAC contributions. The campaign, which received a $369,500 loan from the candidate, had $19,330 on hand as of Oct. 13..
Nadeau, like Bradley, is pleased with both his individual and PAC contributions. Nadeau spokesman Steve Marachane said Nadeau “does not just accept money from any PAC. He is willing to accept money from groups that share similar values.”
Companies in the defense industry have been the top contributors to Bradley’s campaign, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a non-partisan group that examines campaign finance data.
BAE Systems North America Inc., one of the largest employers in New Hampshire and a major Defense Department contractor, was one of the key donors to Bradley as well as to Rep. Charles Bass, R-N.H., who is running for re-election in the second district. The company’s PAC gave the maximum $10,000 to Bradley’s 2004 campaign, and its employees and their family members raised that total to more than $24,650 in individual contributions, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
In addition, the BAE PAC contributed $5,000 this year to help retire Bradley’s debt from his 2002 campaign.
Bradley is on the House Armed Services Committee as well as the Veterans’ Affairs and Small Business Committees. Bradley said, “If re-elected I will continue to work for New Hampshire residents who work in the defense industry. That will not change.”
Bradley is currently in New Hampshire finishing his final days of campaigning. Congress is set to reconvene Nov. 16 to deal with appropriation bills and the intelligence bill.
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