Michaud’s Actions for Social Security Preservation Lead to Campaign Contributions
By Liz Goldberg
WASHINGTON, Feb. 23 – Rep. Mike Michaud’s consistent voting record against creating private accounts for Social Security recipients and against major changes to Medicare led to several campaign contributions last year from a group whose announced purpose is to preserve both programs.
The National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, a political action committee (PAC) that raises money to contribute to the campaigns of candidates who share its views, gave the Maine Democrat a total of $4,000 in the last election cycle, $3,000 of which went toward the general election. During his first run for office, in 2002, the committee contributed $1,000 to Michaud’s campaign. The maximum amount a PAC can contribute is $5,000 per race per candidate.
Nationally, the committee contributed $494,000 to 219 House and Senate candidates during the 2003-04 election cycle.
The committee’s PAC board compiles a scorecard listing how candidates voted on Social Security and Medicare issues, said Max Richtman, the committee’s executive vice president and the PAC board’s chairman. The board also looks at the role the candidate has played in moving or stopping such legislation, as well as how competitive the race will be.
Michaud scored a nearly perfect score in the board’s analysis, Richtman said, and his introduction last year of a proposed constitutional amendment to prevent the establishment of private social security accounts also made the board look favorably upon him.
“His voting record was extremely good, and after looking at the politics . we thought he had a very competitive race and we wanted to help as much as we could,” Richtman said.
Michaud won a second House term in November, defeating Republican challenger Brian Hamel, 58-40 percent.
The board analyzes incumbents differently from challengers because incumbents have a voting record, Richtman said. Challengers, he explained, must fill out questionnaires stating their stances on issues that concern the committee and must meet with the PAC advisory board, which then makes recommendations to the full PAC board.
The committee’s contributions did not have any effect on Michaud’s position on Social Security or Medicare because he has been opposed to changes in those programs for years, said Monica Castellanos, Michaud’s press secretary.
“We’ve been talking about this for a very long time,” she said.
Michaud will continue to fight President George W. Bush’s plans to create private Social Security accounts, Castellanos said. He reintroduced the proposed constitutional amendment to ban the accounts last week and is holding seven town hall meetings across the district this week, actions that are likely to ensure the continued financial support of the committee.
“We’re basing our support on his demonstration of his commitment to our issues,” Richtman said.
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