Shift in Donations a Sign of McGovern Moving Upward
FINANCE
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Sarah Gantz
Boston University News Service
02/26/09
WASHINGTON — In an uncontested 2008 House race, the $1 million U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern, D-Worcester, raised topped any of his other campaigns except his first race for reelection 10 years earlier. Since then, the congressman’s source of campaign funds has changed—lobbying firms, lawyers and pharmaceutical companies now back a politician who once relied on money from labor unions.
As his sources of campaign finances have changed, so has Mr. McGovern. The Worcester native started his House career as a member of the relatively low-profile Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Now in his seventh term, he sits on two of the House’s more influential committees—the Budget Committee and the Rules Committee, on which he serves as vice chairman..
The increasing amount of money Mr. McGovern has been receiving from lobbyists, who typically donate to politicians they consider to be powerful in committee, is evidence of the congressman’s rising political profile and could be a sign of loftier political ambitions.
“They’re either anticipating a tough reelection race or they have aspirations for higher office,” Massie Ritsch, the communications director for the Center for Responsive Politics, said of why delegates raise more money than they need.
“Any Massachusetts congressman who’s banking money is possibly doing it because they’re hoping for a Senate seat to open up,” Mr. Ritsch said.
The center tracks the influence of campaign money on elections and public policy.
In an interview, Mr. McGovern said he does not have his eye on a Senate seat. But he said it was his “dream” to serve as the chairman of the Rules Committee and in doing so to fulfill what he called the “dying wish” of his mentor, the late Rep. Joe Moakley, who represented the 9th District of Massachusetts. Moakley, who was chairman of the Rules Committee until the GOP took control of the House in 1995, died in 2001.
It is extremely common for senior members in both parties to raise big campaign war chests and donate campaign cash to challengers and members of their own party who are facing tough re-election races in an attempt to win support if they decide to seek a committee chairmanship or party leadership position.
According to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission, Mr. McGovern in the 2008 election cycle donated about $300,000 to Democrats in contested races and to Democratic Party committees.
Among Mr. McGovern’s donations were $2,000 to Rep. John Murtha, (D-Pa.), $1,000 to Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and $2,000 to Rep. Niki Tsongas (D-Mass.).
Mr. McGovern raised just over $1 million for the 2008 campaign. That is less than the national average, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Lobbying firms’ political action committees and employees were the second largest donor, at more than $55,000, to Mr. McGovern’s campaign. He ranked 53rd in the center’s list of recipients of contributions from lobbyists—higher than any of the other nine Massachusetts representatives.
The $1 million Mr. McGovern raised for an uncontested race is normally the kind of money candidates for Congress raise for a competitive House race, according to Robert G. Boatright, an assistant professor of government at Clark University.
To lobbyists, Mr. McGovern is a good candidate with whom to develop a relationship because, as a delegate from the deep blue Bay State, he rarely faces competition for his seat, Mr. Boatright said.
“So they’re a pretty safe bet” for groups interested in developing connections to politicians in their areas of interest, Mr. Boatright said.
The changing pattern of contributions to Mr. McGovern was dramatic in some cases. In the 2000 election, lawyers and lobbyists donated almost $54,000 to the Worcester congressman; in the 2008 race, the two groups combined for more than $134,000, an increase of about 148 percent, according to the Center for Responsive Politics’ Web site. At the same time, union contributions dropped from $164,000 to about $86,000, a decline of about 47 percent.
The largest contribution—$25,950—Mr. McGovern received came from the PAC and employees of Sepracor, a pharmaceutical distributor based in Marlborough. Tim Hermes, executive director of government affairs at Sepracor, said the company’s employees donated to their local congressman in the interest of having a Washington contact who has been a “visible presence in his district.”
When it comes to campaign finance, this is the explanation for who donates to whom.
“They give based on access,” Mr. Boatright said.
The Carpenters and Joiners Union, the Teamsters Union, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the AFL-CIO were listed among the top five donors to Mr. McGovern’s 1998 campaign. The PAC and members of the Carpenters and Joiners Union donated $10,500 to the congressman that year, a sum that was among the largest contributions the union made to a candidate.
In recent campaigns, the union’s donations have shrunk to $5,000. The top donors to Mr. McGovern’s 2008 campaign after Sepracor included a hospice political action committee, and two lobbying firms.
“The determining factors for money are what area do you represent and what committees are you on,” Mr. Ritsch said.
Mr. Boatright said that caps on contributions by individuals and political action committees limit the potential for conflicts of interest. The maximum a candidate in 2008 could receive from an individual during the two-year election cycle was $4,600 and from a political action committee it was $10,000.
But equally important is the constituency’s perception, according to Nick Nyhart, president of Public Campaign Action Fund, a campaign finance watchdog group.
“Voters make a direct connection between where candidates get their money and how they vote,” which can create problems of trust among constituents for even the cleanest lobbyist-friendly delegate, Mr. Nyhart said. A congressman’s loyalty to his home district is a fundamental necessity of representative democracy, he said, which can be compromised when congressmen depend on lobbyists instead of constituents to finance their campaigns.
Mr. McGovern said his participation in committee work and his policy choices are not influenced by campaign contributors.
“I make my own decisions,” he said. “I meet with everybody, whether you like me or don’t like me, donate to me or don’t donate to me.”
Neither does the source of his campaign funds influence his political priorities, Mr. McGovern said. His goal of someday ruling the Rules Committee is a clearly defined goal, but he said he hopes to attain the chairmanship through continued hard work on the committee and dedication to the Democratic Party.
“Good waiters,” he said, “get good tips.”
###
