Congressional Races: Where the Money Comes From
FECNewHampshire
New Hampshire Union Leader
Kendra Gilbert
Boston University Washington News Service
10-18-06
WASHINGTON, Oct. 18 – When political action committees give money to House races, incumbents usually get the lion’s share, and New Hampshire Republican Reps. Charlie Bass and Jeb Bradley are no exception.
“PACs like to place safe bets,” said Massie Ritsch, communications director of the Center for Responsive Politics, a non-profit, non-partisan research organization based in Washington that tracks money in politics and its effect on elections and public policy. “If you’re a candidate that’s not already in office, it’s hard to convince the PAC that you’re worthy of their support.”
Democratic challengers, like Paul Hodes in the 2nd District and Carol Shea-Porter in the 1st District, have to rely heavily on individual donations to make up for the lack of PAC money coming their way.
“PAC support is one of the major advantages incumbents have in raising money,” said Anthony Corrado, a professor of government at Colby College in Maine. “It’s often the case that PACs will give 7 to 1 their proportion of funding to incumbents versus challengers.”
2nd District
As of Sept. 30, 2nd District Rep. Bass had received $562,908 in campaign donations from PACs – which are groups that represent specific interests and raise and donate money to political campaigns – according to his filing with the Federal Election Commission.
That money accounted for 61 percent of Bass’ total campaign contributions of $918,789. Contributions from individuals totaled $355,681, according to the campaign filing.
Bob Biersack, spokesman for the Federal Election Commission, said PAC contributions often represent more than half of an incumbent’s receipts.
Republicans running for reelection, like Bass and Bradley, often receive most of their donations from business and corporate PACs.
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Bass received more than 71 percent of his PAC contributionsfrom business PACs.
Ideological and labor groups made up the remainder of Bass’ campaign donations from PACs, with the congressman getting only 3 percent of his PAC money from labor unions, according to the center
However, in New Hampshire’s 2nd District, bigger PAC checks don’t always mean a greater financial advantage. Hodes has raised $1,035,135, about $100,000 more than Bass in total contributions, according to Hodes’ filing with the Federal Election Commission., with only 18 percent of his donations coming from PACs. Individuals have donated nearly $700,000 to Hodes’ campaign.
1st District
Shea-Porter, running against Bradley, had not received any money from PACs until recently, she said. Most of her $11,489 in PAC donations came from union political action committees, she said.
“They are the ones that represent the workers of America and they are the ones that I’ve spent my life working with and for,” Shea-Porter said.
“For the most part, labor unions give 95 percent of their money to Democrats,” Corrado said.
When asked about PAC contributions, Bradley said, “I have almost a thousand people that contribute to me individually. That is a significant proportion of my campaign.”
Donations from PACs made up 51 percent of the $949,465 Bradley raised through Sept. 30, according to his campaign report filed with the Federal Election Commission. And nearly 70 percent of the PAC money came from business, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The remainder of his PAC contributions came from single-issue groups and union PACs, although he received only $13,000 from labor union PACs.
Because PACs can donate no more than $10,000 during an election cycle to an individual candidate and individuals can contribute no more than $4,200 per cycle to a candidate, taking contributions from PACs allows candidates to raise more money in a short period of time.
“You can raise more money by contacting a few PACs than by contacting individuals,” Ritsch said. “They can write the biggest checks, so they are hard to turn down.”
Shea-Porter said her late PAC contributions have allowed her to run television ads, but said that such a small amount “doesn’t level the playing field.”
“Challengers can be particularly critical of an incumbent’s PAC fundraising,” Ritsch said. “But that might be because the PACs rarely give to challengers. If they did, challengers might not have such a problem with it.”
Bass and Bradley
While much of their financial support has come from the pocketbooks of private interest groups, Bass and Bradley are far from the top of the list of House members who receive PAC donations.
In terms of total money current House members received from PACs , Bass ranks 129th out of 435, and Bradley comes in at 164th, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Fourteen members of Congress have said they do not take any money from PACs.
Bradley said that he does not take any money from tobacco PACs and that when he votes, “it is based on representing New Hampshire values in Washington.”
“That’s how I make up my mind on the issues I am voting on,” Bradley said.
Bass campaign spokeswoman Lindsay Jackson said that the PAC contributions Bass receives “are reflective of the hard work he has done to represent the constituents of New Hampshire.”
“When politicians get criticized for taking any sort of money, it’s usually the PAC money that gets singled out,” Ritsch said. “It’s hard to not see PAC money as representing the interests of business, labor or ideological groups looking to influence lawmakers.”
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