Democrats eclipse GOP fundraising

Publication: USA Today

Ken Dilanian
April 17, 2007

For the first quarter of this year, 18 Democratic chairmen raised $2.2 million from political action committees — up from $540,500 for the same period in 2005, when they were in the minority, a USA TODAY analysis of campaign records found. All but one of the chairmen were the ranking Democrats on the committees two years ago.

Most political action committees spread donations on behalf of corporations, labor unions or others with a shared economic interest.

Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, raised $111,150 from PACs from January through March, compared with $16,000 in the first quarter of 2005, when he was the committee's ranking minority member. Banking PACs contributed $23,500 to Frank at the same time he pushed a bill that would have blocked Wal-Mart from opening banks in its stores. Wal-Mart dropped its effort last month.

"Yes, it is true people who have legislative interests contribute," Frank said. "I wish that weren't the case, but the Supreme Court said people have that right, and it's hard to clean that up entirely."

He added, "Votes do not follow money; money follows votes. … I think you will find zero [link] between the amount that we raised and the public policy we advocate, which seems to me the critical question."

Frank, D-Mass., said he supported a wall between commercial firms and banks regardless of the banking donations, and he noted that his stance would make it unlikely he would get a dime from Wal-Mart. "I thought that was a bad idea for public policy," he said.

It is hardly surprising that Democratic chairmen would raise more money after their party took power, since chairmen wield enormous influence over the content and passage of bills. But the Democratic chairmen raised double the amount from PACs that their Republican counterparts did in the first quarter of 2005, federal campaign records show.

"It's a breathtaking demonstration of the power of money in this town," said Ellen Miller, director of the Sunlight Foundation, a non-partisan anti-corruption group.

Democrats may have tightened lobbying and ethics rules, Miller said, but "nothing that the House or the Senate has done has fundamentally altered the pay-to-play political system."

A spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., did not have an immediate comment.

USA TODAY examined campaign finance reports, which were due at midnight Sunday and posted on the Federal Election Commission website. The analysis did not include the House ethics and administration committees, which deal with internal issues.

According to the filings:

• Rep. Charles Rangel, who chairs the tax-writing Ways and Means committee, reported raising $486,669 from PACs during the first quarter of 2007, compared with $7,500 for the same period in 2005. Among his donors was the National Treasury Employees Union, whose PAC wrote Rangel's campaign a $1,000 check one week after the chairman urged the IRS not to hire any more private tax collection firms.
• John Dingell, chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, which touches a host of industries, raised $307,561 from PACs, compared with $86,000 in the first quarter of 2005. Dingell donors include PACs for auto companies and unions that oppose legislation before his committee that would raise fuel economy standards.
• Collin Peterson of Minnesota, who chairs the Agriculture Committee, took in $196,894 from PACs, up from $27,600. With a huge farm subsidy bill pending, farm interests — from sugar beets to sheep — were among his donors.

Rangel, Dingell and Peterson did not return calls seeking comment.