Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, August 19, 1994 TAG: 9408190081
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A4 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Among the biggest benefactors of the NRA's largesse from June to early August were a handful of Democrats who abandoned President Clinton last week after voting for an earlier version of his crime bill, according to a review of campaign reports.
Among them: Bart Stupak of Michigan ($1,950 on June 27), Martin Lancaster of North Carolina ($2,500 on June 1), Charlie Wilson of Texas ($2,500 on June 29) and Bill Orton of Utah ($4,450 on June 28).
A few Republicans who reversed course last week also were big benefactors, including Gary Franks of Connecticut who got a $4,950 general-election donation from the NRA's political action committee in June.
He was the lone member of the congressional delegation from Connecticut, where crime is a volatile issue this year, to vote against bringing the bill to a House vote last week.
One NRA contribution was made the same day as the vote: Alaska Republican Don Young got $3,500 on Aug. 11. A few days earlier, Republicans Wayne Allard and Dan Schaefer of Colorado got similar donations. All three voted against both versions of the crime bill.
The donation pattern reveals how the NRA - long one of the most effective special-interest lobbies in Washington - used political contributions before the surprise defeat of Clinton's crime bill.
An Associated Press computer analysis of NRA contributions to the House since the start of the 1994 election cycle found the group gave nearly 88 percent of its $621,000 in donations to lawmakers who opposed the crime bill.
Those figures include nearly $60,000 in donations AP identified as coming in the weeks immediately before the vote. The NRA has not filed its report for that period, but AP identified the donations by examining the campaign finance reports of dozens of congressman who have filed fresh reports with the Federal Election Commission over the past week.
The pro-gun lobby opposes a single provision that would ban 19 assault-type weapons.
In April, that provision was not in the crime bill that easily passed the House. Instead, the assault weapons ban was narrowly passed as a separate bill.
But when the crime bill returned to the House floor last week, the weapons ban had been attached to it.
The NRA, however, had done its homework over the summer, identifying and heavily lobbying those lawmakers who supported the other anti-crime provisions but opposed the weapons bans when it was considered as a separate provision.
They may well have voted against the bill in its new form anyway, but the NRA made sure they didn't forget who was supporting them.
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB