Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, November 6, 1994 TAG: 9411070058
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LISE OLSEN LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The Virginia Senate race - a matchup of ideological opposites - has attracted more contributions from feuding single-issue groups than any other race in the country.
Not since the 1990 North Carolina contest between conservative icon Sen. Jesse Helms and Harvey Gantt, former mayor of Charlotte, have so many groups given to congressional candidates based on their support for ideas, according to Joshua Goldstein, project director at the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan research group in Washington, D.C.
``Oliver North is an ideological lightning rod,'' Goldstein said.
As an incumbent senator, Robb has attracted by far the most PAC support. He has 10 times as much PAC money as North, and 1,000 times as much as independent candidate Marshall Coleman.
Robb has tapped PACs for $1.16million - about one-fourth of his total war chest.
Robb has gotten most of his money from groups that want access to his power and who fear his challenger's views, say analysts and others following the financial side of the Virginia Senate race.
Labor unions account for one-fifth of Robb's PAC money. Robb voted in support of AFL-CIO positions 82 percent of the time in 1993.
Most PAC money for both Robb and North comes from corporate America. At least one-fifth of Robb's PAC contributions come from federal contractors. Collectively, those businesses had more than $11.7billion in government contracts in fiscal 1993 alone.
The interests of many of Robb's contributors mirror the Senate committees on which he serves, whose debates influence rules and spending in such areas as transportation, communications and defense.
The communications and electric-power industries, including all major long-distance telephone carriers, gave Robb a total of $101,600 in the past 10 months. That's nearly as much as those industries contributed to his campaigns in the previous 10 years, according to an analysis of communications contributions to Congress from 1984-93 by Common Cause, a citizens' legislative interest group that works for campaign-finance reform.
Telephone and cable companies have good reason to be interested in Robb. He belongs to the Senate communications subcommittee, which has led debate over telecommunications reform. He has taken the position that the industry should be deregulated to promote innovation and to improve competition.
In the most recent session of Congress, Robb offered an amendment that would have allowed the Baby Bells - regional telephone companies formed by the breakup of AT&T - to bypass some regulatory barriers and speed their entry into the cable TV business. That change was accepted by his committee. Though the bill never reached the Senate floor, it is likely to be taken up again next spring. And if Robb is still around, he will have a say in how the change takes shape.
In an interview, Robb agreed that many PACs represent industries and individuals who support his positions. But he noted that those who disagree also are represented. Robb said he has won support for taking strong views and being consistent.
Contributions from nonbusiness advocacy groups reflect some of the best-known ideological differences between North and Robb. Arms control, gay rights and women's groups support Robb; anti-abortion, conservative Christian and gun-rights groups go for North.
But Robb's biggest contributors among the single-issue groups are pro-Israel PACs. Those groups have donated about $96,000 to the senator - more than half of his money from ideological groups.
That's despite the fact that North has issued a paper detailing his support for Israel. North also worked closely with Israeli groups in his Iran-Contra days.
Still, some pro-Israel groups remain suspicious of him, in part because of his support from Christian groups, according to Jewish leaders.
``The mainstream of the American Jewish community has significant differences with them involving gender, reproductive rights and the separation of church and state. We're a minority that's particularly sensitive to protecting the rights of all minorities. When they take the attitude that this is a `Christian nation,' that worries us an enormous amount,'' said Douglas Bloomfield, a consultant on government relations and a syndicated columnist on Jewish issues.
Robb's hefty contributions from pro-Israel groups are even more striking because the groups are donating less this year nationwide, according to studies by the Center for Responsive Politics.
Pro-Israel groups also are among the PACs who have a stake in the committees to which Robb belongs, including Armed Services and Foreign Relations.
While Robb has not achieved the record levels of donations from individuals that have made the North campaign the wealthiest ever in a U.S. Senate race, Robb has done better than average with individual contributors.
As a result, Robb's dependence on PAC money is not as great as other incumbent senators'. Nationwide, 16 of 26 incumbent senators seeking re-election have a higher percentage of PAC contributions than Robb.
Some incumbents are relying on PACs for most of their campaign funds: More than half of West Virginia Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd's money comes from PACs. And North Dakota Democratic Sen. Kent Conrad has collected more than three-fourths of his funds from them, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Proponents of campaign finance reform argue that PACs have too great an influence on Congress because of their huge contributions to incumbents.
Robb disagrees. In an interview, he said reporting requirements and existing limits on PAC contributions are enough to make candidates accountable.
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB