THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 31, 1994 TAG: 9407310086
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARGARET EDDS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 124 lines
Last year, Charles S. Robb - the senator - voted to ban campaign contributions by political action committees in federal elections.
This year, Charles S. Robb - the candidate - is taking advantage of the fact that the ban hasn't become law.
Scores of Washington lobbyists are being invited to attend a $5,000-a-head fund-raiser for Robb on Aug. 9 at a posh Capitol Hill restaurant. For their time and money, they'll be able to hobnob with the Democratic senator and with White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta.
That's only one of the money matters spurring controversy as Virginia's U.S. Senate candidates attack their first order of summer business: raising the millions that will propel them this fall.
Last week, an Arlington watchdog group chided Republican Oliver L. North for raising most of his money out of state. Less than 20 percent of North's $8.4 million war chest is from Virginia, and his latest report listed six times as many contributions from San Diego as from Norfolk.
Parodying the Beach Boys song, ``California Girls,'' members of Clean Up Congress trilled: ``The Midwest farmers' dollars helpedme buy the party nod. And the Texas oilmen gave me so much, that I have more money than God.''
The environmental group, which says defeating North is a top priority this fall, was more discreet in noting that the bulk of Robb's dollars have also come from out-of-state.
North's campaign dismissed the criticism. ``It's a radical liberal PAC,'' a spokesman said.
Former Democratic Gov. L. Douglas Wilder, who criticized Robb's PAC fund raising, was targeted in return. Competitors noted that Wilder, who says he won't accept political action committee money, had no such compunction when he ran for governor in 1991.
``To quote the Church Lady, `how conve-e-e-e-enient,' '' that Wilder's conversion on PACs came when his support from them was dwindling, Robb said.
Wilder says his switch on PACs came when he was running for president and saw their powerful sway over the process.
The senator and others also claimed that Wilder is in a shaky position to stake out the high moral ground on campaign finances. Wilder has refused to fully disclose what's happened to $1 million left over from the inaugural fund he amassed when elected governor - except to say that he isn't personally benefiting from it.
``It's one of the rooms in his glass house,'' said Dan McLagan, a spokesman for North.
Meanwhile, as the candidates and their fund-raising letters zip around the country, the director of another citizen watchdog group summed up the Senate race as ``money, money, money.''
``Everybody is hustling buns to get as fat a contribution as they can get wherever they can get it,'' said Julie Lapham of Common Cause of Virginia.
Winners and losers in the fund-raising derby can be measured as easily with a ruler as a calculator. Wilder, who entered the race as an independent in mid-June, filed a mid-July fund-raising report that was one-quarter of an inch thick.
J. Marshall Coleman, a former Republican state attorney general who also is running as an independent, had a half-inch report. Robb's was about three-eighths of an inch high. And North's was a towering 4-plus inches.
That report covered only 45 days, however. Robb and North have been raising and spending money since last year, while Coleman's and Wilder's current financial statements were their first.
According to North's staff, the Republican's far-flung direct-mail network has netted contributions from 170,000 Americans, including 35,000 Virginians. While more than one-third of what North takes in is apparently being plowed back into fund raising, even the reduced sum is formidable.
North appears on target to surpass North Carolina Sen. Jesse Helms' record intake in a Senate race of $16.9 million.
That threat, Robb sympathizers say, is responsible for the senator's dogged pursuit of PAC money. About 30 percent of the $2.5 million Robb has raised since last year is from political action groups - organizations of individuals with a common political interest.
Corporate gifts are banned in federal elections, but employees or members of corporations, unions and other interest groups can pool resources as PACs to make political donations. Contributions to PACs are limited by law, as are gifts from PACs to individual candidates.
North has taken in about $20,000 from PACs this year. Coleman reported that $4,000 of his $135,000 consisted of such contributions. And Wilder, who has raised $67,000 in contributions and personal loans, returned his only PAC check - $1,000 from Blue Cross/Blue Shield, now known as Trigon.
``Robb's got to do whatever he's got to do to catch North,'' said Woody Holton, director of Clean Up Congress and son of former GOP Gov. Linwood Holton. While the organization would like to see PAC money disappear from politics, ``it's not like taking money from the Mafia,'' Woody Holton said.
Not even close, said Robb, who argues that political action committees allow low- and middle-income Americans to pool their resources to promote a particular agenda. His intake from PACs, while less than that of many other senators, also is proof that a politically savvy audience thinks his campaign is viable, he said.
As for his vote in favor of the Congressional Campaign Spending and Election Reform Act of 1993, which includes a ban on PAC contributions in federal elections, Robb said he supported the overall thrust of the comprehensive reform, but not every individual feature.
When he had a chance to cast a straight vote on PAC contributions earlier this year, he voted against a ban, Robb said.
``You have to play by the rules established, and you can't tie one hand behind your back,'' he said.
Common Cause also opposes legislating a ban, which members believe would be found unconstitutional. But the organization favors limiting PAC contributions to $1,000 per election cycle, the same cap imposed on individuals. The current PAC limit is $5,000 per election. And the group supports limiting PAC contributions to 20 percent of a candidate's total intake.
``Where does this money come from? From industries, corporations and special interests who clearly want to grease the wheels of government,'' Lapham said. While senators probably can't be bought for $5,000, the money ``buys access,'' she said.
As for Panetta's appearance, ``Sen. Robb has gotten to the ultimate power source to get the best return. . . . It certainly does not provide a good, healthy appearance.''
Barry Toiv, a spokesman for Panetta, said it's no secret that President Clinton ``strongly supports Sen. Robb's re-election, and Mr. Panetta is in line with that, helping him out.''
Asked if lobbyists turning up at La Colline, a French restaurant, will get any friendlier reception at the White House, Toiv replied: ``No.''
Important as it is, money may not necessarily decide the contest, Lapham said. ``It's like a bell curve,'' she said. ``Citizens tolerate this stuff to a point, and then it backfires.''
KEYWORDS: U.S. SENATE RACE VIRGINIA CAMPAIGN FINANCING by CNB