PACs Donated Record Sum in ‘84, FEC Says

Political action committees contributed a record $112.6 million to the campaigns of candidates for federal office in the 1984 elections, and $80.5 million of it, or 72%, went to incumbents, the Federal Election Commission reported Saturday.

The commission indicated that the committees set up by special interest groups to aid selected candidates generally support those who are known quantities. Thus, those challenging incumbents received only $18 million, or 16% of total PAC contributions.

The election watchdog agency said PAC donations to all federal candidates favored Democrats, who received $63.9 million, 56.7% of the total, as opposed to $48.7 million, or 43.2%, to Republican candidates.

The FEC found no campaign that benefited directly from the efforts of the most successful fund-raiser of them all, the National Conservative Political Action Committee, which reported raising $19.5 million and spending $19.3 million but was not listed among the 50 top contributors to federal candidates.

Relies on Direct Mail

The explanation, said Fred Eiland, FEC press officer, is that the conservative group has operated independently of individual candidates, even though it provides generous support for conservative viewpoints and conservative issues, and thus it lists few direct contributions. It relies heavily on direct-mail solicitations, which cost about $1 for every $2 raised.

The FEC reported that incumbent House Democrats received the largest single slice of total PAC disbursements, $38.8 million, or 34% of all PAC contributions, while $30.8 million, or 27%, went to GOP House incumbents. The GOP did best in the Senate, where PACs gave $18 million to Republicans and $15.6 million to Democrats. Democrats retained their hold on the House, while the GOP kept its narrow lead in the Senate.

The FEC noted that contributions by PACs to the campaigns of incumbents have been rising steadily but said the rate of increase appeared to be slowing. Whereas PAC spending rose by 70% between 1978 and 1980 and by another 45% in 1982, the increase was down to 28.5% last year, it said.

After surveying 4,345 PACs, the FEC found that corporate committees leaned toward Republicans, while labor committees were overwhelmingly Democratic. It said the corporate PACs gave $23.9 million to GOP candidates and $14.8 million to Democrats. Union PACs helped Democrats with $23.7 million and Republicans with $1.5 million.

Lockheed Heads List

Defense contractors ranked among the top 10 corporate givers. Heading the list was the Lockheed PAC, which gave $430,000 in 1984. Close behind were the Rockwell International Good Government Committee ($342,000) and the General Dynamics Corp. Voluntary Political Contribution Plan ($256,000).

According to a United Press International report of a copyrighted story in today’s St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the General Dynamics PAC contributed at least $566,000 during the last three campaigns toward reelection of incumbent senators and representatives, most of them members of defense-related committees. It said General Dynamics, which is under investigation for overcharging the government, had contributed to the campaigns of four Californians, all Republicans: Sen. Pete Wilson, Reps. Bill Lowery and Duncan L. Hunter of San Diego and Rep. David Dreier of La Verne.