Donations to Lawmakers in ’85 Rise 44%

Continuing a spiral of increasingly expensive campaigns, House members gearing up for this year’s elections received an average of $118,607 each in 1985, up 44% from 1983, the previous non-election year, according to an analysis released today by Common Cause.

Contributions from political action committees grew even more sharply, rising 54% to an average $47,653 per congressman, the citizens lobby reported.

House incumbents in recent years have tried to fill their campaign chests earlier in the election season in hopes that a show of financial strength will discourage potential rivals.

Many also tried to get a head start on fund raising during the off-year to avoid competing with Senate candidates in the heat of this year’s election season, when control of the Senate will be at stake.

One congressman apparently employing a strategy of building a campaign treasury early is California Rep. Mel Levine (D-Santa Monica), who took in $455,360 and ranks as the House’s sixth biggest fund-raiser for 1985. At the end of the year, he had a daunting $430,621 in cash on hand, which was the 14th largest total.

Although Levine is in a district considered relatively safe for a Democratic incumbent, he was startled in 1984 when GOP nominee Robert B. Scribner made a stronger-than-expected showing against him.

Levine aide Bill Andreson explained that Levine had been preoccupied with defeating a GOP-led proposition that would re-draw the state’s congressional district lines, rather than with his own first reelection bid. “We literally did not spend a dime on Mel’s campaign,” Andreson said.

This time, Andreson said, “He wants to be ready. . . . If anybody’s looking at (running against) Mel, we want to make it clear that he has some money.” The bulk of Levine’s campaign chest was raised at a single fund-raiser last summer, which drew $380,000 in contributions.

Other than Levine, Californians receiving more than $250,000 in total contributions were Reps. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove), $374,590; Tony Coelho (D-Merced), $360,818, and Ronald V. Dellums (D-Berkeley), $314,482.

Two other California congressmen had more cash on hand than Levine: Reps. David Dreier (R-La Verne), with $791,865, and Tom Lantos (D-San Mateo), with $430,962.

Incumbents, already in a position to further the goals of their contributors, hold an enormous advantage over would-be challengers in attracting campaign funds. With campaigns becoming increasingly expensive, the prospect of overcoming an incumbent who can draw upon a bigger pool of resources “discourages challengers from even considering a race,” said Randy Huwa, a Common Cause spokesman.

Common Cause and other groups have been particularly critical of the growing influence of PACs--fund-raising arms that can tap the enormous resources of such major groups as business and labor--and has supported legislation that would place overall limits on the amount of PAC money individual candidates could accept.

The group’s study, which confined itself to House members seeking reelection, showed that 27 congressmen received at least $100,000 from PACs. California congressmen among them:

--Rep. Pete Stark (D-Oakland), favored by PACs because he is a member of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, received $171,372, or 70% of his total contributions, from PACs.

--Coelho, chairman of the House Democrats’ campaign fund-raising committee, received $162,865, or 45% of his total, from PACs.

--Rep. Vic Fazio (D-Sacramento), a member of the House Appropriations Committee, received $106,380, or 49% of his total, from PACs.