PACs that Back Israel Donated $397,000 to Key Congressmen

Thirty-four members of Congress serving on committees that deal with foreign policy received nearly half the $853,520 in contributions made last year by 65 political action committees advocating strong support of Israel, Common Cause reported Friday.

The citizens’ lobby said reports filed with the Federal Election Commission showed that $397,625 went to members of committees that help shape U.S. policy toward Israel. Heading its list of recipients of contributions from Israeli-oriented PACs were Sens. Bob Kasten (R-Wis.), who received $107,600 in 1985, and Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), with $70,375. Kasten is chairman of the foreign operations subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Specter is a member of the same subcommittee. Both are up for reelection this year.

Third on the list was Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who plans to announce Monday his intention to run this year for a fourth Senate term. The report said that he was given $57,250 in 1985 by similar PACs.

Murray Flander, press aide to Cranston, said he considered this off-year total “not surprising, since Alan has been such a strong friend of Israel.” Larger contributions from the same sources seem likely in 1986.

In the House, which has less direct responsibility than the Senate for foreign policy decisions, there was a lower level of off-year giving by PACs friendly to Israel, but Common Cause reported that $81,100 still went to 26 members of the Foreign Affairs Committee and the Appropriations subcommittee on foreign operations. At the top of this list were Reps. Larry Smith (D-Fla.), with $15,000, Lee H. Hamilton (D-Ind.), with $11,800, and John McCain (R-Ariz.), with $11,000.

In the 1979-84 period, the report said, Israeli-oriented PACs gave $5.6 million to congressional candidates, of which $3.9 million went to members of the current 99th Congress.