‘Effort Through Intimidation’ Seen : Contras Lobby Angers Swing-Vote Democrats

Like many conservative Democrats, Rep. Buddy MacKay of Florida is furious about the tactics that President Reagan’s supporters are using to pressure him to vote in favor of $100 million in military and support aid for the Nicaraguan rebels.

In MacKay’s home district--one populated largely by conservative-minded retirees and including communities such as Gainesville and Ocala Beach--the President’s supporters have bought full-page newspaper ads and broadcast radio commercials that accuse the congressman of waffling on U.S. support for the anti-Communist insurgents. One newspaper ad asks: “Whose Buddy Is He?”

While the ad campaign was designed to persuade him to support the President, it has instead stiffened MacKay’s resolve to vote against the package.

“I’m damn resentful--in fact, I’m mad as hell,” he said in an interview. “It insinuates that I don’t know what I stand for. I think it’s an effort to change my vote through intimidation.”

Prevents Diplomacy

MacKay is typical of many moderate-to-conservative House Democrats who have been the prime targets of the President’s recent lobbying drive for aid to the Nicaraguan rebels, known as contras. Although they voted with the President in favor of $27 million in non-lethal aid last year and expect to support some compromise on military funds later this year, they cannot accept the current package on grounds that it forecloses a diplomatic solution in Central America.

Without these Democratic swing votes, Reagan’s aid request is expected to be defeated by a narrow margin in the House on Thursday.

“I think we’re going to win conclusively, but not overwhelmingly,” predicted House Democratic Whip Thomas S. Foley (D-Wash.), who is leading the opposition.

Despite the tremendous political pressure being exerted by the President, MacKay and many other Democrats are holding out for a compromise that would not provide military assistance to the Nicaraguan rebels until the Administration has tried seriously to negotiate a peaceful solution of the conflict with the Marxist government of Nicaragua. And, so far, the President has refused to discuss such a deal.

“I can’t believe that a President who’s willing to negotiate with Soviet Russia would allow his cohorts to slander people who are offering the same policy with Nicaragua,” MacKay said. “All I would say to the President is: ‘I’m asking you to be consistent. I’m not asking you to be soft on communism.’ ”

But MacKay and like-minded Democrats who voted with the President last year said they will not be satisfied by a letter being drafted at the White House in which Reagan promises to negotiate with the Nicaraguan government. Many of them are still angry that Reagan failed to keep a similar commitment that he made to them in a letter last year.

As MacKay put it: “It’s absolutely outrageous that I would now be subjected to an attack questioning my good faith when I don’t believe there was any serious intention to honor the commitment that was made last year.”

At the same time, these Democrats realize that they are taking a sizable political risk by voting against the President--a risk that has been magnified by the highly visible lobbying drive being waged by conservative groups supporting the President. If the House approves the aid package, a vote against it could come back to haunt MacKay later this year.

“This is the opening round of the 1986 election,” he said.

Political Vulnerability

MacKay suggested that the Republican Party is using the issue as a test to determine which Democrats might be vulnerable in November.

“I think it will be used not only in my district but in a number of others by Republicans using professional polling techniques to determine whether we should be targeted,” he said.

The Florida congressman also noted that the ads directed at him were paid for by conservative groups such as Citizens for Reagan, which are headquartered in Washington.

“They didn’t raise their money in my district; they don’t vote in my district, and they’re not accountable to my voters,” he said.

“We’re getting our foreign policy from the wonderful people who brought you Richard Nixon,” he added, a reference to White House communications chief Patrick J. Buchanan, a former Nixon aide and mastermind of Reagan’s lobbying strategy on assistance for the contras.

Opponents of Reagan’s aid package acknowledge that the television, newspaper and radio advertisements purchased by conservative groups, combined with the President’s television speech last Sunday night, have generated a response among their constituents unmatched by any other issue in recent years. Many offices have been swamped with telephone calls.

But Democrats insist that these tactics are not working in the President’s favor. House Speaker Thomas P. (Tip) O’Neill Jr. (D-Mass.) said that constituent calls to Democrats are generally running 2-to-1 against the President.

MacKay’s office has received more than 1,000 telephone calls on contras aid in the last two days but they were divided evenly, for and against.

In addition to constituent calls, moderate and conservative Democrats have been lobbied by hordes of activists on both sides of the issue--including White House officials, church leaders and the contras themselves.

“I think I’ve had the entire army through my office,” joked Rep. Bill Richardson (D-N.M.), who shares MacKay’s position on the issue.

Although MacKay blames conservative Republicans for making rebel aid a divisive political issue, he also faults the liberal Democratic leaders of his own party for failing to propose an alternative. Some House Democratic leaders are opposed to any aid program.

“The left and the right are both playing politics,” MacKay said. “The country is becoming more and more polarized.”