‘Didn’t Anticipate’ Controversy : Bentsen Drops Lobbyist Club With $10,000 Fee

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Lloyd Bentsen (D-Tex.), conceding that he “really blew it,” Friday dropped his effort to form a club of lobbyists willing to pay $10,000 apiece to his campaign for an opportunity to have breakfast with him once a month.

“I am not known to make many mistakes, but when I do, it’s a doozy, and in forming that breakfast club, I really blew it,” an embarrassed Bentsen said in a statement issued by his office. “I didn’t anticipate the perception.”

Published reports of Bentsen’s solicitations of lobbyists had drawn a storm of controversy. “The last thing I want is anything that would reflect on my integrity,” he said.

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.)--who has vigorously criticized the growing influence of wealthy political action committees--Friday denied reports that he recently had offered special access to a gathering of lobbyists if they contributed or raised $10,000.

Previous Club

It has become a trend in recent years for lawmakers who hold particularly powerful positions to form such groups. Bentsen’s predecessor as chairman, Sen. Bob Packwood (R-Ore.), also had a breakfast club, although membership, at $5,000, was considerably less expensive.

Although individuals are prohibited by law from contributing more than $2,000 to individual candidates, political action committees, which represent groups of contributors with shared interests, are allowed to give a maximum of $10,000.

Spokesman Jack R. DeVore Jr. said that Bentsen, whose committee writes tax legislation that can affect virtually every special interest in the country, will return all contributions that already had been made.

DeVore said he did not know how many lobbyists actually had contributed but estimated that roughly 50 of the 200 who had been solicited at a breakfast last week had expressed serious interest in joining the group.

Possible Tax Changes

The lobbyists had been promised that the “Chairman’s Council” breakfasts would be relatively small--giving them valuable access to Bentsen at a time when many believe that Congress may be making changes in sweeping tax legislation passed last year.

Bentsen has said he expects to confront well-financed Republican opposition when he runs in 1988 for a fourth term. Bentsen had sent a letter to 200 lobbyists asking for “advice, assistance and early financial support crucial to a successful campaign.”

Later Friday, Byrd denied that $10,000 campaign contributions had become an “admission charge to my office.”

Lobbyists who contributed $10,000 at a recent fund-raiser for Byrd “will have the opportunity like anyone else to visit with me on an irregular basis,” the majority leader said. He is the most powerful member of the Senate because he can exercise the most control over which legislation comes before the chamber and when.

Byrd insisted that he remains dedicated to campaign reform.

“I’m working within the (campaign finance) rules, within the law to raise money that’s needed for my campaign, and I’m also trying to do away with the system. The only way I can do that is by being reelected,” he said. “I don’t think it’s a good system. It’s getting worse and worse.”