Bill Seeks to Curb Groups Lobbying Aged

Sens. John Heinz (R-Pa.) and Lawton Chiles (D-Fla.) introduced a bill Thursday intended to keep lobbying groups from collecting money from the nation’s elderly through “doomsday” predictions about Social Security.

One of the targets of the legislation, the senators said, is the sophisticated, direct-mail campaign of James Roosevelt, the eldest son of the late President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Roosevelt’s National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare has raised more than $75 million through the mail since 1983. The committee says it uses the money largely for legislative advocacy and education programs.

But Chiles said in a statement that the committee has sent “doomsday letters” that make dire statements about the status of the Social Security and Medicare systems in order to give the fund-raising appeals a “sense of urgency.”

Political Action Group

Roosevelt’s organization calls itself the fourth-largest political action committee in the nation.

While prominently mentioning Roosevelt’s group, Chiles and Heinz said other organizations also needed to have their mailings scrutinized more closely.

“At last count there are at least eight separate organizations that are mailing out solicitations to our nation’s elderly dealing with Social Security and Medicare,” Chiles said. “The closer they can come to presenting themselves as ‘official’ agencies, the better chance they have of obtaining contributions from our older citizens.”

Of particular concern, Heinz said, are fund-raising letters that were made to look like mailings from the Social Security Administration. Heinz also cited the bold letters on an envelope mailed by Roosevelt’s group that said: “Urgent! Important Social Security and Medicare Information Enclosed.”

Bill Provides Fines

Under the senators’ bill, organizations would be subject to fines of up to $1,000 per misleading piece of mail. Current practice is for the government to order groups to halt objectionable mailings without imposing fines.

Heinz said the bill would also require organizations to print the message “Private Soliciation Enclosed” conspicuously on the outside of the envelope.

“We’re all for this stuff,” Ken Hoagland, a spokesman for Roosevelt’s group, said when asked about the provisions in the bill.

For the last three years, Hoagland said, the group’s mailings have carried a disclaimer saying it is independent of the government. Now, mailings also contain a summary of how the organization spends it money, he said.