Defense PACs Aided Key Congressmen

Political action committees of the top 10 defense contractors gave nearly $3 million to congressional candidates in the last election, heavily backing members of committees dealing with defense issues, according to a private study released Thursday.

The study by Common Cause, a lobbying organization, found that 41% of the $2.9 million in contributions went to incumbent members of the House and Senate Armed Services committees and the defense subcommittees of the Appropriations committees.

Used Pentagon Records

Common Cause used Federal Election Commission and Pentagon records, along with information from Congress and the firms themselves, to analyze the contribution patterns of PACs set up by 10 defense contractors receiving the largest Pentagon contracts in 1986.

The 10 contractors are Boeing, General Dynamics, General Electric, General Motors’ Hughes Aircraft, Grumman, Lockheed, McDonnell Douglas, Raytheon, Rockwell International and United Technologies.

Six of them--General Dynamics, Grumman, Hughes Aircraft, Lockheed, McDonnell Douglas and Rockwell--relied on the government for more than 60% of their business in 1986, the study said.

In 1985, five of them--General Dynamics, Grumman, Lockheed, McDonnell Douglas and Raytheon--earned 80% or more of their operating profits from U.S. government contracts, it said.

In addition to their direct PAC contributions, limited by election law to $5,000 per PAC to any one candidate, five of the defense PACs provided $95,000 to candidates in the 1985-86 election cycle through the practice called “bundling.”

‘Bundle’ for Candidates

PACs can legally circumvent the $5,000 limit by gathering contributions from individuals and, instead of putting the money into the PAC coffers, “bundling” it and passing it along to the candidates as donations from the individuals rather than from the PAC.

In addition to the campaign contributions, the 10 defense contractors provided Congress members with $236,163 in honorariums for speeches in 1985, the study said. That compared with $26,100 in honorariums that they paid in 1981.

Unlike PAC donations, which go to a candidate’s campaign fund, honorariums are paid to the Congress members personally.