Democrats Enlist Peace Groups to Court Votes for Contra Aid Plan

House Democratic leaders, seeking to firm up support from wavering liberals before Thursday’s showdown vote, announced Tuesday that a number of U.S. peace groups are backing the party’s plan to provide non-military aid to Nicaragua’s Contras.

The endorsements should make it clear that the Democratic proposal, which will be voted on along with a Republican alternative, is “the lesser of two evils,” said Rep. David E. Bonior (D-Mich.), the party’s chief House spokesman on Central American issues.

Last week, Democratic leaders were embarrassed when a scheduled vote on Contra aid was postponed after party liberals rebelled at sending even non-military aid to the rebels. Now, the leaders are confident that these members will support the $30-million package.

“It’s a question of voting for this proposal, which we think will further the peace process, or voting no and paving the way for another vote in Congress on military aid,” Bonior said.

The problem surfaced early last month after House Democrats narrowly defeated a White House aid proposal that included military aid. Speaker Jim Wright (D-Tex.) won the support of about 30 moderates on that issue after promising them that they would be able to vote on an alternative package that would include food, clothing and medicine.

Since then, however, Democratic leaders have been trying to win the support of “nervous” party liberals. They persuaded several peace organizations long opposed to the Contras to endorse the Democratic package, contending that a defeat of their plan would trigger a new White House request for military assistance.

Some of these groups, whose names were released Wednesday, include Countdown ‘87, Common Cause, Neighbor to Neighbor, U.S. Catholic Conference, Presbyterian Church groups, the Friends Committee on National Legislation and the Jesuit Social Ministries.

Bonior said that many of them were reluctant to endorse any aid to the rebels, but they were swayed by what one Democratic aide called “hard political realities.”

“We cannot block all aid to the Contras . . . Congress is going to pass some aid package,” said George Chauncey, of Presbyterian Advocates on Central America, in a written statement distributed to members of Congress.

“My friends who insist on no more aid or who remain silent have to live with the reality that the almost certain consequence of their position will be more military aid for those Contra terrorists.”

Meanwhile, House Republicans continued to lobby for their own Contra aid plan, which would offer the rebels $36.7 million in so-called non-lethal assistance.