May, June Contributions Buoy McCarthy, Who Trails Wilson in Senate Race Polls

After getting off to a slow start, Democratic Lt. Gov. Leo T. McCarthy took in $905,000 during May and June for his U.S. Senate race, enough to more than match Republican incumbent Sen. Pete Wilson during the two months, fund-raising reports showed Saturday.

The influx of contributions will help McCarthy, trailing Wilson in public opinion polls by as much as 20 percentage points, mount a more competitive challenge because the money improves his ability to buy all-important television advertising time in the fall, campaign aides said.

Even though Wilson raised nearly as much as McCarthy, $882,000, the Democratic candidate’s aides were clearly buoyed by the fund-raising effort. Darry Sragow, McCarthy’s campaign director, said, “There is no question about it; we are picking up steam.”

Wilson’s Funding Advantage

Wilson, who got off to a much faster start last winter, still enjoys a substantial fund-raising advantage over McCarthy.

Wilson reported spending $1.1 million during the May and June reporting period, most of that for television commercials, contrasted with about $300,000 for McCarthy. Even after spending that much, Wilson had $2.2 million in the bank, contrasted with $1.5 million for McCarthy.

But the Democrat also reported debts of $450,000, including a bank loan of $200,000 taken out to finance a direct-mail fund-raising effort.

McCarthy’s financial statement drew more interest than usual this time because his fund raising had been so slow there was public speculation that he might not be able to mount a competitive challenge to Wilson in the Nov. 8 general election.

Independent public opinion polls taken at the beginning of the year showed McCarthy much closer to Wilson than they do now. But as Wilson went to the air with television commercials and McCarthy struggled to catch up, the gap between the two grew wider and wider.

The McCarthy campaign, in an effort to build credibility, promised two months ago that McCarthy would have $1.5 million in the bank by June 30, the closing date of financial reporting period.

The $450,000 in debts reported by McCarthy led to a charge by the Wilson camp that the McCarthy campaign had deliberately drafted the report to make it look like the Democratic candidate is financially healthier than he is.

Bob Hudson, a spokesman for Wilson, said McCarthy aides engaged in “fancy bookkeeping for psychological reasons.”

“McCarthy promised all along that he would have $1.5 million in the bank, but the only way he could do it was by not paying all his bills,” Hudson said.

Retorted Sragow: “The fact is we out-raised them, and they know it.”

Kam Kuwata, another McCarthy aide, said, “We’re right on track, right where we said we’d be.”

The biggest source of new contributions for McCarthy and Wilson are political action committees, which under federal election law are allowed to give up to $5,000 to the candidates, contrasted with $1,000 limits on contributions from individuals.

Contributions From Labor

McCarthy got sizable contributions from labor, environmental and liberal political action committees. He received the maximum $5,000 contributions from a Voters for Choice/Friends of Family Planning, a pro-abortion committee; Voters to End the Arms Race, and the Human Rights Campaign Fund. He also got $5,000 contributions from the United Steelworkers of America, the American Federation of Teachers and the International Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s and Ironworkers unions. McCarthy also received $4,000 from the Sierra Club.

Wilson’s report reflected a sizable amount of money from corporate political action committees. He received $2,000 from the committee formed by First Interstate Bank, $4,000 from Citicorp, $2,000 from the Tenneco Gas Pipeline Group, and $4,500 from Textron. He also took in $4,000 from a Pacific Gas and Electric Co. employees committee and $5,000 from employees of the Walt Disney Co.