GOP Bid Fails to Block Funds for Democrats

A unanimous Federal Election Commission today approved giving the Democrats $46 million in taxpayer money despite Republican complaints that vice presidential candidate Lloyd Bentsen has an unfair advantage because he is also running for the Senate.

The FEC voted 6 to 0 at an emergency meeting to deny the Republican complaint and then agreed on another 6-0 vote to authorize the Treasury to send a check to the campaign for Michael S. Dukakis and Bentsen.

On Monday, the National Republican Senatorial Committee and Rep. Beau Boulter (R-Tex.), Bentsen’s Senate challenger, asked the FEC to deny the money to the Democrats because the funds would give Bentsen’s Senate campaign an unfair advantage. (Story on Page 14.)

After the vote, Jann Olsten, executive director of the GOP senatorial committee, said in a statement that the organization and Boulter will appeal the FEC ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

Olsten said, “The action by the FEC today is not surprising . . . given the high stakes involved. Nonetheless, we are disappointed with the FEC.”

Before the meeting, the FEC’s chief lawyer said Bentsen’s decision to run for vice president while he also seeks reelection to the Senate should not prevent the Democratic presidential campaign from receiving federal money.

General Counsel Lawrence Noble said in a memorandum: “On the basis of the information presently available, this office believes that the petitioner’s allegations are insufficient to establish fraud warranting the denial of general election funds to the Dukakis-Bentsen campaign. Therefore, the office of general counsel recommends that the commission deny the (GOP) petition.”

The FEC’s auditor made a similar recommendation.

Texas law allows Bentsen to run for vice president and for reelection in November. The law was passed 28 years ago when Sen. Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas was preparing a White House campaign; instead, Johnson joined the 1960 Democratic ticket led by John F. Kennedy.