FEC Seeks Ban on Personal Use of Campaign Funds : Politics: Items like club dues and vacations often drain coffers. Congressional resistance is likely to be muted during Rostenkowski inquiry.

The Federal Election Commission is drafting new regulations that would prohibit members of Congress from spending campaign funds on vacations, country club memberships and other personal uses.

The proposed regulations, scheduled to be published in draft form this week in the Federal Register, are expected to be controversial in Congress, where many members have long resisted efforts to curb campaign spending abuses.

But congressional sources predicted that the reaction on Capitol Hill may be muted because of the embarrassment top Democrats feel about an ongoing criminal investigation of House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dan Rostenkowski (D-Ill.), who has been accused--among other things--of making personal use of his campaign funds.

Campaign reform groups are expected to endorse the proposed regulations, even though they may complain that the new rules are not tough enough. Fred Wertheimer, president of Common Cause, which advocates reform of the campaign finance system, hailed the FEC proposal as “a very valuable step . . . toward shutting down a widespread abuse of the system.”

FEC insiders said that the regulations were written in response to numerous stories in the news media, beginning with a computer-assisted study of campaign spending by The Times that revealed how members of Congress used campaign funds for their personal benefit in the 1990 elections.

The Times found that many members of Congress dipped into campaign coffers to finance vacations, to pay for country club dues, wardrobes, personal automobiles, office furnishing and expensive artwork, to endow academic chairs in their own names and even to cover the cost of tombstones when they die.

Stung by widespread criticism of its failure to crack down on these and other abuses, the FEC has moved lately on a number of fronts to beef up its enforcement of federal campaign funding laws. Wertheimer said that reform advocates are pleased with many recent actions by the commission, which always has been discouraged by the congressional leadership from getting tough on incumbents. Although the FEC is an independent agency, Congress determines its budget and has frequently opposed expansion of its authority.

The six-member FEC, which in the past has been deadlocked on several cases involving personal use of campaign funds, voted unanimously at a meeting last week to publish the draft regulations.

Under the FEC proposal, members of Congress and candidates would be barred from using campaign funds “to fulfill a commitment, obligation or expense of any person that would exist irrespective of the candidate’s campaign or responsibilities as a federal officeholder.”

Specifically, the FEC draft regulations would rule out the expenditure of campaign funds for mortgage payments, rent or utility fees on property not owned by the campaign; rent on a candidate’s apartment; salaries and living expenses paid to a candidate; dues paid to a country club, tennis club, fitness club or social organization, and funeral or cremation costs.

The FEC did not propose any steps to make sure that members comply with the new regulations.