Republicans Easily Surpass Democrats in Election-Year Spending, Reports Show

Although the Democrats attracted far more attention for soliciting big contributions from foreigners, they were vastly outspent by their Republican rivals during this year’s federal election cycle, according to new reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.

The reports illustrate an ironic aspect of the Democratic National Committee’s aggressive fund-raising efforts: While they plunged the DNC into a furor over questionable contributions, they still were not enough to overcome the GOP’s formidable financial advantage in this year’s presidential and congressional elections.

The Republican National Committee, in a 15,000-page document filed this week, reported spending about $20 million to benefit its party’s candidates during the period from Oct. 17 to Nov. 25, bringing its total disbursements for the year to $168 million.

That is nearly twice as much as the $87 million the Democratic National Committee reported spending on candidates so far this year, of which $14 million was spent during the five weeks covered by the report.

A review of the DNC’s post-election report, meanwhile, shows that much of the money flowing into the party’s coffers in the late stages of the campaign came from labor unions, Native American tribes that operate gambling casinos and health-industry interests--including some who opposed President Clinton’s 1994 plan to overhaul the nation’s health care system.

The biggest contributor to the Democratic National Committee in the post-election period was the Revlon Group of New York, which contributed $100,000. That brought the cosmetics company’s total contributions to the Democrats for the year to $425,250, putting Revlon among several dozen big companies that contributed more than $300,000.

Although the Republicans raised and spent far more than the Democrats, both parties are certain to shatter their past spending records.

The latest report brings the Republican National Committee’s disbursements for the 1995-96 cycle to about $226 million, more than double the $103 million it spent in 1991-92, the last presidential election cycle. The Democratic committee, which has spent $130 million in 1995-96, spent only $82 million four years earlier. The two-year totals will increase somewhat when the parties report final expenditures for the period from Nov. 26 through the end of the year.

In addition to their outlays on behalf of candidates, both parties also spent vast amounts of “soft money”--contributions from corporations, labor unions and wealthy individuals for “party-building” activities that ostensibly do not benefit any particular candidate.

The Republican committee reported that it spent $18 million in soft money in the five-week period covered by the report, bringing its total for the year to $89 million. The Democratic committee reported about $12 million in soft money disbursements over the five weeks, for a year-long total of about $71 million.

Spending by the national party committees represents just one part of the vast flow of money in the presidential and congressional elections. It supplements the amounts spent by the two parties’ House and Senate campaign committees, special interest groups and individual candidates for the White House and Congress--all of whom were required to file reports this week with the FEC on spending and fund-raising for the five-week period ending Nov. 25.

Reports from the congressional campaign committees show that Republicans also vastly outspent Democrats in their successful effort to retain control of Congress.

The National Republican Congressional Committee poured $14 million into helping House incumbents and candidates in the closing weeks of the campaign, almost one-third of the $48 million the committee spent all year.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, by contrast, spent only $19 million all year, including $5 million in the Oct. 17-Nov. 25 period.

In the fight for the Senate, the National Republican Senatorial Committee reported spending $50 million this year, compared with $23 million spent by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. The GOP campaign committee moved far more aggressively than its Democratic counterpart to take advantage of a loophole in campaign spending law opened by a June Supreme Court decision. The ruling allows political parties to devote unlimited amounts of money to “independent expenditures”--advertising and other election-related efforts that are not coordinated with specific candidates.

The Democratic Senate committee reported only $1.4 million in independent expenditures all year, compared with Republicans’ nearly $10 million. The GOP spent more than half that money in the final weeks of the campaign, mostly for television advertising in the many states--including Nebraska, Alabama, and Oregon--where Senate races were neck-and-neck.

Detailed reports from the Republican National Committee and Republican House campaign committee were not immediately available from the FEC, and the committees provided only summaries of their fund-raising and spending.

The Democratic National and House committees and the GOP Senate committee, however, made complete copies available for a detailed review of their donors.

Although Revlon’s was the biggest DNC contribution in this latest report, no single contributor in the post-election period gave more to the Democratic Party than Arnold Hyatt, former CEO of Stride Rite, whose $500,000 contribution was previously reported.

According to the latest report, Integrated Health Services Inc., of Owings Mills, Md., a company involved in home health care and nursing homes, has contributed $320,000 this year--$50,000 in the final reporting period.

A spokesman for Integrated Health Services said that his company opposed parts of the president’s health care plan but he declined to specify what the company disliked. He said that the company also dislikes parts of Republican plans.

Other last-minute Democratic contributors in the health care industry included NovaCare Inc., of King of Prussia, Pa., $35,000; Ohio-Northwest Development Inc., of San Diego, $100,000, and Aetna of Hartford, Conn., $55,000.

Other donors of $100,000 or more reported Friday by the Democrats include New York financier Felix Rohatyn; Federal Express Corp.; the Money Store of Sacramento; Northwest Airlines of St. Paul, Minn.; Time-Warner Inc.; United Airlines of Chicago; Walt Disney Co. of Burbank; Worldspace Inc., of Washington; the AFL-CIO; the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and Federal National Mortgage Corp.

Asian American donors made contributions to the Democratic Committee on Oct. 23, apparently at an event in the San Gabriel Valley near Los Angeles. Among those who contributed on that day were David Lee, Arcadia, $15,000; Ashok Kumar, San Francisco, defense consultant, $5,000; Sandra Tung of Alhambra, $15,000; Jui Ying Tsai, of West Covina, $10,000, and Tom Thong of Monterey Park, $5,000.

Big contributors to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee include several Native American tribes with gambling interests, including the Mashantucket Pequots of Connecticut, who gave $105,000, and the Cabazon Bank of Mission Indians of California, $20,000. Other large contributors to that committee included the E&J; Gallo Winery, $113,200.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee also enjoyed support from many health care and Native American givers, including United Healthcare of Minnetonka, Minn., $25,000; the Mashantucket Pequots, $114,000, and the St. Croix Tribal Council, $20,000. Other big contributors to the the Democrats’ Senate committee include R.J. Reynolds, $50,000.

Times staff writers Alan C. Miller and Robert L. Jackson contributed to this story.