Big Tobacco Gave Congress Big Cash in ‘97, Study Says

Faced with the prospect of congressional action on sweeping tobacco legislation, the nation’s cigarette makers poured $4.4 million into the coffers of political parties and members of Congress in 1997, a record for a nonelection year, according to a new analysis.

The ’97 contributions exceed the $4.1 million that the tobacco industry donated in 1995 and surpass what it gave in 1993, according to the study by the private advocacy group Common Cause.

Among the big recipients are lawmakers who are in a position to make critical decisions about the shape of any tobacco legislation approved by Congress, including House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), House Commerce Committee Chairman Thomas J. Bliley (R-Va.) and the ranking Democrat on the Senate Commerce Committee, Ernest F. Hollings of South Carolina.

The study found that so-called soft-money contributions to national political parties accounted for much of the increase in the industry’s donations. Soft money is the unlimited donations intended for such activities as party building that contributors can make to parties. Hard money refers to restricted donations that contributors give directly to candidates.

“The best way to get access and influence is to pour in these huge contributions to be laundered through the political parties,” which then use them to help individual candidates, said Ann McBride, president of Common Cause.

Over the last 10 years--1987 to 1997--the industry gave more than $30 million to political parties and members of Congress, the study found. The growth in giving, especially in the area of soft money, is in keeping with the contribution patterns of other industries.

The tobacco industry is not the largest overall industry donor to Congress. The insurance industry and lawyers are both higher. But considering that tobacco is made up of just five major companies, their total contributions are striking, said Larry Makinson of the Center for Responsive Politics, an organization that does research on money and the political process.

And in soft-money contributions, Philip Morris has been the largest donor to the national Republican Party for the last three years, giving more than $1 million each year, according to Common Cause.

The group’s study also found that, in the 10 years since 1987, soft-money contributions from the tobacco industry overwhelmingly favored Republicans--nearly $13 million went to the GOP, compared to $3 million funneled to Democratic national party committees.

The study reported that nearly half of all members of Congress took money from the tobacco industry during 1997.

In the House, the top 20 recipients of tobacco contributions over the 1987-1997 period include seven members of the House Commerce Committee--three Republicans and four Democrats. The committee has jurisdiction over many tobacco-related issues.

On the Senate Commerce Committee, which is in the midst of writing tobacco legislation, five senators rank among the top 20 Senate recipients of industry contributions over the last decade.

Many of the members who have taken money from the industry over the years are no longer accepting direct contributions. Even those who are have distanced themselves from the tobacco companies.

For instance, Bliley has pressed the industry to release all of the documents that it has been holding back and has expressed deep skepticism about its promise that it plans to change its way of doing business.