The Hill: Republicans Criticizing Left-Leaning Advocacy Groups

11/17/2003

From: Hans Nichols, 202-628-8539; Mary Lynn F. Jones, 703-244-2368, both of The Hill

WASHINGTON, Nov. 17 -- Republicans are criticizing left-leaning advocacy groups for raising up to $420 million in unregulated contributions, but are also using the Democratic money as a way to galvanize their own soft money base in the 2004 elections, Hans Nichols reports in the Nov. 18 issue of The Hill. K Street sources say that groups like Project For America, which has ties to the White House, are using the figure to spur potential corporate donors to counteract what they fear will be an unprecedented level of soft money, even after last year's Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act prohibited unlimited contributions to either national party.

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By Hans Nichols

Republicans fear left-leaning advocacy groups will raise up to $420 million in unregulated contributions, the kind of soft money that the 2002 McCain-Feingold law prevents the parties themselves from collecting.

While Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie both questioned the legality of pledges from wealthy donors like George Soros and Peter Lewis who advocate the defeat of President Bush, Republican groups will use those high numbers to galvanize their own soft money base.

Gillespie told reporters in a conference call yesterday that he was unaware of any Republican groups that are "prepared to spend 360 to 420 million dollars (in soft money) to defeat a candidate for federal election."

Gillespie's public estimates, which he said were based on press accounts, track with similar figures that Republican soft-money groups have been privately circulating on K Street in recent weeks.

The Project For America (PFA), a 501(c)(4) group with close ties to Gillespie and the White House, arrived at an estimate of $328 million to $338 million of left-leaning soft money earlier in October. The PFA is also soliciting donations.

K Street sources say that groups like PFA are using the $338 million figure to spur potential corporate donors to counteract what they fear will be an unprecedented level of soft money, even after last year's Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act prohibited unlimited contributions to either national party.

The PFA shared its estimate with GOP operatives and lobbyists at a conference in October it sponsored to help Republican compete with Democrats in the soft money contest. Speakers included Gillespie, anti-tax activist Grover Norquist, and Ken Mehlman, who will head President Bush's reelection effort. The PFA did not respond to repeated inquiries for comment.

But the PFA invitation to the conference warned that "it has become apparent that liberal special interest groups are at work.

"They are forming organizations whose single goal is to attack and defame the issue agenda of President George W. Bush."

A breakdown of the PFA estimates shows that America Votes, a union-environmental umbrella group, plans to spend $250 million, including $52 million from the AFL-CIO and $75 million from Americans Coming Together (ACT).

Soros has pledged $10 million to ACT, a so-called 527 group, run by Emily's List President Ellen Malcolm, bringing ACT's current pledges to $30 million - well on its way to the $75 million goal.

Also included under the America Votes rubric are unions such as the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees ($16 million) Service Employees International Union ($4.2 million), the Sierra Club ($9.5 million) and the People for the American Way ($3.1 million).

Soros also has pledged an additional $5 million to the MoveOn voter fund, said Zack Exley, the group's director. That organization has already raised $6 million in soft money donations towards its short-term goal of $10 million, said Exley. It has another soft money drive planned for the spring and summer.

Despite a welter of enthusiasm for Soros's money, union operatives questioned any total figure above the $300 million.

"It looks like a classic case of double counting," said Don Kaniewski, the Legislative and Political Director Laborers' International Union of North America, of the PFA's estimates.

Another union source said, "Anything above $300 million seems awfully high to me. I just don't see us getting there. We like to be there, believe me."

In the last two presidential cycles, when soft money could be raised directly by the parties, Democrats and Republicans both spent roughly $250 million, according to Steven Weiss, spokesman for the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP).

As a result of the BCRA reforms, which aimed to curb unlimited soft money donations, outside interest groups established 527s to gather money that was previously netted by the national committees for party building purposes.

But in one of the many unintended consequences of campaign finance reform, 527s are not monitored by the Federal Election Commission and need only to file tax disclosure form with the Internal Revenue Service every six months.

The last reporting deadline was in June, before many of the 527s were up and running. Even so, AFSME has raised roughly 2 million in soft money in one of its seven 527s, said Sheila Krumholtz, research director at the CRP. Their website, opensecrets.org, will have an electronically searchable database of 527s in the coming weeks.

Along with the PFA, the Leadership Forum, a group with close ties to the House Republican leadership, is emerging as another vehicle for Republican soft-money. They too, are concerned about a possible Democratic advantage with soft-money.

In a fundraising letter sent to GOP lobbyists October 29, Susan Hirschmann, the group's president, wrote "We all recognize that non-federal money will not cease to exist, and that these resources can be directed to other groups that would use it to influence the political process."

"We can't allow the unions, trial lawyers, and radical environmentalists to dictate the agenda or frame the issues without a strong response from Republicans," the letter, also signed by former Rep. Bill Paxon (R-N.Y.), continued.