Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, February 1987, pages 6-7

Special Report

Backdoor Contributions: Pro-Israel Senate Honoraria

By Rex Wingerter

One reason there was so little discussion of US Middle East policy in the 1986 Senate races was that pro-Israel political action committees (PACs) contributed more than $2 million to legislative races. Across the country candidates deemed insufficiently pro-Israel were targeted by pro-Israel PACs and individuals.

Although the power of pro-Israel PACs to stifle debate on US Middle East policy is enormous, there is still another way to make sure Israel's agenda is carried out by Congress: the honoraria system. Members of Congress receive cash payments from private, special interest groups for giving speeches, participating in seminars, or attending small meetings with executives. In 1985, private groups paid Members of Congress a total of $6.9 million in honoraria, according to Common Cause, a public-interest watch-dog group. While this amount is dwarfed by the millions of dollars of PAC contributions to House and Senate races, honoraria, unlike PAC money, can be used to pay a candidate's personal debts, like college tuition or household mortgage payments. Many Members of Congress find honoraria an easy and attractive way to raise money. But to get on the lucrative pro-Israel speaker's circuit, Members of Congress must say the right things and vote the right way. The basic formula is simple: support nearly every Israeli request, almost without regard to its cost, and accept without question the premise that the US and Israel share the same strategic interests in the Middle East.

Pro-Israel interest groups have used the honoraria system extensively to further their access and influence on Capitol Hill (see chart). Senators assigned to committees relevant to Israel's interests—foreign relations, armed services, appropriations or intelligence—have received hundreds of thousands of dollars from pro-Israel organizations over the past six years.

The top ten Senate recipients of pro-Israel honoraria money received a total of $261,561 between 1980 and 1985, the only years for which such records are available. The leading recipient of pro-Israel funds was Christopher Dodd (D-CT), who received $85,000 in 6 years. In that period, Dodd sat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and was the ranking minority member of its international economic policy subcommittee. He was also deputy Senate minority whip.

Senators next in line are Lowell Weicker (R-CT), who received $41,500 in 6 years, and Paul Sarbanes (D-MD), who netted $27,500. Weicker sat on the Appropriations Committee and Sarbanes sat on the Middle East subcommittee of the Foreign Relations Committee as well as the International Finance subcommittee of the Banking Committee.

Of the top 10 recipients of pro-Israel honoraria, seven were Democrats and three were Republicans. None was Jewish and only Dodd and Weicker from Connecticut, Daniel Moynihan from New York, Sarbanes from Maryland, and Alan Cranston from California came from states with large Jewish communities. Cranston (D-CA), William Cohen (R-ME) and Sarbanes all have prominent positions on the Congressional Coalition for Soviet Jews.

Tying the top recipients of pro-Israel honoraria together were their committee assignments and their influence in their respective parties. All the Democrats either sat on a fundraising organization, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, or could be found on the Senate Democratic Policy Committee or the Democratic Steering Committee. Of the three Republicans, Robert Packwood (R-OR) and Weicker sat on the Republican Policy Committee, and Cohen was on the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the fundraising arm for Republican Senators.

The most active pro-Israel organizations providing honoraria were the United Jewish Appeal (UJA) and the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith (ADL). Others included the Greater Miami Jewish Federation, the Zionist Organization of America, American Friends of Haifa University, and the State of Israel Bonds. Moreover, four pro-Israel PACs provided honoraria to Members of Congress.

In 1983 the UJA topped the list of all Senate honoraria givers, paying US Senators $61,000 for speaking engagements. Se. Dodd received a total of $32,000 in honoraria from the UJA in 1983, more than half the entire amount given away by the UJA for that year. The balance of UJA honoraria in 1983 went to six Senators: Weicker received $12,000, Daniel Inouye (D-HI) $6,000, and Moynihan $5,000. Senators Cranston, Sarbanes, and Gary Hart (D-CO) each received $2,000 in UJA honoraria in 1983. In 1985, the UJA gave $18,447 in honoraria to US Senators, of which $8,000 went to Senator Sarbanes.

By law, Members of Congress cannot receive more than a $2,000 honorarium per appearance. The House limits its Members' outside income to 30 percent of their annual salaries, or $22,530. The Senate raised its limit last December to 40 percent of a Senator's salary, or $30,040.

UJA honoraria practices show that well-heeled pro-Israel groups use the honoraria system as a loophole in federal election laws. The Federal Elections Commission allows PACs to contribute no more than $5,000 in the primary and $5,000 in the general election to a single candidate. Contributions by individuals to candidates are limited to $1,000 per election. However, the targeted use of honoraria funds by the UJA and other pro-Israel organizations allows them to circumvent FEC regulations and substantially supplement funds provided by pro-Israel PACs. The honoraria system rewards Israel's faithful followers in Congress, showing once again that there is money to be made if Members of Congress keep their heads down and follow the agenda of those whose first question is always, "How does it affect Israel?"

Rex B. Wingerter is a Washington, DC-based attorney and writer. His monograph on pro-Israel PACs and the US Congress will be published by the American Educational Trust.