In 1998 Election Cycle Pro-Israel PACs Treaded Water While Previously Dormant Arab/Muslim-American PACs Came Alive

By Richard H. Curtiss

Fifty-eight active pro-Israel political action committees (PACs) donated a total of $2,090,857 to 337 Senate and House candidates over the two-year 1997-1998 election cycle, according to PAC filings with the Federal Election Commission. By contrast, during the same period one active Muslim-American and two active Arab-American PACs donated a total of $91,700 to 52 congressional candidates, meaning they were outspent 23 to 1.

Strangely, this is a positive development for activists advocating a balanced U.S. Middle East policy. This is because in 1996 Arab/Muslim PACs were outspent 133 to 1.

The total of pro-Israel donations reflected a continuing downward trend in funds disbursed to candidates since the 1988 election cycle, when pro-Israel PACs collected $10,805,762 and donated $4,609,984 of this to 420 candidates. In the 1998 cycle pro-Israel PACs collected only $5,228,998.

The downward spiral for Israeli PACs reflects three factors. Revelations of excessive salaries and high adminstrative overhead resulted in a precipitate drop in revenues collected from their 1992 all-time high of $14,015,509, of which only $3,963,007 was donated to candidates.

Revenues collected in the following, 1994 cycle dropped by more than 50 percent. Although the pro-Israel PACs made better use of the funds collected in 1994, lack of enthusiasm for the policies of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, elected in 1996, also may have contributed to the low total of funds collected in the 1996 U.S. election cycle.

It is equally likely that pro-Israel donors also found better ways to avoid disclosure of total donations to candidates in 1998 by giving more “soft money” to party committees in states where pro-Israel candidates needed help. Even before the soft money loophole was so widely used, Israel’s principal Washington, DC lobby, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), whose directors established most of the pro- Israel PACs, boasted that for every dollar donated through its PACs, another dollar was donated directly to candidates by AIPAC members. There is good reason to suspect that, with the advent of soft money, an even larger percentage of pro-Israel money now reaches candidates while evading the FEC’s PAC reporting requirements.

Dismal as the 23-to-1 advantage of pro-Israel PACs over their rivals may seem, the figure represents a remarkable upturn for the Muslim/Arab Americans, thanks largely to the Arab American Leadership PAC. Muslim/Arab American PAC donations to candidates have never exceeded $38,400 in previous election cycles, and in three previous cycles the Arab/Muslim-American PACs were outspent by more than 200 to 1 by pro-Israel PACs.

While the huge financial gap between pro-Israel PACs and their opponents has started narrowing, Arab Americans and Muslim Americans also are increasing in voting strength. There are at most five million Jews in the U.S., and that figure is static, while America’s Muslim population is estimated at six to seven million and growing, with an additional one and a half to two million Christian Arab Americans sharing Muslim-American positions on Middle East issues.

Arab-American and Muslim-American political organizations now are seeking to capitalize on their numerical advantage by encouraging their communities to match traditionally high Jewish election turnout figures. Results already are showing in certain heavily urbanized and industrialized states, such as Michigan, which has concentrations of both Muslims and Christian Arab Americans, and where some congressmembers have become increasingly independent from AIPAC lobbyists.

Other key states with significant and growing concentrations of Muslim/Arab-American voters include California, Illinois, Ohio, New York, New Jersey and Florida.

To view the PAC Charts in their entirety, click here.

—Richard H. Curtiss (based on data compiled and charts prepared by Rob Swanson, Raja’ Abu-Jabr, Sadia Razaq and Samia El-Mahdi)