PAC SCAM

Do you ever wonder why the voting records of members of Congress seem to bear little relationship to the makeup of their constituencies or the personal wishes of their constituents? Everyone knows of such classic cases as the discrepancies between voter preferences in national polls on control of handguns and the way congressmen actually vote on gun control issues. Readers of this publication are probably also aware that many of the strongest supporters of Israel in Congress come from districts with few Jewish voters. The answer to the mystery is not votes, but money.

The money that is now disenfranchising voters and distorting our entire political system does not consist of the illegal bribes and kickbacks that fueled courthouse politics in earlier days. Instead it comes in totally legal—and carefully camouflaged—packages.

Once upon a time the way to develop friends on foreign relations, appropriations, military and other committees dealing with Israel was to offer the targeted congressman a very generous honorarium for making a speech to a Jewish academic, religious, social or political group. If the congressman didn't have time to write the speech, a pro-Israel lobbyist would. If he didn't have time to deliver it, a stand-in would do it for him. In any case, he got the honorarium. That still goes on, of course, but in an effort to clean up government Congress imposed income limits on its own membership. Honoraria by themselves are no longer sufficient to ensure total compliance. Individual contributions to a congressman's campaign are another way, but the amount an individual can contribute to a candidate is limited to $1,000 per election.

The new answer to all such problems, therefore, is the political action committee, or PAC. A willing big spender can contribute up to $25,000 per year to all PACs and campaigns. So can his wife, his children, and his cousin Minnie. PACs can contribute up to $5,000 per candidate per election. The limits on what campaigns can receive per election—$1, 000 per individual and $5,000 per PAC—are effectively doubled to $2,000 and $10,000 respectively, because primaries and general elections count as separate races. If several PACs each contribute $10,000 to the same campaign, the candidate can buy the costly television time so essential to getting elected.

The feature that makes PACs so valuable to people seeking to influence congressmen to vote against the interests or wishes of the majority of their constituents is that, although the law requires PACs to register with the Federal Election Commission and to report publicly both the contributions they receive and the contributions they make, it does not require them to reveal their political interests or intentions.

That's what makes the story in this issue by Edward Roeder of Sunshine News so remarkable. With the help of a part-time staff and volunteers, Mr. Roeder sifted through the records of every PAC—more than 3,600 of them—registered in the U.S., for the current edition of his book, PACs Americana.

Realizing that the purposes and sponsorship of most of them were self-evident from their names, he zeroed in on 400 or so that did not have explicit titles. He learned that at least 54 of them had been organized solely to reward the friends and punish the non-friends of Israel. The most remarkable thing he learned is that not one of the active PACs bears any reference to Israel, the Mideast, Zionism, Jewish affairs or foreign policy in its title. One group that was late getting the word was founded as "Texans for a Sound Middle East Policy." It subsequently changed its name to "TxPAC."

Evidence of conspiracy? We think so. In any case, it was so astonishing that Mr. Roeder has written another book, Financing the Elections of the 99th Congress: Pro-Israel PACs.

We won't spoil Mr. Roeder's story by repeating it here, except to say that he tells you why the defeat of Senator Percy, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is goal number one of these PACs, and why they want to reelect Senator Levin of Michigan and defeat Senator Helms of North Carolina.

He doesn't tell you, however, why the pro-Israel PACs have given Representative Clarence Long, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee's Foreign Operations Subcommittee, more than four times as much as any other House candidate. The Maryland Democrat is the man who shepherded this year's $2.6 billion U.S. aid package for Israel through Congress.

Mr. Long has described it as "The best aid package for Israel we have ever been able to get through my subcommittee... It was not an easy struggle to convince the committee to convert from loans to grants, but I was able to persuade them." It is the first bill that provides all military and economic aid as grants. It also permits Israel to use U. S. aid to develop its own fighter plane, the Lavi, which soon will be competing with U. S. fighter planes on world markets.

Okay, you may fairly say, Edward Roeder and his Sunshine squad have demonstrated how PACs are buying, packaging arid delivering American congressional votes to Israel, by the gross and at wholesale prices. But what about the Arabs? They're rich, so if Roeder has found 54 PACs and $4.5 million at work to support Israel in the U.S. elections, how many PACs are supporting Arab interests? Brace yourself. So far Roeder has found only one. But, he reports, "it is inactive and has no money to distribute."

Incredible, you say? If there are more PACs on either side of the issue, Roeder would like to know. That's what Sunshine News is all about.