ShareThisBy EDWARD EPSTEIN and KIMBERLY GEIGER
Monday, October 30, 2006
Traditionally Republican big business interests are hedging their electoral bets this year by increasing their campaign contributions to Democratic House leader Nancy Pelosi, whose party is given a healthy shot at taking House control in the Nov. 7 elections.
Business is still overwhelmingly Republican in its donations, accounting in part for the big financial advantage that Republicans have in the home stretch as they try to maintain control of the House and the Senate. But though the business community disagrees with many of the positions Pelosi plans to push if she becomes speaker in January _ raising the minimum wage, rolling back tax breaks for oil and gas companies, and allowing Medicare to negotiate price reductions on prescription drugs _ corporate America doesn't want to be shut out.
"They probably sense Democrats are doing well," said Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Calif. "I hope they're giving for more than their selfish interests. I think they recognize they have to deal with Democrats."
Pelosi's main campaign committee reported raising more than $1.2 million, including $730,025 from political action committees, for the 2006 election through June 30, according to the most recent campaign filing reports compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.
The financial information shows that 54.2 percent of the PAC money _ more than $400,000 _ given to Pelosi in the first six months of 2006 came from businesses. That's up from $366,000 for the entire 2003-04 election cycle, her first as House minority leader, and $207,750 in 2001-02, according to data from the center.
The increase is even more pronounced for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the body that raises and dispenses millions of dollars for candidates in key House races. The committee received about $20.6 million from business interests in the first half of 2006. That's up from $19.5 million for all of the 2004 cycle and represents almost 50 percent of the group's total fundraising.
For the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the increase was even bigger, up 15.8 percent to $31.5 million, a figure that represented 76.8 percent of the committee's fundraising total.
Pelosi has a second fundraising vehicle: her long-standing PAC to the Future, whose treasurer is former California Lt. Gov. Leo McCarthy of San Francisco. Through Oct. 2, it reported raising $460,105 so far this year, $40,000 of that coming in $1,000 contributions from 40 agents of American Income Life Insurance Co., a Waco, Texas-based company specializing in insuring union members.
Pelosi uses virtually all of that money to help finance her effort to win majority control of the House and become the nation's first female speaker. Records show that PAC to the Future has contributed $433,500 to 61 Democratic House members and candidates during the current election cycle.
Business interests still contribute overwhelmingly to Republicans, figures show. In the first half of 2006, the GOP Senate campaign committee generated 78.5 percent of its donations from business interests, while the House campaign committee received 70.6 percent of its money from business.
Embattled House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois, Pelosi's counterpart in the Republican ranks, received 93 percent of his 2006 PAC donations from business interests.
The trend toward more business donations going to Pelosi and other Democrats doesn't surprise Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who made a fortune selling car alarms and is one of the House's richest members.
"Business tends to follow good votes by members but also tends to follow perceptions of where the power is going to be," Issa said. "And the popular wisdom is that at best we're going to have a closely divided Congress." The Democrats need a net gain of 15 seats to take control of the House and six seats to take back the Senate.
"Business will always hedge its bets," Issa said.
