Chenoweth Raises $275,000 For Campaign She Earmarks $70,000 For TV Ads; Williams Spends $115,000 On Them

Embattled Republican Rep. Helen Chenoweth raised over $275,000 for her re-election campaign during the summer, including $1,850 from three of the dozen special interest groups invited to ethically questionable sessions at her Capitol Hill office last spring.

The campaign finance disclosure report filed with the secretary of state on Tuesday showed Chenoweth earmarked $70,000 of the cash infusion for television and radio advertising in an attempt to counteract the hundreds of thousands of dollars of critical ads run against her by organized labor and other opponents since late spring.

Democratic challenger Dan Williams raised $157,000 during the summer, but he pumped $115,000 into radio and television ads. That put his overall fund raising at $437,000, barely half the cash Chenoweth has raised. That left him with $70,000 in the bank on Oct. 1, less than half of Chenoweth’s reserves, but he has still created serious questions about the conservative freshman’s re-election bid.

In the other congressional district, popular two-term incumbent Republican Michael Crapo picked up another $138,000, bringing to $670,000 the cash he has had available to spend on the race against political newcomer John Seidl.

Seidl, a long shot at best, raised just $38,000 in July, August and September, giving him only $100,000 for the race.

Crapo’s chances of winning were so solid that he gave $25,000 to the National Republican Committee, and $1,000 each to the Chenoweth campaign and the U.S. Senate campaign of Republican House Agriculture Chairman Pat Roberts of Kansas.

The latest report pushed Chenoweth’s total fund raising through the end of September to $810,000, approaching the $876,000 she spent two years ago in defeating two-term Democrat Larry LaRocco.

Just over a quarter of the new money came from special interest political action committees while $195,000 was from individual contributors. Of that, the campaign said nearly a third of all receipts - $89,000 - was in amounts of less than $200, where the contributors need not be identified.

But unlike at the end of the 1994 campaign, when Chenoweth reported over $67,000 in small contributions in just a five-week period, the disclosure report showed significant direct mail activity that generally raises a significant number of small donations.

The campaign spent $12,000 on direct mail from early July through mid-September, and $12,000 more in May and June. Another $11,600 on Sept. 26, suggests there will be another large amount of small donations claimed on the next disclosure report 12 days before the election.

Two years ago, the campaign reported spending barely $10,000 on what appeared to be direct mail.

The $70,000 that she spent on broadcast ads during the summer compared to only about $40,000 committed during the same period in the 1994 campaign, but she followed up in October with another $60,000.

Notable among the special interest contributors was the National Association of Wheat Growers, Phillip Morris and RJR Nabisco. All three had representatives at the meetings she held on May 15, June 5, June 12 and June 19.

Chenoweth said the so-called “Meet and Greet” sessions were about finding common ground on substantive issues, denying that any political business was discussed in her taxpayer-financed office. But she later acknowledged in a letter to the House Ethics Committee that she may have inadvertently violated House ethics guidelines. At least one invitation was sent to the political operative of an environmental group, not an official dealing with issues.

Attending the meetings were representatives of the oil, agriculture, tobacco and liquor industries. Among the organizations were the wheat growers, distilled spirits manufacturer Heublein Inc. and Kraft Foods Inc.

The wheat growers donated $350 on Aug. 16. It had previously given Chenoweth $350 in May two days after the first “Meet and Greet” and $1,000 during 1995.

Kraft did not contribute directly, but according to Federal Election Commission records its political action committee has essentially gone dormant, donating just over $10,000 to all candidates since the end of 1994.

GOP Congressman Michael Crapo, who has also received Kraft support, said he was advised that the cash is now coming through its parent company, Phillip Morris, and Phillip Morris gave Chenoweth $500 on June 27 and another $500 on Sept. 27. Phillip Morris contributed another $1,000 to Chenoweth last year.

It appeared to be the same with Heublein, which is owned by RJR Nabisco Inc. and whose political action committee was essentially inoperative the past two years.

RJR Nabisco gave Chenoweth $500 on Sept. 23 after donating another $500 last year.