PAC cash doesn’t help constituents
Who could have foreseen that political corruption would lead to a positive social outcome?
Yet the Second Harvest Inland Northwest Food Bank now finds itself, at a time of urgent need, with $1,000 it wouldn’t have had if former Congressman Randy “Duke” Cunningham of California hadn’t been caught taking bribes.
That’s the amount Cunningham’s political action committee contributed to fellow Republican Cathy McMorris’ congressional campaign last year in Eastern Washington’s 5th District. And that’s the amount McMorris, under political pressure to answer for the “tainted” money, donated to the food bank.
(McMorris may have another $5,000 worth of charitable giving to consider, depending on the outcome of legal proceedings against House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas.)
Not that the food bank or any other worthy charity should be deprived of needed revenue, but this episode raises a valid question: What purpose is served when DeLay, Cunningham and other members of Congress invest in the election of colleagues in other districts and other states – a practice that, as a press release from McMorris’ office points out, is common?
If the National Rifle Association or the National Abortion Rights Action League contributes to a congressional candidate in Eastern Washington or North Idaho, it can claim with justification that it has dues-paying members and supporters in those districts and it is donating on their behalf. But the money Cunningham, DeLay and others give to campaigns like McMorris’ is meant to sustain or increase their party’s numbers and therefore their own political influence. Maintaining a partisan majority, or achieving one, enhances the standing of the giver and builds a sense of obligation on the part of the grateful recipient.
Democrats gloated over the Cunningham downfall and chided McMorris for taking money from him, but they’re just as guilty of this strategy for putting party interests ahead of constituent interests. Washington’s Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell, for example, has received similar contributions from PACs overseen by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and his predecessor Tom Daschle of South Dakota – among others.
The practice is widespread. Powerful members of the House and Senate give to promising newcomers. Sometimes they give to each other. Sometimes they pass on to one colleague what they’ve received from another. Rarely are such donations “tainted,” like Cunningham’s, but all of them advance party interests at the expense of constituent interests.
Wouldn’t it be uplifting if all the money that changes hands in this fashion wound up going not to TV ads or yard signs, but to food banks and other public causes? Don’t hold your breath.