Posted on 03/22/2004 1:54:05 PM PST by .cnI redruM
Rex Sinquefield gave all the campaign donations he could to U.S. Rep. Patrick Toomey, the Republican trying to unseat U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter. But he did not stop there.
The California investment banker then dropped $40,000 on the Club for Growth, a conservative Washington group that considers Specter's defeat its top priority.
The cross-country contributions highlight a central component of Pennsylvania's U.S. Senate race: It is playing to a national audience. In the face of a clash between the moderate and conservative wings of the Republican Party, Toomey and Specter are raising a large portion of their money outside the state.
An Inquirer analysis of campaign data found that Toomey, a three-term congressman, has raised half of his $1.5 million in individual contributions from other states.
"For a House member who was literally anonymous when his campaign began, it is extremely rare," said Larry Sabato, a professor of political science at the University of Virginia.
Specter has collected 44 percent of his $8.4 million in individual contributions from other states. The amount is larger than for his 1998 campaign, but not unusual for a well-known incumbent, political experts say.
The analysis includes only individual contributions of $200 or more because donations smaller than that are not detailed in campaign filings.
The key for Toomey has been the support of the Club for Growth, a scrappy five-year-old group that backs candidates who adhere to strict principles of limited government and lower taxes. The club decided early last year that its top congressional target would be Specter.
The club since has raised at least $700,000 for Toomey by collecting, or bundling, donations from its nationwide network of members and sending them to the campaign, said David Keating, the group's executive director.
The Inquirer analysis found that more than 175 people who gave $225,000 to Toomey also provided more than $1.4 million to the club through its political action committee and 527 committee - sources for TV ads and other political activities.
So-called 527s - committees formed under Section 527 of the IRS code - have emerged as a legal avenue for independent groups to collect the large unregulated contributions, known as soft money, that political parties have been prohibited from raising since 2002.
The club's 527, which has spent at least $500,000 on anti-Specter TV ads, raised $4 million in the last two years, Keating said. The donor list is dominated by financial firms and leaders of conservative causes.
Groups operate both a 527 and political action committee, which must abide by contribution limits, to provide flexibility in influencing elections, said Derek Willis, coauthor of a campaign-financing report for the nonpartisan Center for Public Integrity.
"It gives them options: If you have a wealthy donor who gives the maximum amount to the federal PAC, they don't have to stop there," Willis said.
One wealthy donor is Richard Gilder, a New York financier and philanthropist who serves on the club's board. He contributed the maximum amount allowed under law to Toomey ($2,000 each for the primary and general elections) and the club's political action committee ($5,000). But Gilder extended his reach by donating $300,000 in November to the club's 527 committee, according to IRS filings.
The club has also linked Toomey to less probable money sources, such as Thomas Selby, a 77-year-old retired accountant. He lives on the Puget Sound in Washington, about as far away as one can get from the Senate race without leaving the country.
Selby cut two checks totaling $1,100 for Toomey, a guy he's only read about.
"Frankly, he is not my kind of Republican," Selby said of Specter, explaining why a Pacific Northwest retiree would take an interest in a Pennsylvania campaign.
Among 29 U.S. Senate candidates in the five largest states this year, Toomey is the only one who has raised more than $1 million and taken in more than half from out of state.
In Pennsylvania's 2000 Senate race, incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum and Democrat Ron Klink raised 17 percent and 27 percent, respectively, from outside interests.
Specter, 74, has criticized Toomey as being too cozy with the club. He alleged in a Federal Election Commission complaint last month that they were coordinating their TV advertisements, a violation of federal law.
Specter even used the relationship as a rallying cry in a fund-raising letter this month.
Toomey "supports a narrow political agenda far from the mainstream of Pennsylvania tradition," Specter wrote. "But deep-pocketed groups from out of state support him. One such group has boasted that it has already raised more than $1 million for him. Stephen Moore, the head of that group, Club for Growth, has publicly declared that he wants 'my scalp on the wall' - so they can make other Republican Senators 'behave.' "
Without the club, "Toomey would not have a campaign," said Christopher Nicholas, Specter's campaign manager.
Toomey, 42, of Lehigh County, said he made "no apologies" about his donors.
"Club for Growth members are contributing to my campaign because they believe I will do more to help advance policies that will encourage economic prosperity," Toomey said. "They know that Arlen Specter votes to raise taxes for enormously wasteful government spending and supports all kinds of excessive regulation."
In New Jersey, the club had targeted now-retired U.S. Rep. Marge Roukema for her moderate views, as well as other prominent moderate Republicans.
Toomey said Specter had benefited from his own narrow interests - lawyers, who are the single largest industry to donate to his campaign.
The club has been the most active third party in the race, but it hasn't been the only one.
Members of the moderate Republican Main Street Partnership have contributed $250,000 to Specter, as well as thousands more to the group's 527 committee, said Sarah Chamberlain Resnick, the executive director. Anti-Toomey TV ads will be released in April, she said.
In the meantime, Toomey and Specter are expected to continue their nationwide hunt for cash until the April 27 primary.
They will be looking for more people like Lawrence Field, a Beverly Hills developer who lives in the wealthy 90210 zip code. He said he receives a handful of political solicitations each day.
This year, Field blanketed the Pennsylvania primary. He gave $1,000 to Specter. But as a club member, Field slipped a little extra to Toomey - $1,250.
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