Posted on 05/03/2004 5:57:40 AM PDT by Theodore R.
Bonilla’s ‘Dream’ fails to meet goal
By Dan Morgan The Washington Post
WASHINGTON -- When Rep. Henry Bonilla, R-Texas, took charge of an independent political fund called American Dream PAC in 1999, he made clear that its mission was ”to give significant, direct financial assistance to first-rate minority GOP candidates.” Since then, only $48,750, or 8.9 percent, of the $547,000 the southwest Texas congressman has raised for his political action committee has gone to minority office-seekers while more than $100,000 has been routed to Republican Party organizations or causes, including a GOP redistricting effort in Texas, a legal defense fund for House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, and Bonilla‘s re-election campaign. Most of the remainder of the money went to legal fees, fundraisers in Miami and other cities, airline tickets, hotels, catering services, consultants and salaries.
Republican and Democratic members of Congress have used independent ”leadership PACS” to spread their influence, and in recent years hundreds have have been set up. Such PACS enable lawmakers to multiply contributions from special interests and legally avoid the limits set on personal campaign funds. But Bonilla‘s comes with a twist: It‘s one of the few PACS, some experts say, that has failed to live up to its clear mission statement.
”The fact that this (American Dream) PAC had a mission statement and that it appeared the funds didn‘t follow that purpose to a degree raises the question of whether donors may have been misled,” said Kent Cooper, co-founder of the campaign watchdog group PoliticalMoneyLine.
Bonilla, one of four Hispanic American Republicans in Congress, defends his PAC‘s record of assisting minority candidates, saying, ”We did the best we could.” In all, 27 minority office-seekers, predominantly Hispanic American, received money, mostly small donations. But Bonilla said it was sometimes difficult to find ”good, solid minority candidates to expend the funds on.” ”We tried to be judicious and not just throw money out the window,” he said.
However, Bonilla concedes that controls over the fund were lax. Last July, the political action committee‘s treasurer pleaded guilty in a San Antonio federal court to embezzling $119,021 between 1999 and 2003. She was sentenced to 15 months in prison.
The thefts were not discovered until almost four years after they began. ”It was a black mark on my judgment,” Bonilla said in a recent interview.
Of the hundreds of leadership PACS that have flourished on Capitol Hill, most make no claim to lofty goals. The funds have been used to launch a presidential campaign, fight for a congressional leadership post, and other purposes. Such PACs enable lawmakers to multiply contributions from special interests and legally avoid the limits set on personal campaign funds.
Federal campaign law does not require politician-controlled groups to live up to their advertising. ”It‘s up to the contributor to beware,” a Federal Election Commission spokesman said.
But congressional critics and outside campaign experts say it is unusual for a PAC with a clear mission statement to divert substantial resources.
”American Dream didn‘t meet many minority candidates‘ dreams,” said Rep. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., who chairs the Democratic Caucus. Menendez, his party‘s highest-ranking Hispanic American, said the GOP redistricting effort to which American Dream PAC contributed may potentially decrease the number of Hispanic Americans in Congress from Texas.
Menendez said that the Building Our Leadership Diversity PAC (BOLD PAC), a Democratic fund that contributes to Hispanics and other minority candidates for Congress, ”fulfilled” its intention. In 2002, it distributed $158,000 out of the $252,000 collected, or 63 percent, to 19 candidates. And $21,500 went to local Democratic Party organizations where minority candidates were in tough races.
American Dream PAC had an idealistic goal when it was launched in 1997 by Marcos Rodriguez, a wealthy, Dallas-based Hispanic American investor in radio stations. Bonilla was tapped as honorary chairman, and he later posted a statement on his campaign Web site saying the ”American Dream PAC is leading the charge to help minority candidates across the nation implement precious values” of hard work, strong families, free markets and individual liberties.
Showing that a conservative Republican can champion the interests of Hispanic Americans has been crucial to Bonilla‘s political survival in his sprawling congressional district. Until last year‘s GOP redistricting, Democratic-leaning Hispanic Americans made up two-thirds of its population.
During the 1998 election, the PAC set up by Rodriguez contributed $30,000 (nearly a third of its revenue) to the campaigns of a dozen GOP candidates of Asian, Hispanic, Native American or black heritage.
But in 1999, when Rodriguez turned the PAC over to Bonilla, changes were made.
In 2000 and 2002, donations to federal candidates dropped to $17,750 and $11,500 respectively, a small portion of the $318,500 taken in, according to federal election records.
Recipients included several well-established nonminority lawmakers, including then-Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, and Reps. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., and Steve Buyer, R-Ind.
At the same time, a separate ”soft money” arm of the PAC, which was allowed to accept unlimited contributions from corporations, interest groups and wealthy individuals, began playing a bigger role.
Of $228,500 in soft money raised between 1999 and the end of 2002, only $27,000 went to 17 Hispanic American GOP candidates running for offices in four states where such contributions are legal. Nearly half the amount, $13,000, went to a single candidate, John Sanchez, who lost his 2002 bid for governor of New Mexico to another Hispanic American, Democrat Bill Richardson.
To raise money for the PAC, Bonilla turned to many of the industries that had contributed to his campaign war chest.
In 2002, for example, the political action committee of the American Meat Institute, representing meatpackers, contributed $10,000 to Bonilla‘s personal campaign fund and $5,000 to American Dream PAC.
U.S. drug manufacturers also donated to both, and their Washington trade organization, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), contributed $25,000 in cash to the PAC‘s soft money arm.
As chairman of an appropriations subcommittee that oversees the money for the Food and Drug Administration and the Agriculture Department, Bonilla has fought proposals to ease FDA restrictions on the importation of drugs, and has sought a delay in ”country of origin” labeling requirements for meat, both top priorities for the industries involved.
A spokesman for the American Meat Institute said it stands by its contribution to American Dream PAC. ”Henry Bonilla follows a pro-business agenda and we have full faith in his ability to manage the funds,” the official said. A PhRMA spokesman had no comment.
As the soft money poured in from corporations and wealthy Texans, finding a legal use for it within the mission of the PAC became problematic, according to a Republican with detailed knowledge of the PAC‘s inner workings. Federal candidates are prohibited from using such unregulated funds in their campaigns, and state candidatesand some state political partiesoften face similar restrictions.
Shortly before the 2000 elections, American Dream PAC transferred $90,000 to the Maine, Delaware, Florida and Arkansas Republican parties. An additional $10,000 went to Texans Against Gerrymandering, a group set up by Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, to purchase software and draft maps in connection with the GOP redistricting effort.
Bonilla also directed that $5,000 be contributed to the Tom DeLay Legal Expense Trust, to help cover expenses incurred in a civil suit brought by Democrats charging money laundering and extortion in connection with DeLay‘s fundraising operations. The suit was dropped in 2001.
”I probably decided at the time that I just wanted to help,” Bonilla said.
Five days before the 2002 congressional election, American Dream PAC‘s soft money arm transferred $5,000 to the Republican Party of Bexar County, parts of which are in Bonilla‘s constituency.
At the time, Bonilla was in a tight race against Democrat Henry Cuellar, another Hispanic American who had received $10,000 from BOLD PAC for his campaign. Federal candidates are not permitted to use soft money in their election campaigns. A Bonilla spokesman said the $5,000 went for county organization ”party building” efforts.
Colin Strother, a political aide to Cuellar, said a last-minute get-out-the-vote effort in Bexar County‘s predominantly Anglo, Republican precincts was a key to Bonilla‘s eking out a narrow victory in 2002.
05/02/04
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