(*w/ chart and logo graphic)
NNPA Special Report (Week 1 of 3):
Shortchanged: Black Candidates See Few of the Millions of Dollars
Raised for Elections
By ROBERT MOORE
The Second Congressional District
cuts a swath 250 miles long and 180 miles wide through the
deepest, most rural counties of Mississippi. Here the median
household income is $15,500 and nearly 40 percent of the
population lives in poverty. When the districts representative,
Bennie Thompson, fundraises for reelection, he usually goes
outside his district. Few people in the district can afford to
give $1,000, the maximum contribution allowable under federal
law.
Thompson has raised $229,774 as of
June, according to Federal Election Commission data analyzed by
the National Newspaper Publishers Association. Most of the money
came from outside his congressional district. Thompson is not
alone. Black legislators and candidates across the country face
similar fundraising challenges. Experts say the financial
challenges faced by Black candidates point out the need for
campaign finance reforms. But the unique challenges facing
minority politicians have been largely forgotten where this
heavily debated public policy issue is concerned.
To find out just how Black
candidates are affected by the current political fundraising
system, the NNPA spent months examining campaign funding trends
among African American candidates for higher office. The NNPA
also examined hundreds of financial disclosure records and
interviewed politicians, political scientists, voters and others
from minority communities around the country. The findings are
stark.
The NNPA's report shows:
· Blacks in Congress and
challengers for House seats have raised a combined total of
slightly more than $11.7 million as of June, less than one
percent of the more than $1.2 billion that has been raised for
the 2000 election.
· Out of the more than one
million individual and political action committee contributions
made to political parties, congressional and presidential
candidates, Blacks received slightly more than 15,000
contributions, about 1.5 percent of the total.
· Only six of the thirty zip
codes that gave 20 contributions or more to Black candidates were
majority Black, according to a review of FEC and census data.
Resident of zip code 30311 in Georgia, which had the highest
percent Black population, gave $20,700.
· Political parties' political
action committees provided a tiny portion of the funding to Black
candidates, just $29,006. Despite its outreach to
African-Americans, the National Republican Congressional Campaign
Committee had given just $477 in total to the three Black
candidates running for office, according to the latest data from
the FEC. Thirty-eight Black Democrats did somewhat better,
getting $28,529 from the Democratic Congressional Campaign
Committee
· Labor unions provided the bulk
of the contributions from Political Action Committees.
Under growing public pressure, the
nation's political leaders have embraced campaign finance
reforms, ranging from strict limits on contributions to raising
the limits and demanding more disclosure about those who give.
The pressure is mounting for good reason. Fundraising scandals
that surfaced after the 1996 elections continue to plague Vice
President Al Gore. This year, Gore and Bush are expected to spend
a combined $200 million or more in the money race for the White
House. When candidate spending, and contributions from the
political parties, Political Action Committees and lesser-known
advocacy groups are totaled, the 2000 Congressional elections are
likely to surpass the record $2.7 billion spent in 1996.
For Black officeholders,
challengers, and voters, changing the way political money is
raised may, in fact, be the most critical issue of modern day
politics. Some experts predict that the average House race in
this election will cost $5 million, effectively driving many
Black candidates out of the race for political office.
"The implications are vast
for most African American candidates," said Hillary Shelton,
the NAACP's Washington lobbyist and a longtime observer of
national politics. "Most (Black candidates) don't get the
big contributions from major corporations and the wealthy
individuals. That perfectly illustrates why we need reform, and
why reform has to take into account the impact on minority
candidates."
' Color of Money '
To begin to understand the effects
of campaign finance reforms on Black voters and candidates, one
must understand the place of predominantly poor and minority
communities in the political fundraising landscape.
Simply put, the role those
communities play is a minor one. People of color have been - and
continue to be - largely absent as factors in campaign giving.
Except for the landmark 1996 study, "The Color of
Money," by the Washington-based nonprofit group, Public
Campaign, there has been little research on the trends in
campaign contributions from minority communities.
Public Campaign documented what
has been known intuitively for years. "A disproportionately
small amount of the money that fuels federal elections comes from
people of color. In fact, the disparities are shocking ... our
system of privately-financed elections is profoundly
unrepresentative and anti-democratic," the widely cited
report found. "Over and over, in city after city we found
that the vast majority of contributions came from areas that are
primarily white and wealthy …"
"The Color of Money"
paints a portrait of the people who give and, by extension, those
who do not and are therefore shut out of the political process.
"
NNPA's study of campaign and
census data show that the disparities pointed out by Public
Campaign continue to exist. For example, the zip code that gave
the largest amount to Black candidates so far in the 2000
election is zip code 30327 in Georgia. Contributors here gave 62
contributions for a total of $50,650. Blacks made up only one
percent of the population in the area.
What's more, a review of Black
candidates' financial disclosure forms show that few are capable
of funding their own campaigns.
Most are only slightly better off
than their constituents. For example, on her financial report to
the FEC, North Carolina Representative Eva Clayton listed assets
between $65,000 and $150,000, hardly enough to finance a campaign
for Congress.
'Party money'
An NNPA computer-analysis of
Federal Election Commission data shows, among other things, that
in a dozen of the most competitive congressional campaigns this
election cycle, incumbents and leading challengers have raised a
minimum of $1 million each.
Both the Democratic and the
Republican Congressional Committees, with an eye on controlling
the U.S Congress, have sunk millions into these congressional
races. Both party PACs together have raised $65.8 million as of
June 2000.
But little of this funding has
found its way to the campaigns of minority candidates.
Both parties say that while they
spread financial support for candidates based on innumerable
factors, race is not one of them. They say that such matters as
how competitive the race is, how politically attractive the
candidate is, and how much money the party has to spend more
often determines who gets financial support, and how much.
"Our goal is to find and
support challengers regardless of race and ethnicity," said
Erik Smith, a spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign
Committee, the party's fundraising arm for House and Senate
races.
In all, the GOP has several Black
candidates on its November ticket. But despite the Republican
National Committee's efforts to recruit minority support, the
party's fundraising has given just $477 to three Black GOP
candidates.
"We didn't go out to recruit
these candidates because of their race or ethnic background. We
don't support these candidates financially because of their race
or the race of their opponents," said Marit Babin,
spokeswoman for the National Republican Congressional Campaign
Committee.
Without significant financial
backing from parties, the PACs and other special interests groups
African American candidates face tremendous obstacles in trying
to mount credible campaigns.
Most Black candidates say in the
absences of party and PAC backing they have to rely on small
contributions and grassroots support--mainly churches-- to get
out the vote.
"The fact is that you just
have to raise enough money to get your message out. That is a
successful campaign," said Gretchen Hitches, a spokeswoman
for Rep. Corrine Brown, (D-FL).
"As it is, a candidate that
has wealth, or has access to wealth, has a tremendous
advantage," said Norman Hill, president of the A.Philip
Randolph Institute, Washington-based non-profit civil rights and
labor support organization. "Generally speaking, that
candidate is not a minority candidate. We have to encourage
reforms, or at least encourage discussion about reforms that are
in the interest of fairness for all candidates and voters."
' Fee speech? '
After Watergate in the mid-1970s,
limits on campaign contributions were put in place. Individual
donations were capped at $1,000 for primary election and $1,000
for general elections. Corporate contributions to candidates and
parties were banned. PACs can give $5,000 in elections.
The restrictions were later upheld
by the U.S. Supreme Court in the Buckley v. Valeo case - but
large sums of political money still find their way into
candidate's coffers, through legal loopholes or more sinister,
illegal means.
Reform ideas to stem the flow of
campaign dollars include plans that limit so-called soft money
contributions. Soft monies are contributions made to political
parties and have no limitations at all. The lion's share of soft
money goes to Republicans. Democrats support limits on soft
money.
The broadest support among
Republicans is for lifting limits on individual contributions,
while requiring PACs and other special interest groups who give
money to candidates to reveal more information about themselves.
Public financing of elections -
the proposal most widely accepted as a way to level the playing
field for minority candidates - is advocated in some quarters,
though it has less currency on the national level.
But not everyone agrees that
reforms are a good idea.
Alvin Williams, executive director
of Black American Political Action Committee, (BAMPAC), doesn't
believe that there need to be limits on the amount of
contributions to candidates.
Black conservative Alan Keyes, who
has run twice for president, founded BAMPAC. Since 1998, BAMPAC
has raised $511,443 and doled out $124,375, mostly to white
conservative candidates, according to FEC data.
Williams acknowledges that
minority candidates are at a disadvantage when it comes to
fundraising. But BAMPAC does not endorse campaign finance
reforms. "We cannot rig the system for anyone, not the rich,
not the poor," Williams said. "Minorities do not give.
This is not to suggest that we should change the law, or change
the system." Williams said giving money to political
candidates is an exercise in free speech, thus protected by the
Constitution. "To tamper with it is a mistake."
Those who support campaign finance
reform don't agree with Williams, but do say that the issue needs
to be studied so Blacks are not disproportionately impacted.
"When you talk about campaign finance reform, you have to
look at myriad issues," said David Bositis, a political
scientist with the Joint Center for Political and Economic
Studies, and leading expert on campaign finances and racial
politics.
"Members of the Congressional
Black Caucus - or incumbent members - may have difficulty under
reforms that would force more money to be raised in their
districts." Even without a clear future for campaign finance
reform, those involved in minority politics agree on the pressing
need to question its effects in 2000 elections and beyond.
"Any time you have people
elected because of the impact of their message rather than the
amount of their money, that is positive, the way I see it,"
said Mississippi State Sen. James Evans, who has help launch the
careers of numerous state and national politicians.
"Whatever my opinion, though,
somebody has to got to start to study the question [of campaign
finance reform] seriously."
"We didn’t go out to
recruit these candidates because of their race or ethnic
background. We don’t support these candidates financially
[on the basis] of their race or the race of their
opponents," said Marit Babin, spokeswoman for the National
Republican Congressional Campaign Committee.
"The series was made possible
by funding from the J. Roderick MacArthur Foundation."
Subject: URGENT CHANGES TO
SHORTCHANGED
Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2000 21:54:03
-0400
From: "Adina Berrios"
<adina@nnpa.org>
To: <adina@nnpa.org>
CC: "Raoul Dennis"
<raoul@nnpa.org>