Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, April 1998, pages 26-28

PAC Charts

PAC Watch: Pro-Israel PACs Show More Early Activity Than in 1996 Cycle

Pro-Israel political action committees are best known for their ability to provide favored candidates for the Senate and House badly needed “early money,” while most other special interests are still assessing the needs and prospects of candidates.

Until the current 1997-1998 election cycle, in recent years the amounts collected and disbursed by pro-Israel PACs have steadily declined. The declines have been variously attributed to the feeling of donors that the Oslo accords had set a final Middle East peace agreement in motion, disillusionment among donors with what seemed like waste and excessive salaries paid by some pro-Israel PACs, and also an increasing reluctance by some candidates to accept money from pro-Israel PACs.

However, some of the same candidates welcome contributions from pro-Israel individuals, whose motives are not a matter of record, rather than from PACs, whose pro-Israel ties have been documented by this magazine despite their non-descriptive or misleading names.

The current election cycle seems to be an exception to the decline in pro-Israel PAC activity. Two years ago, as of Dec. 31, 1995, pro-Israel PACs had collected $1,838,638 and disbursed $541,400 to individual campaigns. At the same point in the current two-year election cycle, as of Dec. 31, 1997 pro-Israel PACs had collected $2,472,423 and had disbursed to individual campaigns $724,465.

Another significant deviation from the cycle two years ago at this time was that in the current cycle the pro-Israel PACs have contributed to 93 Democrats and 52 Republicans. At this point two years earlier, they had given to 59 Democrats and 58 Republicans. The preference for Democrats is the more normal pattern, although pro-Israel PACs that take their guidelines from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee boast that they contribute to any incumbent who votes according to AIPAC recommendations, and to opponents of incumbents who don’t—regardless of party affiliation.

A few pro-Israel PACs do take party affiliation into consideration, however. The so-called “multi-issue” pro-Israel PACs contribute only to Democrats.

On this page are the names and amounts given to the top 9 Senate and top 11 House recipients of 1998 cycle pro-Israel PAC donations as of Dec. 31, 1997. The amounts donated closely resemble the amounts from the same time in the previous cycle. The top recipient among Senate candidates in 1997 was Barbara Boxer (D-CA), who received $58,202, and the top House recipient was Shelley Berkeley (D-NV), who had received $12,032 as of Dec. 31, 1997. As of Dec. 31, 1995, the top Senate recipient was Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who received $58,500, and the top House recipient was Lee Hamilton (D-IN), who received $13,000.

Following the table above are charts starting below recording all of the pro-Israel PAC contributions reported to the Federal Election Commission during the current cycle as of Jan. 14, 1998, and the career total of pro-Israel PAC funds accepted by each candidate.

Stealth PACs: Lobbying Congress for Control of U.S. Middle East Policy, a publication of the American Educational Trust, documents contributions by pro-Israel, Arab-American and Muslim-American PACs since 1978. List price of the August 1996 fourth edition is $14.95. It is available from the AET Book Club for $12.95.

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