PAC Money Flows Freely To a Would-Be Reformer Series: UNEASY INCUMBENTS: THE FRESHMAN CLASS OF '92 Series Number: occ.
Over a buffet lunch of shrimp linguine, charcoal-broiled chicken and grilled vegetables, Rep. Ted Strickland (D-Ohio) picked up more than $15,000 in contributions he didn't even have to ask for.</br></br>All he had to do was show up at a private room at the National Democratic Club here and answer questions about health care, crime, entitlements and his campaign for reelection. His benefactors were representatives of a coalition of 16 unions and other groups that speak for more than 2 million federal and postal employees and retirees. Collectively, their political action committees (PACs) dole out $10 million each election cycle to candidates and political parties.</br></br>"I tell you," Strickland boasted to his hosts, "I am proud of the money I get from you. It's from real people, working people."</br></br>Two years ago as a challenger, Strickland was visiting PAC offices and hustling contributions by phone to raise enough money to unseat Rep. Bob McEwen (R). Now, he is the incumbent and contributions are flowing more freely - sometimes without solicitation.</br></br>In some respects, as freshmen lawmakers such as Strickland reap the benefits of incumbency, they become more entrenched in the system they campaigned to reform. This poses a dilemma for many in the Class of '92, the largest and most diverse collection of House newcomers in decades: How do they maintain credibility as outsiders with the voters back home if they behave like insiders in Washington? "The great majority of freshmen ran in 1992 on changing the political system in Washington," said Fred Wertheimer, president of Common Cause, a nonpartisan public interest lobbying group. "The majority made public commitments to support comprehensive campaign finance reform. But once they got here there were only a handful of representatives who really worked at it. A great majority of the freshmen did not deliver on the impression they left with their constituents that they were really going to try to change this place."