With no GOP opponent, Hare makes long-term moves

25 Apr 2008 // In late March it became increasingly apparent that no Republican, at least no one with political experience, would come forward in the 17th Congressional District to run against freshman Rep. Phil Hare, D-Rock Island. At the same time, the congressman moved to join the growing number of lawmakers who run their own political action committee.

Hare on March 21, a little more than two weeks before the ballot deadline, registered the People Helping Illinois Lead committee, or PHIL PAC. It is separate from his campaign committee, Friends of Phil Hare, and is known as a leadership PAC, so termed because the committees were first formed by congressional leaders to raise and steer money to favored candidates.

The committees, which are less regulated than campaign committees, have become commonplace on Capitol Hill, said Melanie Sloan, executive director of the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. The group on Wednesday issued a new survey of the 435-member House that found 232 members have their own PACs, not counting some 67 more members who did not respond.

"It's pretty routine. The people who don't have them tend to be older (veteran) members," Sloan said. Junior members establish them to court favor with their leadership and extend their influence.

"They're looking to advance," she said of newcomers such as Hare.

Hare, in an interview, maintained the timing, so close to the candidate slating deadline, was a coincidence. He stressed he was interested in creating the committee since before taking office last year.

Nonetheless, the creation of the PAC and his likely easy path to re-election indicate Hare appears to be settling into office at least through re-districting after the 2010 Census, assuming this fall he defeats Green Party candidate Troy Dennis, a newcomer to politics from Mount Zion.

Former Augustana College professor Jim Winship, who was traveling overseas this week, said in an e-mail response for comment that Hare is for now the beneficiary of what Winship calls the scorpion-shaped 17th district, created to group Democratic voters for Hare's longtime boss, retired Rep. Lane Evans, D-Rock Island.

The district's tilt against Republicans was clear in the consecutive losses of Republican Andrea Zinga of Coal Valley against Evans in 2004 and Hare two years ago. Hare started the race late after being slated by county chairmen following Evans' withdrawal after the primary due to the effects of Parkinson's disease. Even so, Hare won a solid 57-43 percent victory, buoyed by an 11-1 fundraising advantage.

"If Andrea Zinga can't unseat a Lane Evans in failing health and then two years later can't defeat Phil Hare in his first run for office, even when there are lingering resentments over the process that gave Phil Hare the nomination, then the future is pretty bleak for almost any Republican candidate," Winship said.

Winship noted Republicans and Democrats alike have turned to leadership PACs, which can be politically valuable at home and in Washington whether the lawmaker faces opposition or not.

"Even though Phil has no opponent in this race, he needs to keep his donor base up-to-date and to remain actively in contact with them," he said. "In addition, raising and distributing funds to other Democratic candidates allows him to build his base of support among House Democrats and in the eyes of the House Democratic leadership."

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, some 298 leadership PACs in 2006 raised about $156 million and gave $53 million to candidates, with about two-thirds going to Republicans. Through the end of February, leadership PACs have given nearly $12 million to candidates in the current election cycle, again with about two-thirds going to Republicans.

The leading PACs this cycle are affiliated with House leaders, led by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., who gave candidates $542,705. Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel, D-Chicago, donated $445,000, and House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, gave $432,576.

Presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., has used his Hope Fund PAC to give $299,000, and Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., has steered $150,000 to candidates from his Prairie PAC.

The center compiled the rankings because the Federal Election Commission only recently required that leadership PACs declare affiliation with a member of Congress. They largely are unregulated by the FEC beyond legal limits on the amount they can donate to any candidate, including their sponsoring lawmaker, and the amounts they can accept from donors.

Indeed, leadership PACs allow individuals to "max out," meaning give the maximum allowable amount, well beyond the $2,300 per election, of $4,600 per two-year election cycle. Via the leadership PAC, they can give another $5,000 a year or $10,000 over a two-year election cycle.

The FEC is considering new regulations on the definition of leadership PACs, but the process is still in the draft stage, a spokesman said.

Sloan said her group sees leadership PACs as problematic. They operate under vague names that do not indicate their affiliation, and PACs can spend their money on virtually anything, not just the donations to candidates that lawmakers often say are the prime purpose.

"The problem with them is that people use them like slush funds," she said.

Hare intends to use the PHIL PAC mostly to help elect Democrats at the federal and state level who share his views on foreign trade. He said colleagues on the pro-union House Trade Working Group urged him to use the committee for just that purpose. The group unsuccessfully opposed the Peru free trade deal passed last year, which passed via a coalition of Republicans and a minority of House Democrats, and the group is working to stop a proposed Colombia free trade agreement.

"I didn't time it," he said of the establishment of the committee. in relationship to the Republican slating deadline. "I always assumed I was going to have an opponent, and I was going to do this irregardless."

Hare hopes to help Illinois federal and state candidates, such as newly elected Rep. Bill Foster, D-Geneva, in his rematch this fall against Republican Jim Oberweis, and state Sen. Debbie Halvorson, D-Crete, in her 11th Congressional District race to succeed retiring Rep. Jerry Weller, R-Morris.

He also plans to campaign for Democrat Colleen Callahan in her race against Republican state Rep. Aaron Shock and Green Party candidate Sheldon Schafer for the seat of retiring Rep. Ray LaHood, R-Peoria.

Nationally, Hare said he will use the PAC to make donations and pay travel expenses to campaign for pro-union Democratic incumbents. The three he named were veteran Rep. Dale Kildee of Michigan, freshman Rep. Steve Cohen of Tennessee and freshman Rep. Carol Shea-Porter of New Hampshire. Hare said he also may use the PAC to help defray his $125,000 dues to Democratic re-election efforts, though the PAC is limited to donations to party committees of $15,000 per year.

The PAC will ensure that donors to his re-election campaign won't see their money spent on other candidates, he said.

"I feel if a senior (citizen) sends me $15, and I get a lot of those, they're not saying, 'Hey Phil, here's $15, go campaign for somebody else. They're doing that for me because of the issues. So I want to put that in the bank.' "

Donors can give to his re-election campaign and to the PAC, but the PAC cannot directly support Hare's re-election campaign beyond giving the $10,000 per election cycle in cash or in-kind services allowed from any PAC to a federal candidate.

Hare stressed he will conduct 24 fundraisers this year for his personal re-election campaign, despite appearing to be headed for victory. Besides dispelling the appearance that he is taking the election for granted, Hare wants to build up a war chest in case redistricting puts him in a more difficult district in 2012.

"Who knows what's going to happen next time?" he asked.

In the latest campaign disclosure to the FEC, Hare reported holding $359,474 in cash reserves after raising a net $588,567 for the election cycle through March 31. Of his donations, $379,069, or 64 percent, were from PACs. He has made no donations to other candidates or party committees.

Dennis King, his former chief of staff, who also held the same post for 24 years for Evans, said in an interview that Hare made it known before the primary season that he wanted to form the PAC. He said the congressman was convinced it would help him better represent his district.

"He sees this as a way he can carry the ball," King said.

Still, King said leaders expect the rank-and-file to help win more seats and they reward those who raise money with committee assignments and more home district pork barrel spending.

"It's made very clear that in order for members to rise, it's expected of them to give in order to receive," King said.