Rep. Bean's campaign cash from PACs hard to match

WASHINGTON -- Melissa Bean has been in Congress just under four years, but the suburban 8th District Democrat has no shortage of cash for her re-election bid, thanks to special-interest groups lobbying on Capitol Hill.

Bean amassed $1.41 million for this election cycle from political action committees -- more than half of the $2.6 million she had collected as of June 30, according to federal campaign finance reports compiled by the nonpartisan research group The Center for Responsive Politics.

She ranked sixth among all House candidates for money raised from PACs, the reports show. The only House members who raised more were some congressional leaders and powerful Reps. John Dingell, D-Mich., a 53-year House veteran and chairman of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., chairman of the tax-writing House Ways & Means Committee.

Only one Illinois delegation member -- Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin -- raised more: $1.5 million.

Bean, who upset 35-year incumbent Phil Crane in 2004 in the GOP-leaning 8th District, declined requests from The Associated Press for an interview.

But in a written statement, she indicated that the issue could be resolved if public financing was available for congressional campaigns. At the federal level, public financing currently is only available in presidential races.

"I have always supported the idea of publicly financed elections, as money has come to play too large a part in our political system," she said. "Those who wish to weigh in with Congress should rely on the strength of their ideas and not the depth of their pocketbooks."

Bean's opponent in the November election, wealthy Long Grove businessman Steve Greenberg, is making an issue of Bean's PAC contributions.

"Melissa Bean is bought and paid for by the special interests and has become part of the problem in Washington," Greenberg said in a written statement to The Associated Press. "She has taken more money from special interests than from individuals, leaving the voters to wonder who she represents."

As of midsummer, Greenberg had raised about $736,000 in contributions of all types, including about $98,000 from PACS. But he only had about $105,000 left at the end of June, even after loaning or contributing about $88,000 of his own money to his campaign.

He entered the race for Bean's seat last year after rejecting entreaties from the National Republican Senatorial Committee to try to unseat Durbin; the committee had viewed him as a candidate who was positioned to fund his own campaign to a large extent.

It is unclear whether the House Republican Congressional Committee will give him money this fall.

Democratic leadership helped put Bean in a position to raise money -- likely an attempt to protect the newcomer in a district that the GOP would love to win back.

She is a member of the House Financial Services Committee and was named chairman of the House Small Business Committee's subcommittee on finance and tax issues with the start of the current 110th Congress.

"Melissa Bean is probably one of the most vulnerable Democrats in Congress, and so part of that reflects the party trying to raise money for her," said David Kimball, a former Southern Illinois University-Carbondale political science professor now at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

A total of about $547,000 -- more than a third of her PAC money -- has come from committees connected with finance, insurance and real estate interests.

She took in about $54,000 from commercial bank PACs, slightly more than was contributed to House Democratic Conference Chairman Rahm Emanuel of Chicago, a member of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee.

Bean was second, at $59,800, among all the House members in contributions from finance or credit companies and second, with $41,599, in contributions from mortgage bankers and brokers.

Kimball said Bean's voting record "would make her more appealing to some business interests than other Democrats."

But it also helps that her voting record is not as predictable as many other members of Congress, Democrat or Republican. Lawmakers involved in more difficult races typically draw more money if it is not easy to take their vote for granted.

She has repeatedly backed free trade legislation, to the annoyance of labor, and has supported pay equity for women, an idea opposed by many in business.

Such a record makes it harder for organized labor and business groups to know how she will vote on one of their pet issues.

But Bean has become increasingly tied to business PAC money.

For the current election, 75 percent of PAC money has come from business and 9 percent from labor. The previous cycle it was split 67 percent business and 16 percent labor. For her overall career, it has been 55 percent business and 20 percent labor.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has rated Bean's voting record over her first three years in office as among the most favorable for a Democrat. But the AFL-CIO considers her voting record one of the least favorable among Democrats. And a Capitol Hill specialty publication, The National Journal, rates her as one of the most conservative House Democrats on economic issues.