PAC money heavily on incumbents

Pundits predict a wave of anti-incumbency sentiment—fueled by tea parties, voters’ disgust with Washington and other factors — will sweep the nation tomorrow.

That could happen in Georgia, but the folks who finance much of the political campaigning here are gambling millions of dollars that it won’t.

Political action committees, or PACs — set up to make contributions on behalf of businesses, trade associations, labor unions and other interest groups — doled out $8.4 million to Georgia candidates this year through September. (Individual businesses and unions must register as PACs if they give more than $25,000 a year.)

We downloaded those donations from a state database to take a closer look at where that money wound up. None of the findings will surprise anyone who follows Georgia politics or campaign finance, but it never hurts to review.

A few observations:

Money loves incumbents. Only one incumbent is running for re-election to statewide office. But PAC dollars favored incumbents in the Georgia Legislature by a ratio of about 28-to-one. Campaign finance data shows PACs gave $3.2 million this year to members of the House and Senate and just $115,000 to candidates challenging them.

The practice tends to perpetuate itself. Incumbents or their fundraisers hit up the PACs, which then must decide whether to donate and how much, often based on fears of what might happen if they don’t.

PACs are understandably hesitant to back a challenger for fear of alienating the incumbent. (Some donors like to give to unopposed incumbents knowing the money will be passed on to a candidate they don’t want to be on record as supporting.) Incumbents’ large campaign accounts also tend to scare off challengers.

Most lawmakers are well aware of who their campaign donors are, particularly the most generous ones. All say the donations do not affect their votes; some, though, say they’re not so sure about colleagues.

Money loves a sure thing. Most PAC money flows to candidates who are certain to win. In Senate races, 62 percent of PAC dollars went to incumbents who faced no opposition or who represent districts where the electorate is extremely lopsided in their parties’ favor.

Money loves power. The new leadership team in the House — Speaker David Ralston, Speaker Pro Tem Jan Jones and Majority Leader Ed Lindsey — raked in $308,000 from PACs this year. Ralston and Lindsey are unopposed on tomorrow’s ballot, while Jones faces only token opposition.

In the Senate, the campaigns of President Pro Tem Tommie Williams and Majority Leader Chip Rogers collected $171,000 between them. Williams is unopposed tomorrow, while Rogers faces a Democratic challenger in a heavily Republican district.

Similarly, chairmen of key committees can count on fat campaign accounts regardless of whether they have a race to spend it on. The men atop the rules and appropriations committees in the House and Senate, none of whom faces serious opposition, pulled in $262,000 of PAC money this year.

Legislators know that winning a seat on a “money committee” — such as those dealing with banking, health or taxes — will guarantee more political donations at election time.

Money loves different issues than you or I. Jobs and education are surely on every voter’s mind, but the nine candidates who ran for school superintendent and labor commissioner this year collected less than $90,000 from PACs — roughly 1 percent of PAC giving.

Money loves a winner. Regardless of who takes the governor’s race, many of the loser’s financial backers will quickly write checks to the winning team. After Sonny Perdue knocked off Gov. Roy Barnes in November 2002, hundreds of thousands of dollars flowed into the Republican’s campaign account from donors who’d been backing Barnes. Most donors give to Republican officeholders now, but they gave just as generously to Georgia Democrats when they were in power.

Ultimately, money cares most about the bottom line. Money cares about making more money.