NRCC Pouring Money Into Special Election For Calif. Seat.

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Author: Wegner, Mark

House Races

Preparing for two House races, the National Republican Congressional Committee has disclosed that it spent $477,000 on new independent expenditure campaigns in targeted districts. In a last-minute FEC report, the NRCC reported Wednesday that it had spent nearly $364,000 on issue ads, phone banks and mailers against Democrat Francine Busby, who is running in next Tuesday's special election for the seat of former Rep. Randy (Duke) Cunningham, R-Calif. Most of the NRCC spending â€" $342,000 in the San Diego media market â€" went for issue ads that criticize Busby for the contributions she has received. "Busby has taken thousands of dollars of campaign money from lobbyists and employees of government contractors … including money from a scandal-plagued lobbyist who left Congress after a pay-for-play scandal," the ad says, according to a transcript. The ad refers indirectly to a $500 donation Busby received Feb. 7 from former Sen. Dennis DeConcini, D-Ariz., who was implicated in the Keating Five scandal over 15 years ago.

Busby's campaign countered Wednesday by calling the NRCC ad a "last-ditch effort of the DeLay-Cunningham machine." Ethics issues could have particular resonance in this traditionally Republican district. Cunningham resigned his seat last year after pleading guilty to federal tax evasion and bribery charges. Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, the former House majority leader, who is under indictment in a money laundering case, announced resignation plans this week.

A Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokeswoman said the DCCC was assisting Busby's campaign in "matching the NRCC buy." Because one of the GOP candidates â€" multi-millionaire businessman Eric Roach â€" has triggered the so-called millionaire's amendment, the spokeswoman said the DCCC was able to increase its coordinated spending above normal federal limits. Busby is competing against 14 other GOP candidates in the race. A candidate can win the seat outright by winning 50 percent plus one vote. However, the race is expected to advance to a June 6 runoff, featuring each party's top vote-getter in the special election.

The NRCC also reported spending $114,000 for a television issue ad campaign against Democratic state Sen. Charlie Wilson in Ohio, who is running a write-in campaign in Ohio's May 2 primary for the competitive, open Democratic-held 6th District. The NRCC spot attacks Wilson over the "millions of gallons of raw sewage secretly dumped into the Ohio River" by the Eastern Ohio Regional Wastewater Authority when he served on its board. The NRCC launched the attack with a similar ad last month that cost $89,000.

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By Mark Wegner