Rivals for U.S. Tax-Panel Chairmanship Escalate Gifts for Fellow Democrats
Representative Sander Levin. Photographer: Dennis Brack/Bloomberg
Representatives Richard Neal and Sander Levin have stepped up their campaign contributions to other Democrats as they compete for leadership of the tax- writing U.S. House Ways and Means Committee.
The two lawmakers have given fellow Democrats almost $1 million between them this election cycle -- with about 70 percent coming since March, when New York Representative Charles Rangel stepped down as head of the panel, Federal Election Commission records show. Their contributions since March alone match or exceed the amount they donated in the 2008 cycle.
Neal, of Massachusetts, has given about $410,000 to other candidates for the 2010 elections, and Levin, of Michigan, the panel’s acting chairman, has donated almost $570,000. At stake is the helm of the panel that controls tax and trade policy and oversees about a third of all federal spending, including the Social Security and Medicare programs.
“Levin and Neal are doing whatever they can to put themselves in position to be chairman in the next Congress,” said former Representative Bill Archer, a Texas Republican who headed the Ways and Means panel from 1995 to 2001. “My guess is Nancy Pelosi is tightening the pressure on all of her chairmen and subcommittee chairmen and aspirants to increase their contributions.”
The donations, aimed at helping Democrats mitigate losses in the November elections, may influence party leaders, including House Speaker Pelosi of California, who would choose a permanent chairman next year should Democrats retain control of the chamber, analysts said. Rangel relinquished his chairmanship after the House ethics committee admonished him for violating gift rules.
Technology, Labor
Neal, 61, represents a district near the Boston headquarters of Fidelity Investments that contains insurance and high-technology interests.
Levin, 78, from industrial Detroit’s northeast suburbs, has pursued policies backed by labor unions that include higher taxes on private equity firm executives and ending a tax-saving technique favored by Verizon Communications Inc.
Levin’s contributions since March include a total of $200,912 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, run by Maryland Representative Chris Van Hollen, a Pelosi adviser. Neal has given $170,000. Both contributed about half those sums the same month Rangel stepped down.
“They are part of a team” helping Democrats retain control of the House, Van Hollen said.
Rangel Donations
Rangel, who as chairman contributed $1.2 million to Democrats in the last cycle as chairman, hasn’t contributed to other candidates in the current cycle.
Levin became acting chairman because of his seniority after California Representative Pete Stark, 78, who had served on the panel longer, declined the temporary post in favor of remaining chairman of the subcommittee on health.
Neal, who speaks at conferences sponsored by Washington- based groups including the Tax Executives Institute, which includes tax officials from the 1,000 biggest companies, and the Tax Council Policy Institute, a gathering of lawyers, also campaigned for the job.
Neal’s “priorities for this campaign cycle remain his own re-election and maintaining a Democratic majority,” spokesman William Tranghese said when asked if the congressman donated to help promote his bid for the chairmanship.
Levin “takes seriously this opportunity as chairman of the committee to help others and intends to continue doing so fully in the months ahead,” Hilarie Chambers, his chief of staff, said.
Spot Open
Brendan Daly, a spokesman for Pelosi, 70, said the permanent chairmanship remains open and the speaker has made no special requests to committee chairmen to raise and donate money.
Pelosi stood by Rangel for months as misconduct allegations were investigated, in part because choosing a successor would be so difficult, said Christopher Bergin, chief executive of Tax Analysts, a Falls Church, Virginia, publisher of tax information.
To promote Neal, Pelosi would have to pass over both Levin and Georgia Representative John Lewis, the chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight, who, like Rangel, is African- American. Lewis gave only $1,000 to fellow Democrats in the last four months, records show.
“You’ve got a two-horse race and she’s got to pick,” Bergin said. In Levin, she’d get a chairman with strong policy and financial links to labor unions, Bergin said. In Neal, she’d get a chairman with a more favorable reputation with businesses, said Bergin, who favors Neal.
“One of the things Democrats should consider strongly is sending a signal to business that they are rational when it comes to business,” Bergin said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ryan J. Donmoyer in Washington at rdonmoyer@bloomberg.net.
Rate These Stories
Rate this Page