Report links donations, lawmakers' support of Cuba embargo
By Lesley Clark
McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON — Supporters of the U.S. embargo against Cuba have
contributed nearly $11 million to members of Congress since 2004 in a
largely successful effort to block efforts to weaken sanctions against
the island, a new report shows.
In several cases, the report by Public Campaign says, members of
Congress who had supported easing sanctions against Cuba changed their
position — and got donations from the U.S.-Cuba Democracy Political
Action Committee and its donors.
All told, the political action committee and its contributors have given
$10.77 million nationwide to nearly 400 candidates and members of
Congress, the report says.
The contributions include more than $850,000 to 53 Democrats in the
House of Representatives who sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
earlier this month opposing any change to U.S.-Cuba policy. The average
signer, the report says, received $16,344.
The top five recipients of the embargo supporters' cash: Miami's three
Cuban-American Republican members of Congress, 2008 Republican
presidential nominee John McCain and New Jersey Democratic Sen. Robert
Menendez, whose parents fled Cuba before his birth.
The report comes as defenders of the embargo fend off efforts to repeal
a decades-old ban against U.S. travel to Cuba. Proponents of greater
engagement with Cuba contend that they have the votes, and a hearing on
the issue is scheduled for Thursday before the House Foreign Affairs
Committee.
Critics of U.S.-Cuba policy long have suggested a link between campaign
contributions and policy. Public Campaign — which advocates for public
financing of political campaigns — says the contributions raise
questions about the role that money plays in lawmakers' decision-making.
"The pressure they get to raise money plays heavier in their decisions
than it ought to," said David Donnelly, the national campaigns director
for Public Campaign. "We think this is a damning pattern. We think these
are good people caught in a bad system. If members of Congress have to
spend too much time raising money, they have to listen to people who
give money."
The director of the U.S.-Cuba Democracy PAC, Mauricio Claver-Carone,
defended the contributions as support for lawmakers who side with
Cuban-Americans who think that easing sanctions against Cuba will only
benefit the Castro regime.
"I will not apologize for the Cuban-American community practicing its
constitutional, democratic right to support candidates who believe in
freedom and democracy for the Cuban people over business and tourism
interests," Claver-Carone said. "Unions help elect pro-union candidates.
The Chamber of Commerce helps elect pro-business candidates. AIPAC (the
American Israel Public Affairs Committee) helps elect pro-Israel
members. Who are we supposed to help? Pro-Castro members?"
Public Campaign looked at the Cuba committee because of a seeming
disconnect between congressional votes and public opinion polls that
suggest most Americans support lifting a ban on travel to Cuba, Donnelly
said.
"On this issue there appears to be a clear distinction between what the
American public appears to want and what some in Congress are
advocating," Donnelly said, pointing to a World Public Opinion survey in
April that found 70 percent of Americans support travel to Cuba.
Report links donations, lawmakers' support of Cuba embargo - Politics AP
- MiamiHerald.com (16 November 2009)
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/AP/story/1332481.html
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