Political action committees for the major defense contractors have poured more than $5 million into campaigns of congressional armed services committee members during the past two election cycles, records show.
That averaged out to $114,300 for each senator on the Senate Armed Service Committee and $51,802 for each member of the corresponding House committee, according to data filed by the PACs with the Federal Election Commission.The time frame covers the last two election cycles - for House members that means since the beginning of 1987 through July and for the Senate from 1983 until July.
During that period, the top recipient among Senate committee members was Sen. Pete Wilson, R-Calif., who is running for governor of California, one of the top defense industry states in the nation. He received $240,062, which also was the most received by any senator from defense-related PACs.
Second among committee members was Sen. Malcolm Wallop, R-Wyo., with $178,641, followed by Sen. Slade Gorton, R-Wash., with $175,200 and Sen. John Warner, R-Va., the ranking Republican, with $171,332.
The leading Democrat was Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., with $142,686, followed by Sen. Jim Exon, D-Neb., with $134,984 and Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga., the committee chairman, with $102,404.
All told, the 20 senators on the committee received $2,286,008 of the $5,083,318 contributed by PACs for the 100 largest defense contractors as defined by the Pentagon.
In the House Armed Services Committee, Chairman Les Aspin, D-Wis., received the most during the past four years with $171,050. That ranked him fourth among all House members in money from defense-related PACs.