The legislators who most closely oversee America's defense budget reaped $2 million in campaign contributions last year from political action committees affiliated with the defense industry. The biggest chunks went to committee leaders and other legislators who are particularly influential on military matters, according to an Associated Press analysis of campaign receipts by members of four key congressional panels. The committees will play a major role in determining how the pro-democracy movement in Eastern Europe and improved relations with the Soviet Union are translated into Pentagon budget cuts that could have a big impact on defense contractors. Ninety-two of the 104 legislators who serve on the four panels got money from defense PACs, with the largest share going to Sen. J. Bennett Johnson, a Louisiana Democrat who sits on the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee. Johnston received $128,000 from defense PACs whose sponsors read like a who's who of military contractors. The AP analysis covered PAC contributions to members of the defense subcommittees of the House and Senate appropriations committees, and to members of each chamber's Armed Services panel. In good times and bad, it is common practice for special interests to target their PAC contributions to legislators with influence in their fields. Banking-related PACs, for example, gave nearly $6 million in the 1987-88 election cycle to legislators on committees with jurisdiction over banking issues, according to the newsletter PACs & Lobbies. Congress for years has been debating campaign finance reforms that would limit the role of PACs in congressional races. Yet many lawmakers and PAC officials reject the contention of public interest groups that special-interest money unduly influences congressional votes. A spokesman for Johnston, Tony Garrett, said ``It makes sense that people in the defense industry would support those who favor a strong national defense and who are key players in defense policy. They also know the senator through his efforts to bring more defense industries to Louisiana.'' A prominent player in the campaign finance deliberations, Rep. Beryl Anthony, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said there is nothing wrong with accepting PAC money but that the soaring costs of campaigns have perhaps created the perception that lawmakers are too reliant on special interest money. ``Taking a legal PAC contribution is not sleazy,'' Anthony said in an interview Friday. ``The culprit is in how much money it takes to run an election.'' The 1989 PAC contributions, detailed in year-end campaign finance reports to the Federal Election Commission, cover the first half of the 1989-90 election cycle. Fund-raising generally escalates during election years, and past donors are among the first targets to be tapped. On top of PAC contributions, additional money from defense contractors is channeled to lawmakers as honoraria for speeches and other appearances. In 1987, for example, members of the four defense-related committees received $521,000 in honoraria from the top 50 defense contractors, according to the Common Cause advocacy group. Legislators also receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions from labor union PACs whose members work at defense plants and from PACs for lobbying firms whose clients include major defense contractors. The $2 million figure, however, covers only donations from PACs affiliated with defense contractors. PACs affiliated with companies that would be most affected by major reductions in defense spending were among the biggest financial backers of members of the four congressional panels. General Motors Corp.'s PACs, for example, distributed nearly $140,000 last year among 75 members of the four defense-related committees, according to the AP analysis. GM's donations included those from its corporate PAC and from the PACs of its Electronic Data Systems and Hughes Aircraft subsidiaries. Not far behind was McDonnell Douglas Corp., whose two PACs gave $132,000 to 73 members of the congressional panels. Next were Textron Inc. and Lockheed Corp., whose PACs each made $103,000 in 1989 contributions to members of the four committees. Coming in just short of $100,000 in total donations to the committee members were the PACs associated with Grumman Corp., Northrop Corp. and Raytheon Co. Raytheon's totals include donations by the PAC of its Beech Aircraft subsidiary. PACs for Martin Marietta Corp., Rockwell International Corp., United Technologies Corp., Boeing Co., General Dynamics Corp., LTV Corp. and Westinghouse Electric Corp. contributed between $50,000 and $90,000 each to members of the defense-related congressional panels. While the chairmen and ranking Republicans of the congressional committees generally were among the biggest recipients of defense-industry PAC money, there was one major exception last year. Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, chairman of the Senate defense appropriations panel, received just $1,000 in defense-industry PAC money; $2,150 in total PAC donations. Inouye, who is not up for re-election until 1992, received $52,000 in defense PAC money during the 1985-86 election cycle. The ranking Republican on that same panel, Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, reported defense-industry PAC contributions of $112,500 in 1989 and total PAC contributions of $497,000. He is heavily favored for re-election this year. The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Democrat Sam Nunn of Georgia, received more than $489,000 from PACs in 1989, of which $88,000 came from the defense industry. The panel's ranking Republican, John Warner of Virginia, received $395,000 from PACs, $86,000 of it from the defense industry. Other big recipients of defense PAC money included: _Rep. John P. Murtha, D-Pa., chairman of the House defense appropriations subcommittee. He received $150,000 from PACs last year, $55,500 of it from the defense industry. _Rep. Joseph M. McDade of Pennsylvania, ranking Republican on the same panel. He raised $79,000 from PACs, $36,000 of it from the defense industry. McDade, who is under FBI investigation for his relationship with a now-defunct defense contractor, used all of his 1989 campaign contributions to pay legal fees. _Rep. Les Aspin, D-Wis., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. Aspin received $135,000 from PACs last year, of which $41,000 came from the defense industry. _Rep. William L. Dickinson of Alabama, senior Republican on the Armed Services Committee. Dickinson received $52,000 last year from defense-industry PACs, representing 71 percent of his $72,000 in total PAC receipts.
