The Pittsburgh Press (August 28, 1944)
18 candidates aided by PAC
$5,000 reported as largest donation
Washington (UP) –
Sidney Hillman, chairman of the CIO Political Action Committee, told a Congressional committee today that National PAC had made contributions or expenditures on behalf of 18 Congressional candidates in the 1944 primary campaigns.
A total of $23,013 was spent, he said from trade union funds made available to the PAC treasury.
Mr. Hillman pointed out since July 23, when union contributions to PAC were frozen, the committee had relied on voluntary individual contributions and loans for money to be spent in connection with the November elections, and said $135,000 had been collected on this manner by PAC and the broader National Citizens’ Political Action Committee, which he also heads.
$5,000 donated by PAC
“If we relied on money to do our work, we would have scant hope of success,” he told the House Committee Investigating Campaign Expenditures.
The largest individual primary campaign contribution by PAC, Mr. Hillman said, was $500 for Adam Clayton Powell, New York Negro.
Mr. Hillman also listed $5,000 for the “Committee for the Nomination of Win-the-War Candidates” which he said supported Rep. Vito Marcantonio (AL-NY) and a number of state candidates endorsed by the American Labor Party.
Hillman protests
Mr. Hillman protested to the committee against the singling out of PAC for inquiry and Chairman Clinton Amderson (D-NM) replied that all the groups Mr. Hillman mentioned as possible subjects for inquiry except the America First Party had received from letters requesting appearances before the committee.
Under questioning by Rep. Clarence J. Brown (R-OH), Mr. Hillman insisted that the two committees were nonpartisan but conceded there would be no money available for the Republican National Committee or for Governor Thomas E. Dewey, the Republican presidential nominee.
Mr. Hillman said the CIO committee had originally received contributions from union treasuries totaling $671,214, of which $371,086 had been spent through Aug. 15. Seventy-six percent of the disbursements went for administrative expenses and $67,320 for contributions in primary campaigns and state elections, he said.
Over million sought
Mr. Hillman said that the CIO committee – seeking contributions of $1 from each CIO member – had received $56,922, of which $36,983 had been spent by Aug. 15. The NCPAC, he said, seeking voluntary contributions of $1,500,000, has received loans and contributions totaling $78,569 and has spent $20,328.
Mr. Hillman said:
If we relied on money to do our work, we would have scant hope of success, I need only recall that in 1940 despite the limitations of the Hatch Act, the Republican Party and its cooperating groups collected and spent some $17 million on behalf of their candidates.
The total expenses of the CIO Political Action Committee to date are considerably less than the 1940 contributions to the Republican Party by five wealthy families alone. I assume that they will do as well or better in 1944.
Mr. Hillman suggested investigations of the American Democratic National Committee, Gerald L. K. Smith’s America First Party, the Committee for Constitutional Government, the National Economic Council, United Mothers of America, the Anglo-Saxon Federation, the National Association of Manufacturers and the National Industrial Information Committee, which he said were “overripe for inquiry.”