Attack PAC

It used to be the most feared of all PACs. The National Conservative PAC (NCPAC), known as "Nickpac," mounted a series of harsh negative advertising campaigns in 1980 that it insists were responsible for defeating Democratic Senators George McGovern of South Dakota, Frank Church of Idaho, Birch Bayh of Indiana and John Culver of Iowa. In the heady aftermath, NCPAC grandly announced that it planned to shoot down 20 more liberal Senators in 1982. But NCPAC's aim has proved less deadly than thought, and its guns are beginning to backfire. NCPAC is now heavily involved in only five Senate races, and its preferred candidates are generally disavowing any connection with the group.

Maryland Democratic Senator Paul Sarbanes, who is on the receiving end of a $650,000 NCPAC attack, has made the organization's tactics a major issue in the campaign. His success in running against NCPAC has frustrated his real opponent, Republican Lawrence Hogan. In a televised debate last week, after Sarbanes again tried to hang NCPAC around Hogan's neck, Hogan threw up his arms and declared: "I hereby denounce NCPAC!" Says Hogan's campaign manager, George Nesterczuk: "They've certainly provided Sarbanes with a convenient issue to run on."

Of the $10 million NCPAC will raise for 1982, $4 million will go for negative propaganda unauthorized by any candidate, $1.5 million will be donated directly to candidates, and the rest will go for maintaining its expensive direct-mail lists and other administrative costs. A similar PAC, North Carolina Senator Jesse Helms' Congressional Club, will raise another $10 million.

Despite their difficulties, the New Right PACs remain ready to get out the brass knuckles when the stakes are high. Last week, with the Senate race in California between Democrat Jerry Brown and Republican Pete Wilson becoming very close (the latest poll shows them almost even), the Fund for a Conservative Majority announced plans for a $250,000 negative ad campaign against Brown.

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