PARTY CONTRIBUTIONS AND THE INFLUENCE OF CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE CHAIRS ONROLL-CALL VOTING

Herrnson (1988) hypothesized that the increased activity of the four c ongressional campaign committees may increase the power Of the campaig n committee chairs on policy matters. In this paper I examine Herrnson 's hypothesis. First, I analyze selected roll-call votes from the 98th and 99th Congresses to determine whether the committees' activities e ncourage members to be more supportive of positions advocated by the c hairs of the House Democratic and Republican campaign committees. I th en analyze the effect of these contributions on building party loyalty . I find that although the committees' activities have some influence on the amount of support freshman recipients give to the committee cha irs, they have no effect on building support for the party.