ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, April 13, 1997 TAG: 9704140078
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: THE WASHINGTON POST
Major contributors were able to keep their names off federal disclosure reports last year, at the national party's suggestion.
Democratic National Committee officials channeled millions of dollars in campaign donations to state Democratic parties last year, effectively hiding big contributions from tobacco, gambling and other special interests.
Contributors' checks routinely were sent to DNC headquarters before being passed on to the state parties, but documents show that DNC officials kept meticulous records of the donations so that donors and fund-raisers received credit.
Because the money was not deposited in the accounts of the national party, the identities of the donors did not appear on the DNC's federal disclosure reports. Instead, the donations were reported on the state level, where they are far more difficult to track.
Diverting campaign checks to the state parties allowed the DNC to avoid criticism for accepting contributions from controversial industries and protected some donors who did not want the fact or magnitude of their contributions known.
For example, at the time last year that Vice President Gore was attacking the Republican National Committee as ``just about a wholly owned subsidiary of the tobacco industry,'' DNC fund-raisers asked R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. to make campaign contributions through state Democratic parties.
``They preferred that it go to the state organizations,'' Reynolds spokeswoman Maura Ellis said of $50,000 in donations the company gave to four Democratic state parties and another party committee. ``That was at their request.''
The Sault Ste. Marie Chippewas, a tribe that operates casinos in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, was concerned about angering the state's Republican governor, John Engler, according to a DNC official. So while it gave $100,000 directly to the DNC, the tribe also contributed at least $270,000 more to five state Democratic parties.
The Washington Post reported in January that DNC fund-raiser John Huang solicited nearly $500,000 from a handful of donors for at least six Democratic state parties. Documents the White House released recently from the files of former deputy chief of staff Harold Ickes show that effort was far more extensive and established than was previously known.
Kent Cooper, the head of the nonprofit Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks campaign spending, said the DNC, in effect, was ``keeping a second set of books. It certainly raises questions about the completeness and accuracy of their reports'' to the Federal Election Commission.
He called the practice an evasion of the disclosure requirements that are at the heart of federal election law.
DNC spokeswoman Amy Weiss Tobe said the party ``had no reason to hide the donations.'' She said party records indicate that the DNC directed at least $3.6million to state parties.
Another party official, who asked not to be named, said the DNC has directed donors to state parties in previous elections but probably did more of it last year because of limits on how much the party itself could transfer to some states. He acknowledged that some donors preferred giving on the state level to avoid ``the visibility of being identified as one of the top donors.''
The Republican National Committee did not have such a routine program of directing money to state parties, said spokeswoman Mary Mead Crawford. She said party officials have suggested that donors give to state parties having special elections.
Crawford said that members of Team 100, the Republicans' $100,000 donor club, are offered the option of having $25,000 of their donation go to a state party and still count toward their Team 100 total.
The tobacco industry was among the largest donors to the GOP on the national party level over the past two years. Tobacco interests gave far less to the Democratic Party, but Philip Morris Inc. joined R.J. Reynolds in channeling contributions through the DNC to state parties.
Philip Morris is credited with giving four state parties a total of $100,000.
Reynolds spokeswoman Ellis said the DNC asked the firm for a $50,000 donation last May or June for a party fund-raising event. ``Somewhere along the line,'' she said, DNC officials asked that the money go to state parties instead.
Ellis said the firm also made contributions to Republican state parties, but not at the urging of national party officials.
Mirage Resorts Inc. of Las Vegas was another gambling interest that gave heavily to Democratic state parties. While Mirage donated $250,000 to the GOP on the federal level and only $35,000 to the DNC, it was expected to give at least $250,000 more to Democratic state parties, documents show.
A check of campaign records in several states showed that Mirage gave at least $215,000, including $100,000 in California.
Steve Wynn, Mirage's chief executive, raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Republican Bob Dole early in the presidential campaign, before indicating he was hedging his bets in early 1996, about the time he played golf with President Clinton.
Wynn did not return phone calls seeking an explanation of why Mirage gave to state parties.
Carl Lindner, who has given generously to both parties for many years, is credited by the DNC with giving at least $70,000 to seven state parties early last year.
The contributions came about the time the Clinton administration agreed to take to the World Trade Organization a case involving trade barriers to Lindner's Chiquita Brands International Inc.
None of the individuals returned phone calls.
LENGTH: Long : 106 lines KEYWORDS: POLITICSby CNB