Poetic justice, isn't it? And now there's a Global Crossing/Daschle connection to explore: nytimes.com
August 15, 2000
Trying to Keep Big Contributors in a Giving Mood
By JOHN M. BRODER and DON VAN NATTA Jr.
OS ANGELES, Aug. 14 -- The party that closed a city block outside the restaurant Spago in Beverly Hills Sunday night was not a fund-raiser, Democratic officials contended today. Nor was the reception for big-money donors at the Giorgio Armani boutique, they asserted. Nor was the late-night dessert reception with President Clinton for the party's most generous givers.
In Democratic fund-raising parlance, these were "donor servicing" or "donor maintenance" events. The distinction party leaders draw is that no money actually changed hands at these affairs; the checks have long since been cashed. But the events were intended to "energize" donors, encouraging them to make further donations and keep the money flowing.
Democratic Party officials have not staged the type of fund-raising gala here that the Republicans did in Philadelphia with a $10 million event headlined by Gov. George W. Bush.
Yet the Democratic Party has been as aggressive as the Republicans in using its convention to court its biggest donors, trying to put them in the mood to write new checks for the fall campaign. Supporters who contributed at least $100,000 to the Democratic National Committee were issued an 18-page "Convention 2000 Passport." It lists four days and nights of invitation-only meals, receptions and intimate events with party leaders, including the president, Vice President Al Gore and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Still, party leaders here, aware of the criticism of overzealous fund-raising that they received in 1996, are trying to play down the party's fund-raising at this convention.
Terry McAuliffe, the chairman of the Democratic National Convention Committee, said the convention was nothing like the Republican gathering two weeks ago.
"This is in stark contrast to what went on in Philadelphia, where they turned the entire Republican convention into a fund-raiser," Mr. McAuliffe said. "One night they bragged they raised $15 million. I mean, thank goodness the Liberty Bell was bolted down or they would have sold that, too."
There is another reason Democratic leaders want to keep the money chase more muted. In its platform, the party advocates a ban on political contributions known as soft money. Mr. Gore has pledged an effort to outlaw soft money as his first legislative priority. Democrats are also worried that the investigation of fund-raising in the 1996 election could hurt Mr. Gore.
In defending fund-raising practices in 1996, Democratic leaders did some semantic gyrations to explain their techniques. For example, the White House said that more than 100 coffees for donors were not fund-raisers, but "donor maintenance" affairs to reward supporters.
Mr. Gore initially described the now-infamous luncheon at the Hsi Lai Buddhist Temple in 1996 as a "community outreach" session, even though nuns and others at the temple contributed more than $100,000 to the Clinton-Gore campaign. Later, he said the visit was "finance-related." When Mr. Gore was questioned in April by the special counsel investigating campaign finance, he insisted the event was not a fund-raiser.
Even the vice-presidential nominee, Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, criticized the word play, especially the White House's claims that the coffees were not fund-raisers. "In a sense that most people would understand, they were fund-raisers," Mr. Lieberman said in 1997. "I think credibility is lost when we continue to insist on technical legal points."
But the party's concerns have not stopped it from establishing an elite club for contributors of at least $500,000 called the "Chairman's Circle." Several unions and three individuals are among its inaugural members: Peter G. Angelos, a trial lawyer and owner of the Baltimore Orioles; Peter L. Buttenwieser, a Philadelphia philanthropist; and S. Daniel Abraham, chairman of Slim-Fast Foods. (The top donor club of the Republicans, the Regents, has 139 individuals and corporations that have given at least $250,000.)
The Democratic Party identifies four dozen sponsors of their so-called "donor servicing" affairs here, including America Online, BellSouth, Ernst & Young, Texaco, United Parcel Service and the Federal National Mortgage Association, known as Fannie Mae.
Despite the efforts by Mr. McAuliffe and other Democrats to distinguish the convention from the Republicans' gathering, some party officials acknowledged that thanking donors and soliciting more funds are an important part of the agenda.
Senator Russell D. Feingold, the Wisconsin Democrat who, with Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, has championed legislation to overhaul campaign finance, said today that he was ashamed of his party's fund-raising efforts. Mr. Feingold called it "a system of legalized bribery and legalized extortion."
When told that some party officials said that little or no fund-raising was occurring outside the Staples Center, where the convention is being held, Mr. Feingold scoffed. "That's absurd," he said. "In room after room, hotel after hotel and private home after private home, there are literally scores of fund-raisers that include contribution levels as high as $50,000 or $100,000."
Mr. Feingold cited the numerous "tributes" to members of Congress sponsored by major corporations and attended by donors of $20,000 to $100,000. Among them are a luncheon for Senator Dianne Feinstein of California sponsored by Chevron and a dinner for Senator Tom Daschle of South Dakota paid for by Global Crossing, a telecommunications company. BellSouth, US West, EchoStar Communications and United Parcel Service are paying for a concert by Cheryl Crow on behalf of Senator Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont.
The Democratic National Convention is holding only one formal fund-raiser, a concert featuring Barbra Streisand, the singer Babyface and Whoopi Goldberg on Thursday night. Party officials estimated the concert would raise $3 million to $4 million in "hard money," contributions that are limited in size (the maximum individual donation is $1,000) but can be used for any political purpose.
The Democratic Party's reluctance to hold several fund-raising events has not stopped a number of House and Senate candidates from doing so.
The convention itself is being underwritten by several corporations, many of whom also sponsored the Republican convention. General Motors is contributing $1 million in cash and services and 400 cars, the same as it did in Philadelphia. The automaker is also sponsoring several receptions for lawmakers and donors. G.M. provided similar services for the Republicans.
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Copyright 2000 The New York Times Company |
