Fundraiser resurfaces from 1996
By Sam Dealey
A controversial Chinese-American businessman embroiled in the much-investigated 1996 fundraising scandal has re-emerged as a donor to three Democratic presidential campaigns.
Campaign records filed with the Federal Election Commission show that George Chao-chi Chu, of San Francisco, contributed $2,000 each to the campaigns of Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Bob Graham (D-Fla.), and $1,000 to that of Rep. Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.).
Chu had been one of the Democratic Party’s top fundraisers at a time when so-called soft-money contributions were still legal, raising more than $500,000 before the scandal hit in 1997.
He also raised eyebrows because of his links to the Communist Chinese leadership in Beijing and to John Huang, the central figure in the widespread scandal. Federal regulators also investigated his import-export company, Da Tung International, throughout the previous decade.
A receptionist at Chu’s trading firm in San Francisco said he was traveling and not immediately available for comment.
“Mr. Chu has never been convicted of any crime,” said Kelley Benander, a spokeswoman for Kerry’s presidential campaign. “While it’s never possible to know the complete history of every one of the thousands of donors to the campaign, we do have an established vetting process for contributors,” she said.
Campaign vetting processes vary wildly, but in high-profile campaigns such as those for president, contributors are usually checked for criminal backgrounds. Chu has not been convicted of any crime.
“We feel very good about our vetting process,” said Steve Jarding, a strategist for the Graham campaign. “It’s a thorough vetting process. It’s as good a system as there is.”
He would not elaborate on what the vetting process entailed but said, “Every donor gets looked at.”
Jarding said Chu’s involvement in 1996 did not raise any red flags. “Nothing happened in ’96,” he said. “I’ve done this for a lot of years, and the last thing I’m going to do is allow some character assassination to prevent someone from participating in the democratic process. George is a good man.”
Gephardt’s campaign declined to comment on Chu or his $1,000 donation, half the current individual limit.
Other Democratic campaign organizations, however, have turned away sizeable donations from Chu and other figures tainted by the 1996 scandals.
In March 2000, Chu contributed $20,000 to California Victory 2000, an affiliate of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC). The money was returned to the businessman the following month. Likewise, contributions from other figures in the ’96 fundraising flap — most prominently $26,000 from each of two Lippo executives, Huang and James Riady, in 2001 — were also returned by the DSCC.
Chu has taken a lower profile in political fundraising circles since the scandal that dogged the second Clinton administration.
By mid-1997, he had donated more than $500,000 to the Clinton-Gore re-election campaign and the Democratic Party. White House and Democratic National Committee (DNC) records show that Chu also steered as much as $55,000 to Democratic causes through Huang, then a top fundraising official at the DNC.
Huang was charged with raising more than $1 million in illegal contributions, mostly from persons with close ties to the government in Beijing.
Although Chu’s donations were legal, they did raise suspicions among congressional investigators. He was among 10 prized donors that then Vice President Al Gore solicited from the White House complex, and won such perks as White House coffees and photographs that were emblematic of the scandal.
Such were Chu’s contacts that then DNC Chairman Don Fowler asked National Security Council director Sandy Berger to write Chu a letter detailing the Clinton administration’s stance on China. Berger did not do so.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms investigated Chu and his family several times between 1985 and 1996 for their business practices, including suspected tax evasion.
Chu’s family showed unusual access to high-ranking Communist officials in China.
In the mid-’90s, Chu escorted Richard Blum, the wealthy husband of Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), to Beijing to meet Deng Pufang, son of late Chinese Premier Deng Xiaoping. In another instance, Chu’s brother Christian arranged for a Canadian businessman to play golf with Li Peng, then the hard-line Chinese premier.
President Clinton appointed Chu to an advisory committee on trade with China in 2000.
In the 2000 cycle, Chu contributed $2,000 to Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) and $5,000 to his leadership fundraising committee. The issue briefly sparked a negative news cycle for the Democrat, who faced a stiff challenge from GOP Rep. John Thune.
“I’m not familiar with all the business ventures of these contributors, but I don’t feel that it’s my business to second-guess their civil actions,” Johnson told a South Dakota reporter at the time.
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