Hollywood Gala for Hillary Focus at Trial
A lavish politics-goes-Hollywood fund-raiser that helped propel Hillary Clinton into the U.S. Senate is the main event at the pending federal trial of the New York Democrat's former campaign finance director.
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It's rare for alleged federal campaign finance violations to go to trial. But that is what is scheduled to happen Tuesday in federal court in Los Angeles, with witnesses including Sen. Edward Kennedy's brother-in-law, who wore a wire for the government.
Based on that conversation and allegedly false federal filings, prosecutors charged finance director David Rosen with deliberately lowballing the cost of the August 2000 gala. An FBI agent has speculated that Rosen was trying to duck federal financing rules so the campaign would have more money to spend on the race.
One fact is indisputable: The fund-raiser, cast as a "Hollywood Gala Salute to President William Jefferson Clinton," was expensive.
The party's A-list included Muhammad Ali, Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston and Diana Ross. Some performers and celebrities received expensive gifts, airline tickets and even cash — an echo of the gift baskets at events such as the Academy Awards. Those who came received a tribute book, CDs of the performers and a souvenir director's chair.
About 1,200 people attend the $1,000-per-ticket concert. Tickets for both the concert and a dinner cost $25,000 per couple, an invitation about 350 people accepted.
Organizers reported raising nearly $1.1 million for a joint committee benefiting Hillary Clinton's Senate campaign as well as the national and state-level Democratic Party.
Rosen, 40, isn't alone in his legal troubles. Two other of the event's main organizers have since been convicted in unrelated fraud cases.
Peter F. Paul, a three-time convicted felon who pleaded guilty in March to securities fraud charges, has told the FBI he gave hundreds of thousands of dollars that Clinton's campaign didn't report. He told prosecutors he spent $1.1 million — an "in kind" contribution that Rosen reported at just over $400,000.
Paul recently helped launch a Web site called the "Hillary Clinton Accountability Project" to publicize his lawsuit, claiming he bankrolled the gala on a promise that Bill Clinton would become a "goodwill ambassador" for his Internet media company. He is "ready, willing and able" to testify against Rosen, according to his attorney, Joseph Conway.
Another of the event's organizers, the man who corralled the celebrities, said Rosen was a "decent person" who faced a devil's choice: risk getting fired by exposing the gala's skyrocketing tab or cover up its true cost.
"David I don't think deserves to go to jail," co-organizer Aaron Tonken said in a recent interview from prison, where he is serving 63 months for unrelated charges of defrauding charities of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
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The prosecution by the Justice Department's public integrity section is unusual: Most federal election cases are handled administratively with fines, not criminal charges.
... An interview request was referred to Clinton's lawyer, David Kendall, who declined comment. Last year, Kendall told The Associated Press that Clinton's campaign properly reported all donations in 2000.
Will the trial tarnish Clinton's political future?
It is not the first time a Clinton's campaign has been under scrutiny for alleged fund-raising violations. President Clinton's 1996 campaign was dogged by allegations of illegal fund-raising from overseas donors.
"Things like this have occurred along the way in the Clinton national role and they have handled it," said Lee Miringoff, an independent pollster and director of the Poughkeepsie, N.Y.-based Marist Institute for Public Opinion.
The key, he said, is whether "fingerprints lead back to her."
Government lawyers aren't publicly saying why they believe Rosen might have lowballed the cost.
One theory: Under a since-revised formula, the lower the cost, the more cash Clinton's campaign could spend on essentials such as advertising.
Under arcane campaign finance rules of the time, reporting the event's actual cost would have forced the Senate campaign to forfeit coveted "hard money," according to Larry Noble, a former Federal Election Commission lawyer who now leads the campaign-finance watchdog Center for Responsive Politics.
The true cost of the event was deliberately understated, an FBI agent told a Los Angeles magistrate, "to increase the amount of funds available to New York Senate 2000 for federal campaign activities," according to an affidavit.
Justice Department spokesman Bryan Sierra said there's a "misconception" that Rosen would have to be driven by political advantage to break the law. Prosecutors don't have to prove a motive, he said, only that Rosen deliberately filed false reports.
Rosen pleaded not guilty during his January arraignment and the judge has since tossed one charge. Each of the remaining three counts of filing a false statement carries a penalty of up to five years in prison and $250,000 in fines. Rosen's attorney, Paul Mark Sandler, declined comment.
To build its case, the government enlisted Raymond Reggie, a prominent political consultant whose sister is married to Sen. Kennedy. Prosecutors have not named Reggie, but two sources familiar with the case said he is the "cooperating witness" identified in court documents.
Reggie secretly recorded his September 2002 conversation with his friend Rosen at a Chicago restaurant. Prosecutors said in court that Rosen made incriminating statements they will introduce at trial. Reggie pleaded guilty last month in Louisiana to unrelated bank fraud charges.
AP
Liberal bias mostly removed with ...
Will the FEC charge Hillary? Peter Paul says he has proof that she knew about the fraud. Prison would be a better place for her than back on Pennsylvania Avenue. |
