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Politics : Clinton's Scandals: Is this corruption the worst ever? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Who, me? who wrote (8728)	10/31/1998 5:27:00 PM
From: Les H	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 13994

Dirty DNC Money By Kelly Patricia O'Meara and Jennifer G. Hickey The cooperation of three Teamster felons with federal investigators finally may expose intricacies of Clinton/DNC campaign fund-raising. Look for big trouble. hroughout 1997 and most of 1998, Capitol Hill has suffered a continuing series of rhetorical fistfights between Republicans and Democrats about campaign finance. Republicans slug away at stonewalling by the Democratic National Committee, or DNC, and the Clinton White House, which they claim have obstructed their fund-raising investigations. Democrats and White House operatives counterpunch with allegations that the Republican congressional majority is engaged in unjustified and purely partisan attacks. Neither combatant seems aware of the faint rumble of yet another fund-raising scandal already at ringside. . . . . Overlooked in the various probes of the DNC and the Clinton/Gore campaign are records at the Federal Election Commission, or FEC, that show a pattern of behavior among confessed felons associated with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters union that may relate to other money scams already under investigation by the Department of Justice. . . . . The first hint of a connection followed confessions to U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White of the Southern District of New York by three consultants to Ron Carey's 1996 campaign for Teamster president. Carey's campaign manager Jere Nash, telemarketer Michael Ansara and campaign consultant Martin Davis all pleaded guilty this year to felonies, including embezzlement, conspiracy and mail fraud. Insight has learned that under court order they recently paid nearly $1 million into a restitution fund to help defray the cost of the new Teamsters election made necessary by the corrupt Carey campaign they helped to run. . . . . Based on dozens of interviews and a painstaking search of election documents during many months, Insight has developed a snapshot of this arcane world of campaign financing and, in turn, new clues concerning the fund-raising scandal now under scrutiny by committees of Congress, U.S. attorneys in several jurisdictions, the Justice Department and federal grand juries. . . . . The story of the three Teamsters consultants, two of them partners, is one of political idealism, corruption and greed. It is a scenario in which otherwise law-abiding citizens were pushed into criminal enterprises that led to nullification of Carey's election to the top Teamsters job. It also is a story of dark links between one of the country's most powerful labor unions and the inner circles of the DNC and the 1996 Clinton/Gore campaign. . . . . The first glimpse into the tangled webs of Teamster-associated deceit now spinning around the various 1996 fund-raising debacles came as a result of the Nov. 17, 1997, decision to disqualify Carey as a candidate in new court-ordered union elections. Court-appointed election officer Kenneth Conboy detailed six illegal-money schemes conceived by Nash, Davis and Ansara that were designed to funnel money back to the Carey campaign. . . . . In total, these six schemes improperly raised $538,100 for the Carey campaign. But questions remain. Were the DNC and the Teamsters fund-raising scandals related in ways yet unreported? Equally important, were they unique or part of a broad pattern involving still others? . . . . According to federal law-enforcement sources who spoke to Insight on the condition of anonymity, symbiotic schemes such as those engineered by Nash, Ansara and Davis may have been created throughout the 1996 presidential campaign illegally to assist both the Democratic Party and the Carey campaign. . . . . Although White has not directly linked the illegal schemes of Nash, Ansara and Davis to the larger Clinton/Gore fund-raising scandals -- including foreign money and the possible compromise of national security -- she is continuing to investigate. . . . . Clues abound, and the closeness of the felonious Teamsters consultants and the DNC continues. While awaiting sentencing, Ansara still is raising money for the DNC and providing high-priced advice. According to FEC records his company, the Share Group, received approximately $300,000 from the DNC for consulting services during a three-month period ending Sept. 30, 1998. . . . . Asked why the DNC continues to conduct business with Ansara, DNC spokesman Rick Hess says, "We still use the firm because they do good work." Moreover, Hess says of Ansara's involvement in the day-to-day business of the Share Group, "The person [Ansara] who was involved in the Teamsters scandal has no control of the company." But sources familiar with the Share Group tell Insight that Ansara still actively is engaged in the day-to-day operations of the company and this year alone has received about $1 million from the DNC. During the last election cycle, between September 1995 and January 1996, records show $1 million in such consulting fees paid to the Share Group by the DNC. . . . . Also, FEC records and documents reveal a cozy relationship between the Share Group and a firm called Mass Envelope Plus, which is owned by Steven Grossman, the general chairman of the DNC. Although FEC records show how much money the Share Group has been paid by the DNC, the public documents do not reflect details of third-party expenditures, such as those made by the Share Group to Grossman's Mass Envelope Plus. Grossman did not respond to Insight's calls seeking details. Beyond Ansara's business dealings, FEC records for the 1996 election cycle also show that the DNC paid about $150,000 to the November Group, a consulting firm co-owned by Davis, another of the confessed felons in the Teamsters scandal, and Hal Malchow, a prominent Democrat. While Malchow's business with Davis reportedly ended with the December 1997 bankruptcy of the November Group, Malchow continues to conduct business with Ansara's Share Group. He has served on the board of the Share Group in the past, but Malchow says he is "unsure" whether he currently serves on that board. . . . . Further checking of public records shows other curious relationships. For example, in addition to that $150,000 paid to the November Group by the DNC during the 1996 election cycle, the FEC records disclose several payments totaling $10,000 from the Clinton/Gore reelection committee. It's not the amount that raises questions, but rather how the payments were recorded. . . . . FEC documents show that Malchow and Davis' November Group listed its address as Suite 650, 1400 Eye Street N.W., Washington, DC -- the same address listed by three other little-known Democratic consulting firms: Malchow Adams and Hussey, Direct Mail Investors and Predicted Lists. In all, these three companies took in nearly $11 million from the DNC and $2 million from Clinton/Gore during the '96 election cycle. Corporate records show Malchow is listed as an officer of Malchow Adams and Hussey, and he discloses to Insight that he benefits financially from Direct Mail and Predicted Lists. A detailed examination of the FEC records involving Malchow's bankrupt November Group also showed an anomaly involving both the DNC and the Clinton/Gore reelection committee and a wholly different consulting firm called the November 5 Group. . . . . This latter firm, which handled most of the Clinton/Gore '96 media buys and advertisements, is owned by Bob Squier, another prominent Democrat and director of the November 5 Group. Although Insight knows of no direct link between Nash, Ansara, Davis and Squier other than Democratic politics, records for the '96 election have raised questions at the FEC concerning what has been dubbed an "accounting error." . . . . Specifically, the DNC and Clinton/ Gore '96 paid nearly $58 million to Squier, Knapp, Ochs and the November 5 Group for media buys between June 1995 and October 1996, according to FEC records. These public documents also show that between July and August 1996, more than $8 million of the $58 million was sent to the November 5 Group by Clinton/Gore '96 and the DNC. What's perplexing is that several entries list the November 5 Group at 1400 Eye Street N.W., Washington, DC, which happens to be the address for Malchow's supposedly unrelated November Group. The correct address for Squier's November 5 Group is 511 2nd Street N.E. . . . . The DNC entries detail payments intended for Squier's November 5 Group recorded as paid to the address of Malchow's November Group. Asked about this, Malchow, co-owner of the November Group, tells Insight he is unaware of any such Clinton/Gore and DNC accounting error. He confirms he received the correct amounts for work his firm had performed. "I can guarantee you we [the November Group] didn't do $9 million. It was more like $9,000. I would remember if it were $9 million," Malchow says. . . . . Insight called the DNC and the Clinton/Gore '96 campaign to determine why monies for Squier's November 5 Group were recorded as sent to the wrong address for several months in a row. . . . . Bob Newman, spokesman for the Clinton/Gore reelection committee, and Rick Hess, spokesman for the DNC, both say that the nearly $9 million paid to Squier's November 5 Group "was sent by wire" and, therefore, "what the FEC records show makes no difference." Both Newman and Hess used the same phrase to speculate that the misaddressed payments were "accounting errors." Asked whether the DNC has amended its filings with the FEC concerning the November Group and November 5 Group, Hess says: "We haven't filed an amended report. If the FEC has any questions they can raise them with us. It's an insubstantial mistake." . . . . While the official DNC and Clinton/ Gore '96 statements seek to explain away the erroneous reporting, at least one current federal investigator is confounded as to how the DNC and the Clinton/Gore reelection committee could manage to send several million dollars to both the correct and incorrect addresses of unrelated but similarly named companies. . . . . While the alleged "accounting errors" committed by the DNC and Clinton/Gore are not evidence of wrongdoing, they prompt scrutiny, say congressional investigators. For instance, did the DNC and Clinton/Gore use the same paymasters or the same accounting group, or even the same official to file the formal FEC filings? This would be odd in that these two groups have no direct business connection. . . . . The confusion over such payments led to further checks of public records to determine whether other unusual payments were recorded to these companies during the '96 election. The search uncovered a surprising number of payments not only to Ansara and Davis' companies but also to Squier's media firm. . . . . For example, during the '96 election, Squier was paid at least $58 million by the DNC and Clinton/Gore '96 to produce and place television advertising for the reelection campaign, according to FEC records. In addition to the $58 million, Squier was paid an additional $34 million to produce and place issue ads, bringing his business from Clinton/Gore and the DNC to $92 million. It is the $34 million for the alleged issue ads that has drawn the attention of federal prosecutors. Of particular interest is what Clinton's role may have been in crafting those DNC issue ads. While candidates are to have no role in the editing, producing and/or writing of issue ads paid for by the DNC with so-called "soft money," some have alleged that Clinton was orchestrating the issue-ad campaign, which would make it illegal. . . . . In his book Behind the Oval Office, Clinton campaign intimate Dick Morris writes, "The president became the day-to-day operational director of our TV ad campaign. He was as involved as any of his media consultants were. The ads became not the slick creations of admen, but the work of the president himself. Every line of every ad came under his informed, critical and often meddlesome gaze. Every ad was his ad." . . . . This allegation is very important. According to FEC regulations, issue-advocacy advertisements are communications designed to promote a set of ideas or public policies. They may not directly advocate the election or defeat of a federal candidate. Yet an example of one of those DNC-sponsored noncandidate ads contains the following phrase: "The president says give every child a chance for college with a tax cut that gives $1,500 a year for two years -- making most community colleges free, all colleges more affordable ... and for adults, a chance to learn, find a better job. The president's tuition tax-cut plan." . . . . Even though there's a fine line between directly and indirectly advocating reelection of the Clinton/Gore ticket and issue advocacy, the FEC expressed the view in a preliminary audit that Clinton may have crossed that line into "electioneering," say recent press reports. . . . . It was the FEC preliminary audit that served as the basis for the Sept. 8 decision by Attorney General Janet Reno to launch a 90-day investigation into whether an independent counsel should be appointed to investigate presidential fund-raising. The primary focus of the Justice Department's probe is whether Clinton illegally benefited from and/or controlled Democratic issue ads during the 1996 election. . . . . Also raising concern about the president's alleged participation in the $34 million DNC issue-ad campaign are documents provided to the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee by Harold Ickes, the president's former deputy chief of staff, which outlined White House control over the DNC. "It was agreed that all matters dealing with allocation and expenditure of monies involving the DNC are subject to the prior approval of the White House," say the Ickes documents. . . . . Reno's decision to launch a preliminary investigation into the 1996 DNC issue ads brings the total number of such probes under way at the Justice Department to three. The attorney general also is investigating charges that Vice President Al Gore lied to federal investigators about fund-raising phone calls he made from the White House complex and possible perjury charges against former Clinton adviser Ickes stemming from the aide's 1997 testimony before the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee. . . . . As the Justice Department decides whether to appoint three new independent counsels, up in New York U.S. Attorney White is continuing her probe of the Teamsters scandal. She also is preparing for the impending sentencing of Nash, Ansara and Davis. . . . . If Insight sources are correct, the probe White is conducting may bump into the much larger Democratic fund-raising scandals already the focus of so much attention. Undoubtedly the reported cooperation of Nash, Ansara and Davis will be a key to doors at the Teamsters and their ties to the DNC, the Clinton/Gore reelection campaign and, more importantly, issue-advocacy groups that play significant roles in the nation's electoral process. . . . . Congress thus far has paid little attention to connecting possible illegal schemes at the Teamsters that may overlap with schemes involving the DNC and/or the Clinton-Gore reelection committee, but according to bipartisan sources on Capitol Hill that soon may change. Catalysts for such change will be Reno's decisions, White's probe and coordination between the lead committees in the House now investigating allegations of wrongdoing. insightmag.com