Peter F. Paul writes Senator Hillary Clinton

Peter F. Paul writes Senator Hillary Clinton
Posted by Senior Editor on 2005/2/26 1:17:22

It is with profound regret and extreme disappointment that I am forced to write this letter to you reminding you of your responsibility as a Federal elected official to comply with the laws and regulations of the United States that you have sworn to defend and protect, and as a citizen, the same laws and regulations that govern your individual conduct.

As you are personally aware, in May, 2000, I was induced by your National Campaign Finance Director, David Rosen, your friend Jim Levin and your volunteer Hollywood talent coordinator and fundraiser, Aaron Tonken, to become the largest individual contributor to your Senatorial campaign in an effort to begin building a closer relationship with your husband in anticipation of his departure from public service to the private sector.

As you recall, I hosted a private fundraising luncheon for you at Spago, and a fund raising tea at Mrs. Gershman's Beverly Hills Estate on June 9, 2000, and paid certain expenses in connection with that event in addition to making a commitment to contribute $150,000 in stock to your campaign. I subsequently committed to produce and underwrite the largest fundraiser of your campaign, which was also a Hollywood farewell tribute to the President, on August 12, 2000, at the Brentwood estate of our mutual friend Ken Roberts. Rather than make an additional contribution to your campaign, I was induced to underwrite all the expenses of the reception, concert and private dinner so that David Rosen could galvanize your faltering fundraising momentum and generate much needed 'hard money' contributions net of any and all expenses.

In good faith I fulfilled that commitment, even as the expenses skyrocketed from a projected $500,000 to well over $2 million!

No expense was spared to produce a poignant and historic evening when the luminaries of the entertainment industry shared their love and appreciation for the contributions made by the President and yourself during the previous eight years of the Clinton Administration. As you requested, I hired your friend Gary Smith to produce the concert part of the event, which he did superbly through his lend out company Black Ink Productions.

Although Gary's unconscionable fee of $850,000 for the concert was reduced at my request by $50,000 due to your personal intervention, you should know that Gary subsequently tacked on another $75,000 for his personal production fee which I was not made aware of until the day before the event. Further, Gary demonstrated the most egregious unprofessionalism in the way he sabotaged my script for Stan Lee's introduction and the activities of his film crews that were charged with documenting the event. To add insult to injury, he fabricated additional expenses that Ken Roberts chastised him for, for which he held hostage the tapes of the event for three months. In addition, $20,000 is unaccounted for as a final withdrawal that is not documented from the segregated event bank account I am attaching a statement for.

I enjoyed your warmth and friendship during this period from June through August, 2000, when you and the President made my wife and I feel like family. Your warm letters and phone calls, your embraces and kisses when we met, the meals and events we shared together, and especially your and Chelsea's heartfelt introduction of my wife to Barbara Streisand, led me to believe that we had succeeded in forging a real family friendship. Unfortunately these feelings were, at best, short lived.

Starting with your campaign spokesmen's 'Judas Strategy', employed when they twice disavowed me, and my contributions to your campaign, to the Washington Post, thereby lying to the people and the media, I witnessed that side of your personality that I had always believed was an invention of your political enemies. I continued with the erroneous assumption that it was only political expediency for your Senate campaign and the national Presidential campaign, that required less than honest candor in acknowledging our relationship because of the sensitivities generated by my anti-Communist misjudgments a quarter century ago. I even believed David Rosen's and Jim Levin's reassurances that after the election we could resume our budding friendship.

Just a few days after the events in Los Angeles I was forced to ignore your campaign's gutless and insulting decision to return the $2,000 check I gave you as part of the June 8, luncheon commitment, and the insensitivity of your statements that you would not accept ANY contribution whatsoever from me. This statement was made only days after you received the largest individual campaign contribution to a single candidate ever recorded in American history! So, a month later when David Rosen begged me to further contribute $55,000 to an abortion rights group that you had committed to based on my commitment relating to the Spago lunch, I ignored my better judgment and the more than $1.5 million I had already contributed on your behalf, so that your word would not be compromised.

Thereafter, from November, 2000, I was preoccupied with the business and market issues that all internet related companies were dealing with, as well as more insidious and nefarious issues relating to actions taken by company management and others intent on ruining me and the company I founded. When your promised support for the first global broadcast of the Hollywood Christmas Parade we produced did not materialize, and the invitations offered to dinners and gatherings were withdrawn, and after making the final contribution on your behalf at David Rosen's direction in October, the only communication I received from you, the President, or your intermediaries, was an irate e-mail from Jim Levin in November protesting my failure to make a $250,000 payment to the Clinton Library as I had committed to do in August.

Thereafter, the 'dot com' meltdown of the last quarter of 2000, resulted in my company, Stan Lee Media, along with more than 230 others, going into bankruptcy and the usual fingerpointing between management and others regarding whose fault it was. In my case, because of the Washington Post articles about my Cuban and cocaine convictions from the late 1970's, I became a vulnerable scapegoat by all those wishing to avoid responsibility for their willful misconduct.

Thus, in late February, after I had made numerous calls for several months to David Rosen about how you were going to report my contributions to the FEC to ensure their legality, I was shocked to discover through internet access to your campaign filings, that all my contributions to you and your campaign were not reported, that the only report, relating to the Hollywood Gala, was false as to the identity of the donor and the amount donated, and that you had thereby made me a co-conspirator with you and others in violating various Federal statutes and regulations.

This was the fatal blow to any vestiges of friendship and respect that I may have retained towards you and the President, and it is this final betrayal that has precipitated my new adversarial posture towards you both, and your co-conspirators. I am now required by my conscience and sense of fair play to demand that you abide by the laws you swore to defend and uphold, which includes the requirement set out in Title 11 of the Code of Federal Regulations that you return all 'illegal contributions within 30 days of determining the illegality.'

The accounting provided in the attached copy of my Federal Election Commission complaint shall also serve as my notice to you and your Senate Campaign Committee, of the amount of the direct, in-kind contribution I made to you and your Senate campaign, and no other, and of the statutory requirement you have to return such monies, which statute you have been in violation of since March 1, 2001, thirty days after the amended filing of your FEC report which through their false reports made my contributions illegal de jure.

Rather than perpetuating the signature Clinton ethic of denial, semantical and rhetorical responses to valid requests and questions, and stonewalling, it is time to accept your responsibility as a Federal elected official and do the right thing according to the letter of the law, the position your campaign spokespeople have taken, and natural laws of right and ethical conduct, and return the contributions I made, which you have by your collective actions, made illegal. Please direct your refund to my counsel at Judicial Watch.

Justice works slowly at times if it works at all..... Apparently investigations are still ongoing with this event...

February 24, 2005 Edition > Section: National
Fund-Raiser's Fall Could Put Damper on Clinton's Hopes for 2008

BY JOSH GERSTEIN - Staff Reporter of the Sun
February 24, 2005
TAFT, Calif. - Five years ago, Aaron Tonken was riding high, hobnobbing with Hollywood celebrities and helping to raise millions for the Senate bid of first lady Hillary Clinton.
Tonken's life these days is neither flashy nor frenetic. Since September, he's been in a federal prison north of Los Angeles serving a 63-month sentence for mail and wire fraud.
The abrupt end to Tonken's career as an organizer of charity fund-raisers delivered a financial blow to the foundations he worked with and a public relations headache for the entertainers he accused of profiting from ostensibly charitable events.
Now, however, there are new signs that Tonken's demise could become a thorny political problem for Senator Clinton as she prepares to run for reelection and considers a bid for the presidency in 2008.
Last month, a federal court un sealed an indictment charging the national finance director for Mrs. Clinton's 2000 campaign, David Rosen, with four counts of causing false reports to be filed with the Federal Election Commission. All of those charges stem from a star-studded August 12, 2000, gala fund-raiser that Tonken organized and billed as a "Hollywood Salute" to President Clinton.
In his first in-person interview since he went to prison, Tonken, 39, spoke with The New York Sun last week about the FBI's investigation into his claims that Mrs. Clinton's campaign hid millions of dollars in in-kind donations. During the 90-minute exchange, he also alleged that federal agents targeted the then-first lady in 2000 and sought to establish her role in the alleged fraud.
While Mr. Rosen, the finance chief, pleaded not guilty to the charges, Tonken said the allegations of gross misreporting of fund-raising expenses by Mrs. Clinton's campaign are true, and knowledge of the practice was not limited to Mr. Rosen.
"Everyone around her knew there was a crime in what was going on," Tonken said. He said Mr. Rosen repeatedly instructed him to lose or get rid of invoices for expenses related to the August 2000 fund-raiser, including $9,280 for the finance chief's own three-week stay at a Beverly Hills hotel. A copy of the hotel bill appears in Tonken's recently published book, "King of Cons."
Mr. Rosen's attorney, Paul Mark Sandler, said the indictment of his client was unjustified. "Mr. Rosen is innocent and will not debate or try the case in the media but is eager for a speedy trial where the facts will come out," the lawyer said. He disputed Tonken's claims, but declined to make Mr. Rosen available for an interview.
"It's very tempting to respond specifically...but I believe it's most responsible to resist those temptations and present the case in court," Mr. Sandler said.
In the indictment, the government asserts that expenses for the gala exceeded $1.2 million and that about half of that amount was omitted from reports filed with federal election officials. However, Tonken said the true cost of the fund-raiser, which featured performances by Cher, Paul Anka, and others, was much higher.
"The event cost millions...as much as $2.4 million," Tonken said.
In other court filings, federal investigators have indicated they believe Mrs. Clinton's campaign deliberately understated in-kind donations to maximize its take of so-called hard money. Under the law at the time, "hard money" could be spent directly on the Senate campaign, while "soft money" gifts were restricted primarily to the Democratic Party's get-out-the-vote efforts in New York.
Tonken said he organized five other fund-raisers for the first lady, including a private lunch at Spago's restaurant in Los Angeles, a tea at the home of a Beverly Hills philanthropist, another tea with Cher, and a dinner in Chicago where Olivia Newton-John sang. In each case, Tonken said, he incurred expenses that Mrs. Clinton's staff told him not to report.
At one point during the fall of 2000, he bragged to Mrs. Clinton about all the campaign-related costs he had assumed.
"I did tell Hillary. I got her alone in the van one time and I told her," Tonken said. "I'm telling her, 'I did this for you. I did this for you.' I was insecure and wanted to build myself up. She, I'm sure, doesn't want to calculate it ...but big numbers were given to her."
Tonken said he doubts Mrs. Clinton realized that the lavish spending could lead to false reports being filed with the FEC. "It doesn't register, oh, this, you know, is going to be a crime," he said.
A spokesman for Mrs. Clinton, Philippe Reines, referred all questions about the matter to her private attorney, David Kendall.
"Mr. Rosen worked hard for the campaign and we trust that when all the facts are in, he will be cleared," Mr. Kendall said. "We have cooperated fully with the investigation."
Last fall, prior to the unsealing of Mr. Rosen's indictment, Mr. Kendall told the Associated Press the campaign "properly reported all contributions." He declined to repeat that statement yesterday.
As a convicted felon and admitted con man, Tonken's credibility is obviously suspect. However, the indictment of Mr. Rosen shows that the Justice Department believes at least part of Tonken's tale.
Precisely when and why federal authorities began investigating the fundraising practices of Mrs. Clinton's Senate campaign remains a mystery. However, the first inquiries appeared to follow a gossip item published in the Washington Post three days after the Hollywood gala. The newspaper reported that one of the organizers of the event, Peter Paul, was a thrice-convicted felon. Paul and Mrs. Clinton's campaign initially denied that he had made any financial contribution to her candidacy. However, an aide to Mrs. Clinton said a few days later that the campaign was returning a $2,000 check from Paul.
The FBI came calling soon thereafter, Tonken said. "I started cooperating a month after August 2000. They came to me," he said. He said he told FBI agents that Paul and his company, Stan Lee Media, bankrolled the Hollywood fundraiser and that Mr. Rosen had worked out of the company's offices.
Tonken said the agents took interest in the campaign's handling of in-kind gifts. He said he went on to become a full-fledged informant. "I wore wires. I wore live wires, recorded wires. The agents would be across the street," he said.
According to Tonken, FBI agents eventually set up recording equipment in his home and left instructions to record any phone calls with Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Rosen, or a longtime traveling aide to the former first lady, Kelly Craighead.
Tonken has numerous phone machine messages from Mrs. Clinton thanking him for his work. However, by the time the FBI's equipment was in place, Mrs. Clinton and the others stopped taking his calls. "I couldn't get any of the three of them on the phone," he said.
Tonken said he nevertheless kept Mr. Rosen and Ms. Craighead apprised of the investigation. He said he saw Mr. Rosen soon after the probe started and asked him what he was going to tell the FBI about the extra expenses. According to Tonken, Mr. Rosen said, "I'm going to say, 'I didn't know.' "
Tonken said he regularly informed Ms. Craighead via e-mail about the unrecorded expenses and about the FBI's inquiries. He said she responded that she was passing the information on to two close aides to Mrs. Clinton: her campaign chief of staff, Patricia Solis Doyle, and the White House social secretary, Capricia Marshall.
Tonken said he assumed the women kept the details from Mrs. Clinton. "They would e-mail back and forth and not tell me if they told her," he said.
In an interview, Ms. Solis Doyle denied Tonken's claim that she knew about the unrecorded expenses. "That's not true," she said, declining to discuss the matter further.
Ms. Craighead did not return calls seeking comment for this story. Ms. Marshall said she did not wish to comment.
A Justice Department spokesman said the investigation has concluded and no more indictments are expected.
Tonken eventually had a falling-out with the federal authorities. His attorney said prosecutors deemed him "not credible." However, Tonken said that last November, the top prosecutor on the Rosen case, Noel Hillman, again sought to gain Tonken's cooperation. He said he refused.
A high school dropout from Michigan who stayed for a time in a Los Angeles homeless shelter, Tonken rose to the top of Hollywood's charity scene through flattery and the unsavory technique of using cash and lavish gifts to entice celebrities to appear at galas. That practice eventually proved to be his undoing, because his costs often exceeded the money raised through ticket sales, auctions, and the like. Tonken began wildly shifting funds and borrowing to satisfy angry charities. Some never got paid, and soon investigators from the California attorney general's office were on his tail.
Tonken said he found that his brand of largesse also opened doors in Washington. The first political fund-raiser he attended was in 1998 ,at the Manhattan apartment of Denise Rich, the songwriter and philanthropist who helped persuade Mr. Clinton to pardon her husband, Marc.
Tonken said his ability to deliver donations and performances from Hollywood stars made him fast friends with Democratic Party officials. The fundraisers for Mrs. Clinton also made him popular at the White House.
According to Tonken, in the last five months of 2000, he received 14 invitations to White House events, including the state dinner for the Prime Minister of India.
Tonken claimed that during his visits to the executive mansion that fall he gave gold Rolex watches to several aides to Mr. Clinton. In the interview last week, Tonken alleged that the director of political affairs, Minyon Moore, and the Midwest political director, Orson Porter, were among those who received watches. In his book, Tonken wrote that Mr. Porter never took any gifts. Ms. Moore and Mr. Porter did not return calls seeking comment on Tonken's assertions.
Tonken said he also gave a Hawaiian vacation and a gold Baume & Mercier watch worth $10,000 to Ms. Craighead. He said she kept the watch for a year, returning it only after an FBI inquiry.
Only one member of the Clintons' staff spontaneously rejected a gift, Tonken said. He said Mr. Clinton's personal aide, Douglas Band, immediately returned $5,000 worth of luggage placed in his hotel room during one of the president's trips.
Tonken said he harbors no ill will toward any of the players in the saga, except for federal prosecutors who he said gave him no credit for his information about the Clintons and Hollywood. He called Mr. Rosen and Ms. Craighead "decent." He also said prison has been a "blessing" for him.
As a convicted felon, Tonken won't be voting anytime soon. However, he said will support Mrs. Clinton if she makes a bid for the White House in 2008. "I think she would make a fantastic president," he said.

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