Former Clinton Fund-Raiser Denies Blame for False Filings

LOS ANGELES, May 24 -Hillary Rodham Clinton's former chief fund-raiser took the stand in his own defense here on Tuesday, saying that he never intended to understate the costs of a Hollywood concert and dinner during her 2000 Senate race.

Indeed, the fund-raiser, David F. Rosen, 38, described himself as a diligent foot soldier in the campaign who deferred to his superiors and was himself misled about the event's expenses by its organizers. "These costs were hidden from me," he said. "These costs were concealed for whatever reason."

But during cross-examination, Peter R. Zeidenberg, a prosecutor, sought to portray Mr. Rosen as a slick former door-to-door salesman who could use his skills to sell "soap powder or a politician." The implication appeared to be that Mr. Rosen, who spoke confidently and eagerly in a deep voice, often talking directly to the jurors, was selling himself.

Mr. Rosen is accused of deliberately causing false filings to be made to the Federal Election Commission. Judge A. Howard Matz dismissed one of the three remaining counts against him this morning, leaving him facing two counts that could each bring him five years in prison if he is convicted.

The case has revived criticism of the aggressive and by some accounts unsavory fund-raising techniques used by Mrs. Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton.

But it has been complicated by the fact that many of those involved in the event have since become the subjects of unrelated criminal investigations, including two Clinton associates who testified against Mr. Rosen, and two main organizers of the Hollywood event.

Notably absent from the courthouse have been those two organizers, Peter F. Paul and Aaron Tonken, both of whom worked at Stan Lee Media, a now-defunct Internet concern. Mr. Tonken is serving 63 months in prison for...

David Rosen
President and CEO
Competence Group Inc.
AGE: 35

The 10 summers David Rosen spent ringing doorbells to sell books turned out to be good preparation for raising tens of millions of dollars for the Gore-Lieberman ticket, Hillary Clinton's Senate race and other prominent Democratic candidates.

At Southwestern Co., a Nashville, Tenn.-based direct sales firm that has trained thousands of college students during its 132-year history, Mr. Rosen got to the point where he made sales at five of every six households he called on. He still holds the record for first-year sales, according to Dan Moore, Southwestern's marketing vice-president. The firm's alumni include two current governors, a senator and former Whitewater independent counsel Kenneth Starr.

"He's the most dedicated, hard-working, organized person I've met in a long time," say Chicago lawyer Myron "Mike" Cherry, a veteran Democratic fund-raiser and general counsel for the gubernatorial campaign of Rep. Rod Blagojevich, D-Chicago, for which Mr. Rosen has helped raise about $1 million outside Illinois. "And he's got a Rolodex that would rival (former President) Clinton's," Mr. Cherry says.

What sets Mr. Rosen and his Chicago-based company, Competence Group Inc., apart is his application of business discipline, training and sales techniques to the art of fund raising.

"I can't talk someone into giving money," says Mr. Rosen. "You just have to call a tremendous amount of people and find those who are interested."

He caught the political bug while taking a political science course taught by David Wilhelm, a longtime Chicago-based political consultant who chairs the Blagojevich campaign.

Mr. Rosen credits his success to Southwestern's rigorous training.

"You can use it whether you're selling airplanes, insurance or politicians," he says.

PAUL MERRION

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