Posted on 09/20/2002 10:14:08 PM PDT by TLBSHOW
Democrats Are Fined $243,000 for Fund-Raising Violations
WASHINGTON, Sept. 20 — The Democratic National Committee has agreed to pay civil fines and turn over to the Treasury a total of $243,000 to settle accusations that it took more than $1 million in illegal foreign contributions in 1995 and 1996, according to Federal Election Commission records released today.
The documents also state that the election commission's general counsel found in 1999 that there was "reason to believe" that the People's Republic of China "knowingly and willfully" violated federal election law. But the heavily redacted documents also state that the commission voted unanimously to "take no action at this time" on the general counsel's recommendation.
The documents detail efforts by the Democratic Party and the Clinton-Gore campaign to build their war chest with help from wealthy Asian donors before the 1996 election. In all, the election commission disclosed $719,500 in fines today.
The largest fine, $120,000, was paid by the International Buddhist Progress Society, which operates the Hsi Lai Temple in California, the site of an April 1996 luncheon attended by Vice President Al Gore. The national committee paid a $115,000 fine and agreed to turn over to the Treasury $128,000 it had received in illegal contributions. The Clinton/Gore '96 Primary Committee paid a $2,000 fine, the records also show.
John Huang and Yah Lin Trie, two Democratic fund-raisers who pleaded guilty to violating federal laws, agreed to pay fines respectively of $95,000 and $7,000.
The commission also found "probable cause" to believe that Hogan & Hartson, a Washington law firm, violated election laws in the handling of $50,000 in donations that a client of the firm made to the national committee in summer 1996. Two officials at the firm who were involved in the handling of the donations have agreed to pay a total of $67,500.
Representatives of the national committee and for former President Bill Clinton declined to comment. Officials at Hogan & Hartson did not reply to a phone message.
After the fund-raising scandal broke in late 1996, the Democratic Party returned $3 million in questionable or improper contributions, much of it from money donated or solicited by Mr. Huang or Mr. Trie.
Kent Cooper, a former election commission official who is now at PoliticalMoneyLine.com, which tracks money in politics, said some fines disclosed today appear surprisingly low. The election commission, he said, limited the fines assessed to some people based on their claims that they could not afford to pay more. "Some people will look at this and say the F.E.C. should have fined them more," Mr. Cooper said.
He noted, for example, that the election commission waived fines against a company called Global Resource Management based on the assertions by the company's president about its "present financial circumstances," the documents show.
The election commission found that the company, which was formed in Ohio in 1996 to resolve a "construction-related contractual matter" in Saudi Arabia, decided to make a $100,000 contribution to a national committee fund-raiser in New York on Aug. 18, 1996. The event was also billed as a 50th birthday celebration for Mr. Clinton. The company's officers made the contribution in order to meet with Ray Mabus, the former Mississippi governor and ambassador to Saudi Arabia, who helped plan the event, the election commission found.
But the money used to make the contribution was provided by Sheik Mohammed Oboud Al-Amoudi, a Saudi citizen, who wired $150,000 to the company. The company used this money for the donation "even though its officers had been informed that foreign national contributions are illegal," the election commission found.
Mr. Cooper said the documents provided further evidence of the tactics Democratic operatives used to raise money before the 1996 elections.
"Here, we're dealing with wire transfers and shuffling money to accounts," he said. "What is going on here is warning bells are going off all over the place."
Fund-Raiser's Trial Features Gore Video (February 16, 2000) $
THE 2000 CAMPAIGN: SOFT MONEY; CLINTON IS RAISING MILLIONS TO PUSH EARLY 'ISSUE ADS' (February 10, 2000) $
RENO ANNOUNCES AN INITIAL INQUIRY INTO CLINTON ADS (September 9, 1998) $
Interior Secretary Denies Politics Had Role in Dispute Over Casino (October 31, 1997) $
OK, I found it:
August 20, 2001
WASHINGTON – The Federal Election Commission announced today the appointment of Lawrence H. Norton, an official with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, as the FEC’s new General Counsel.
Since 1996, Norton has been Associate Director in the CFTC’s Division of Enforcement, where he supervises investigations of financial fraud and trading violations, and is director of the litigation team. He also develops and implements policy and special initiatives, advises the CFTC Commissioners and division heads on regulatory and legal issues, is a standing member of multi-agency task forces and is an adjunct instructor with the National Institute of Trial Advocacy.
He has been an Assistant Director at the Federal Trade Commission, where he supervised consumer protection investigations and litigation. Before joining the federal government, Norton was an Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Litigation Division of the Maryland Attorney General’s Office. He graduated Order of the Coif from the University of Maryland School of Law and was Assistant Editor of the Maryland Law Review.
Norton replaces former General Counsel Lawrence M. Noble, who resigned in January. At the FEC, Norton will be in charge of 118 government employees composing the divisions of enforcement, litigation, policy, and public financing-ethics-special projects.
FEC Chairman Danny L. McDonald commented, "The six commissioners of the FEC conducted a careful and thoughtful search over some eight months, interviewing many top-flight candidates for the General Counsel position before we reached unanimous consensus about Larry Norton. He has impressive credentials and a stellar reputation and I’m very pleased that he has accepted our offer to come aboard."
Vice Chairman David M. Mason noted, "Norton has a perfect blend of enforcement, litigation and policy experience to bring to the General Counsel’s position at the FEC, but it is his outstanding performance as a government manager that made the Commission enthusiastic in selecting him for this critical job."
Norton will report for duty at the FEC in mid-September, a date-certain still to be established.
"Democrats in 1996 fund-raising scandals face record fines by FEC
Friday, September 20, 2002
(09-20) 21:31 PDT WASHINGTON (AP) --
The Federal Election Commission has imposed a record $719,000 in fines against Democrats involved in the party's 1996 fund-raising scandals, according to a published report.
FEC documents described how Democratic fund-raisers demanded illegal campaign contributions from foreign nationals in China and other countries in exchange for meetings with then-President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore.
Among those who were penalized by the FEC were: The Democratic National Committee, $115,000; the Clinton-Gore campaign, $2,000; and the Buddhist Progressive Society, $120,000, the Washington Post reported in Saturday's editions.
More than 20 people and corporations acting as conduits for the illegal contributions also were fined, the newspaper said, citing FEC documents.
They've all agreed to pay, according to the records.
The total amount of fines would have been much higher except some of the companies have shut down and others were dummy operations used as conduits for money from Canada, China, Venezuela and other countries, the newspaper said.
The FEC dropped the cases involving another $3 million in illegal campaign contributions to the Democratic National Committee because the respondents either "are out of the country and beyond our reach, or (are) corporations that are defunct," according to FEC papers cited by the Post."
against all enemies foreign and domestic
Okay, okay, How about "Highlighted"?
No? Hmmmmmmmmmmmm............How about Dan Rather reading this story to his Producer BEFORE the show?
Are you kidding?
AG Ashcroft disbanded the campaign finance task force. He and this administration have shown absolutely no interest in justice.
And our spineless AG and even I'm sad to say our President should never have let these guys get away with this.....
You are quite correct. But we are "movin' on"...no need to let matters of national security get in the way of the new tone.
Ashcroft is a sanctimonious fraud and a dangerous man.
For example there is this line from the compost:
A Democratic finance vice chair, for example, said organizers would have to contribute $ 100,000 in return for Gore's appearance at a Buddhist temple in Los Angeles.
This is hugely illegal. Why no name? Why not call it what it is, bribery, graft...
Only two major papers have done an article on this, the NY Times and ComPost.
Compost reports as well wondeful gems of logic on the FEC's part such as these:
...fines would have been significantly higher except that some of the corporations have folded and others were dummy operations, with no assets, set up as conduits for money from China, Venezuela, Canada and other countries.
...the FEC said it decided to drop cases against contributors of more than $ 3 million in illegal DNC contributions because the respondents either are "out of the country and beyond our reach, or corporations that are defunct."
In other words set up fake comapnies for your Demeocrat Money Laundering schemes and you get a pass.
Thanks for your comment.
Which part bothers you more...'sactimonious fraud' or 'dangerous man'?
The demorats understand what is the key to power is winning, playing by the rules is secondary.
These fines are "the cost of doing business."
How come? The fines are exacted AFTER the prize has been won. That is too say, the demorats conduct the forbidden activity to raise cash, win the election, and establish their person in whatever position of power they were seeking - let's say, the Presidency.
Along comes the fine. So what? The election is not reversed, the person is still in whatever position implementing their leftist, socialist policies. Which is what they are after.
In addition - the fines levied in this instance are chump change. Even if it was $1 million - one has to remember over $100 million is routinely raised for Presidential campaigns, and if you get fined 1% - heck, you roll it into the fund raising activities (there's that "cost of doing business thing again).
None of this is beyond symbollic until the fines begin to match the penalty. Redefine the penalty - the fine should be the total amount raised by the party for a given race PLUS a percentage of all soft money raised in the cycle in question using the following formula:
House of Representatives = 1 unit
Senate = number of units equal to number of represenatives in a given state
Presidency = equal to the total number of units nationwide for House and Senate.
[Analogous formulas could be applied at the state level.] That would be a real whammy, and might actually get some attention. It would have a long-term dibilatory effect and cause doners to question the wisdom of short-term office garnership versus long-term "poverty" (fund raising would have to go to paying off fines, rather than actually being applied to campaigns).
Just my thought.
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