White House OKs GOP Fund-Raising Bid
Tue May 14, 3:52 PM ETBy SHARON THEIMER, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - The White House does not object to the Republican Party's making money from a photo of President Bush (news - web sites) placing a call amid the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, an administration spokesman said Tuesday. Democrats branded the GOP tactic "grotesque."
"The party committees are free if they decide to use pictures of the president doing his job for the American people," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer (news - web sites) said. The matter arose on a day when Bush was headlining a fund-raiser that the GOP expected would haul in a record $30 million.
Photos
AP PhotoThe photo of Bush calling Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) from Air Force One just hours after the terror attacks is part of a three-picture set the National Republican Senatorial Committee and its House counterpart promise to anyone who donates $150 or more to attend their joint fund-raising dinner next month.
A GOP mailing hailed the pictures as showing "the gritty determination of our new president at his inauguration; a telephone call from Air Force One to Vice President Cheney the afternoon of Sept. 11, 2001; and President Bush's historic State of the Union speech before a joint session of Congress that united a nation and a world."
Bush has campaigned aggressively this year to raise money for GOP candidates in an effort to win back the Senate for Republicans, retain control of the House and lay the groundwork for his own re-election. Democrats criticized Bush political adviser Karl Rove in January for telling the Republican National Committee (news - web sites) that Republicans could campaign this year on their efforts to fight terrorism.
Fleischer said it was up to the GOP "to decide if they want to make those pictures available to their contributors," and said the White House did not stand in the party's way.
Democratic National Committee (news - web sites) Chairman Terry McAuliffe said it was "nothing short of grotesque" to attempt to raise money off the terrorist attacks.
"We know it's the Republicans' strategy to use the war for political gain, but I would hope that even the most cynical partisan operative would have cowered at the notion of exploiting the Sept. 11 tragedy in this way," McAuliffe said.
In a fund-raising letter, Cheney tells prospective donors the dinner has special meaning this year.
"It is an opportunity to honor President Bush for his courageous leadership during this historic time and to thank you for making that leadership possible through your steadfast support of President Bush and his agenda," Cheney wrote.
A National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman defended the inclusion of a Sept. 11 photo in the donor package.
"These pictures are of historic moments from the president's first year and are living testimony of his courage under fire, and leadership," the NRCC's Carl Forti said. "It is frankly offensive that anyone would suggest otherwise."
An official White House photographer — a government employee — took the picture of Bush on Air Force One, Fleischer said. The White House released it to the news media. The Reuters news agency took the other two images, and all three were then bought by photo service Corbis.com, which sold them to the party.
Larry Noble, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics, a campaign watchdog group, said use of a Sept. 11 photo and other pictures of Bush on the job, "though not as expensive," reminded him of then-Democratic President Clinton (news - web sites)'s use of overnight stays in the White House Lincoln Bedroom and other trappings of his office to reward donors.
"They really came in saying they were going to clean up fund raising and politics and not be involved in the same kind of behavior the Clinton administration was involved in," Noble said of the Bush White House. "I think we saw from the first days in office they were doing all the same things."
Cheney drew criticism from campaign watchdog groups a year ago for holding a reception for about 400 top Republican donors at the vice presidential mansion on the eve of the RNC gala.
The fund-raising solicitation for the June 19 Republican congressional dinner came as the RNC anticipated raising about $30 million at its black-tie presidential gala Tuesday night at the Washington Convention Center. That amount would shatter the previous single-night record, $26.5 million, set in 2000 by Clinton and then-Vice President Al Gore (news - web sites).
Bush and Cheney helped raise $24 million at the RNC's black-tie gala last year.
Such fund-raising records would be difficult to break if a new law prohibiting unlimited campaign contributions from companies, unions and others to national party committees — soft money — survives numerous legal challenges and takes effect after this fall's election.
The RNC contends in a lawsuit that the soft-money ban unconstitutionally interferes with states' rights and the party's ability to take part in the political process. Party committees use soft money for overhead and party-building activities around the country such as get-out-the-vote drives.
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RNC: http://www.rnc.org/
DNC: http://www.dnc.org/
White House: http://www.whitehouse.gov/president/september11/01.html
