Coffee Attendee Says Huang Made Pitch For Funds
But other witnesses can't recall what Huang specifically said
WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, Sep. 16) -- Former Democratic fund-raiser John Huang made an explicit appeal for money at a White House coffee attended by President Bill Clinton, a business consultant told senators today. But two other witnesses had contrasting accounts.
Karl Jackson, president of the U.S.-Thailand Business Council, told Senate Governmental Affairs Committee investigators that on June 18, 1996, at a White House coffee, Huang -- with Clinton looking on -- said, "'elections cost money -- lots and lots of money -- and I'm sure that every person in this room will want to support the re-election of President Clinton.'"
Jackson said he reacted to Huang's solicitation with "disbelief, tinged with a bit of anger."
"This was simply breaking all the rules," he said.
Fund-raising on federal property is against the law, and Republicans zeroed in on the June 1996 event, arranged by Huang and Thai businesswoman Pauline Kanchanalak, as a possible smoking gun that would support their suspicion that some 102 White House coffees were thinly disguised fund-raisers.
Democrats on the panel stressed that the June event, which included executives of the Thai C.P. Group and several Democratic donors, was the only coffee where an attendee recalled a direct solicitation for money.
Democrats tried to cast doubt on Jackson's account, noting others who attended didn't recall a solicitation from Huang.
"You're the only one with a recollection of such a solicitation," said Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.).
Jackson insisted, "I remember very clearly what Mr. Huang had to say; it woke one up."
But Beth Dozoretz, a Democratic fund-raiser who brought two donors to the coffee, was adamant that Huang made no such pitch.
"He did not say that," Dozoretz said. "And I would remember if he said that because he would have been soliciting people that I brought to the coffee. He would have been soliciting me. And I certainly would have remembered it."
But Jackson, who was invited to the coffee the day before it was held, said he too had reason to remember whether Huang made a solicitation. Having served in several foreign-policy posts during the Reagan and Bush administrations, Jackson said he "would have been more sensitive to it than any other person in that coffee [since] I had worked in the White House for four years and knew you didn't mix partisan fund-raising with foreign policy matters."
A third witness, Clarke Wallace of the Thai-U.S. Business Council, who worked for Jackson, said he recalled Huang had expressed hope that the attendees would "would do everything they could in the next election," but he couldn't recall a specific plug for money.
Wallace said he "didn't remember any reference to 'elections being expensive' but it's quite a long time ago, so I ... can't say I'm a hundred percent certain he did mention money."
Wallace did remember that Jackson mentioned the event to him during a phone conversation several days later. "He was shocked and thought it was inappropriate, what he thought was a solicitation had taken place in the White House," Wallace recounted.
Panel Republicans highlighted documents that showed the Democratic National Committee had expected $400,000 to be raised as a result of the coffee. They pointed out that former co-chairman Don Fowler and Marvin Rosen, the DNC's finance chairman, attended the event.
"It is consistent to conclude this was a money-related event," Chairman Fred Thompson of Tennessee said.
But noting that there were no tickets sold or solicitations before, during or after the event, Democrats defended the coffees as "donor maintenance." And they said Republicans on the committee had provided scant evidence of wrongdoing at any of the 101 other events.
"The committee now finds itself in the position that after several months of preparation, having reviewed attendees at 102 coffees involving approximately 1,100 people over the scope of 18 months of the 1996 presidential campaign, we are left with the question of whether or not one or two people remember that there was a financial solicitation," said Democratic Sen. Robert Torricelli of New Jersey.
The final witness of the day, Rawlein Soberano of the Asian-American Business Roundtable, told senators how in the summer of 1996, Huang asked him to funnel more than $250,000 to the DNC using the roundtable's members as straw donors. Soberano said Huang offered to pay his organization $45,000 as a fee for the deal.
Huang had made the proposal over lunch at Washington's Mayflower Hotel, Soberano told the panel. Under campaign law, it is illegal to contribute money in someone else's name or to obscure the true source of donations.
Following Soberano's testimony, the committee recessed until 10 a.m. Wednesday.
In Other News:
Tuesday Sept. 16, 1997
• Coffee Attendee Says Huang Made Pitch For Funds
• House Fund-Raising Hearings Delayed
• Clinton To Announce His Tobacco Pact Changes Wednesday
• Republicans Focus On IRS Reform
• Clinton Marks CIA's 50th Anniversary
• Interest Groups Spent A Bundle On '96 Campaign Ads
E-mail From Washington:
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• Whitman Spending Millions In Re-election Bid
• Immunity Requests Could Delay House Hearings