ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, March 4, 1997 TAG: 9703040077
SECTION: NATL/INTL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
LAWMAKERS ARE QUICKLY returning some contributions before investigating fundraising for the White House.
Members of Congress, including some who will investigate the fund-raising controversy, have benefited from some of the same donors and practices that have stirred trouble for the White House.
The top Republican and Democrat on the Senate committee that is investigating the controversy returned contributions in the past few days after disclosures they got money from donors they may have to question.
A third member of the committee, Assistant Majority Leader Don Nickles, R-Okla., found himself facing questions Monday about a solicitation he sent out in 1990 as head of the GOP's Senate fund-raising effort.
That letter set a $10,000 price tag for donors to get private meetings at the Capitol and White House.
Also, Sen. Edward Kennedy got a handful of donations - $8,000 in all - in September 1994 from members of the same California Buddhist temple that ensnared Vice President Al Gore in controversy.
Kennedy's office announced Monday it, too, was returning the money to donors from the Hsi Lai temple. ``In light of the DNC's decision to return the contributions'' from the Buddhist temple, ``we have done so as well,'' a spokesman said.
The size of the donations to lawmakers and their campaign organizations are trivial compared to the six-figure checks the same donors gave to the Democratic National Committee. But the contributions could bolster arguments that congressional - as well as presidential - fund raising should be part of the probe.
Senate Democrats have demanded a broad investigation that ranges beyond their party's techniques, which included coffees with the president and overnight stays in the White House.
Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., chairman of the Governmental Affairs Committee, has expressed a willingness to look at both parties, but his probe may be stymied by Democratic opposition to the $6.5 million budget he is seeking for the probe.
Thompson last week returned $3,000 from a Kansas City businessman and his family. The businessman, Farhad Azima, was linked to the Iran-Contra affair, and his donations to the Democratic National Committee recently were returned.
``They are perfectly legal contributions,'' said Paul Clark, a spokesman for the committee. He said Thompson wanted to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest.
Sen. John Glenn of Ohio, the ranking Democrat on the committee, also returned old contributions from a man who may have to testify.
Arkansas lawyer Mark Grobmyer - who contributed $1,000 in 1994 - was a business consultant to James Riady, executive of the Indonesian-based Lippo group.
Lippo officials were the source of huge donations to the Democratic Party, and the beneficiaries of such things as presidential meetings and government appointments.
In other developments Monday:
nDemocrats on the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee have proposed issuing subpoenas for records of 11 tax-exempt groups traditionally allied with the Republicans, Senate sources said. Two of the groups, the Christian Coalition and the Americans for Tax Reform have received money from the Republican Party, the sources said.
nSenate Majority Leader Trent Lott told reporters he had not yet made a decision to seek a vote this week on funding for the investigation. He said he hoped the issue could be resolved ``without a big fuss or a filibuster.''
Lott also said he had been told Democratic Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., was circulating a letter proposing a joint House-Senate committee, and he added ``we ought to take a look at it.'' Lott quickly said he wasn't endorsing the idea, however.
Last week, Republicans expressed dismay at revelations that President Clinton personally approved using White House events, including overnight stays and coffees, to encourage Democratic donors to give more. But on Monday one of their own leaders was facing similar questions.
Although he would not comment specifically on Nickles' fund-raising letter, Mike Russell, spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee that Nickles used to head, insisted the GOP's tactics could not be compared with the Democrats'.
``We are not talking about an occasional reception or legitimate fund raising that both parties have been engaged in for years,'' Russell said.
A fourth member of Thompson's committee, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., has decided not to return old contributions from two Lippo figures who have emerged as key players in the controversy - John Huang and Riady.
Huang held a top Commerce Department job before leaving last year to become the Democratic Party's chief fund-raiser in the Asian American community. More than $1 million he raised is being returned by the party because of questions about its origins.
Federal Election Commission records show that Huang and his wife, Jane, also made individual donations of $1,000 or less in the past two years to: Sen. Charles Robb, D-Va.; Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. of Illinois; Rep. Gary Ackerman of New York; Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun of Illinois; Sen. Robert Torricelli of New Jersey and Rep. Joseph Kennedy II of Massachusetts.
LENGTH: Medium: 98 linesby CNB