
DATE: Wednesday, March 19, 1997             TAG: 9703190759

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY ROBERT LITTLE, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: RICHMOND                          LENGTH:  110 lines

VA. DEMOCRATS TO RETURN $100,000 DONOR HAD BUSINESS DEALING WITH LIBYA

The federal fund-raising fracas that has enveloped Washington and helped thwart President Clinton's nominee to head the CIA trickled down into Virginia politics Tuesday.

The Virginia Democratic Party announced it will return $100,000 in campaign contributions received in 1995 from Roger Tamraz, an oil financier accused of buying high-level White House access.

The announcement, and Republicans' demand for it, linked Virginia's upcoming gubernatorial campaign to the stories of White House innkeeping and international influence peddling dogging the Clinton administration.

The money from Tamraz helped finance the Virginia Democratic Party's successful General Assembly campaign, in which the party held control of the House of Delegates and scored a tie for control of the Virginia Senate. It was the largest contribution any individual made to the party.

State Democratic officials were quick to note that Tamraz does no business in Virginia. He is a Lebanese businessman, now an American citizen, who has tried to build a multibillion-dollar oil pipeline from the Caspian Sea to Turkey with money from Chinese investors.

But Tamraz made the donations at the request of the Democratic National Committee, which was monitoring Virginia's legislative campaigns.

And The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that former DNC Chairman Don Fowler tried to arrange meetings between Tamraz and Clinton. Security advisers recommended against those meetings, because Tamraz is considered an international fugitive in Lebanon, where he is wanted on an embezzling charge.

The newspaper said Fowler may have arranged for the CIA to send an intelligence report on Tamraz to a National Security Council official - something the paper said congressional investigators believe represents a serious breach of security. Besides the Virginia donation, Tamraz also gave at least $77,000 to the DNC.

Tamraz later attended several White House receptions with Clinton, the newspaper reported. When former National Security Adviser Anthony Lake withdrew his nomination for director of the Central Intelligence Agency Monday, he gave the Tamraz revelations as one reason - and the investigations he expects will ensue.

Virginia Democratic Party Chairman Sue Wrenn said she will return the Tamraz money ``so as to remove any suggestion that his contributions in the Commonwealth are part of any such equation.''

``When the Democratic Party accepted the Tamraz money in 1995, there was no hint of impropriety,'' said Lt. Gov. Donald S. Beyer Jr., the Democratic candidate for governor this year.

``But in light of what's surfaced over the last two days, I think it's in the best interests of the party to give the money back. Virginia needs to set a high set of standards.''

The gifts were controversial when they were made, because their Arab-born benefactor sold an early incarnation of his oil business, Tamoil, to Libya, which is banned from doing business in the United States. The new revelations about Tamraz have sparked a congressional investigation in Washington, where Clinton is dodging claims of selling access and renting White House bedrooms for political donations.

Beyer said he and Wrenn discussed returning the money Tuesday morning. But the decision wasn't announced until hours after Virginia Republicans called a news conference demanding it. Republican Party Chairman Randy Forbes mentioned Tamraz' ties to Saddam Hussein, the Libyan government and Beyer in the same breath.

In fact, without that $100,000 donation from Tamraz, Democrats might never have won Virginia's 1995 legislative elections and the state would be under Republican rule today, Forbes suggested.

``I don't think anybody can say that for certain,'' Forbes said. ``But I sure don't think Don Beyer can argue that money didn't make the difference, either.''

At least one independent watchdog group gave the Democrats high marks for 'fessing up quickly.

``I think the return of any questionable contribution is a good first step,'' said Kent Cooper, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics in Washington, which lobbies for campaign finance reform.

``But what needs to be discovered is the original intention of the donor.''

The move also touched off a bitter partisan feud between Democrats and Republicans over where they get their financial support and whose money is the most tainted.

Democratic Chair Wrenn suggested Republican gubernatorial candidate James Gilmore received an illegal $275,000 contribution from a national Republican committee. And she summoned memories of the $125,000 Republicans received in 1995 from Smithfield Foods, which was negotiating with the Republican administration over polluting fines.

Republicans were not swayed. Said Mark Miner, Gilmore's spokesman: ``It's ridiculous to compare a campaign contribution from a national committee to one from an international fugitive with ties to Muammar Qaddafi and Saddam Hussein.'' MEMO: Staff Writer Warren Fiske contributed to this story. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

Photos

THE SOURCE

Roger Tamraz, a Lebanese oil financier accused of buying

high-level White House access, donated $100,000 to the Virginia

Democratic Party in 1995. Tamraz now is an American citizen.

DEMOCRATS' RETURN

Lt. Gov. Donald S. Beyer Jr. said ``there was no hint of

impropriety'' to the donation. The money was returned, he said, to

avoid state party ties to allegations that are dogging the Clinton

administration.

GOP REACTION

Republican Party Chairman Randy Forbes of Chesapeake said the