Reprinted from The Washington Times , 5am -- May 4, 1998
'Overt acts' furthered conspiracy, White says
By Bill Sammon
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
The Clinton-Gore campaign's finance director warned her counterpart at the Democratic National Committee that "the DNC would lose $1 million" unless he called Teamsters President Ron Carey's campaign consultant about what turned out to be an illegal money-laundering scheme, prosecutors said.
The revelation, contained in last week's indictment of the Teamsters' former political director, illustrates the lengths to which President Clinton's top fund-raisers went to induce the Democratic Party to swap contributions with the Teamsters.
It and other details contained in the indictment also shed new light on prosecutors' increasing scrutiny of Democratic involvement in the Teamsters scandal.
DNC spokeswoman Melissa Ratcliff, asked to comment, said the committee knows of no DNC employee or officer who engaged in illegal or improper activities. The DNC does not comment on ongoing investigations, she added.
U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White of New York, who is conducting a federal grand jury probe of the Teamsters, said the Clinton-Gore finance director called the DNC finance director on Aug. 7, 1996, to warn him "that the DNC would lose $1 million" unless he called Martin Davis, the Carey campaign consultant. Although Mrs. White did not mention them by name, the Clinton-Gore finance director at the time was Laura Hartigan and her counterpart at the DNC was Richard L. Sullivan.
Mrs. White said the phone call was one of nine "DNC overt acts" committed "in furtherance of the conspiracy" to launder Teamsters funds into the Carey campaign.
Several months before the call, Miss Hartigan had briefed Mr. Sullivan on Davis' intentions.
"Laura explained to me that Davis wanted to help the DNC raise money from labor unions," Mr. Sullivan told the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee in October. "Laura also told me that Davis was involved in the Carey campaign, and that it would be personally helpful to Davis and his efforts to raise more money for the DNC if the DNC could raise money for the Carey election effort."
Mr. Sullivan said he did not recognize this as a scheme to launder Teamsters funds into the Carey campaign. His assertion evoked incredulity from several Republican senators on the committee, including Chairman Fred Thompson of Tennessee.
"You never put the two things together," Mr. Thompson said to Mr. Sullivan with obvious skepticism.
Mrs. White cast further doubt on Mr. Sullivan's claim by revealing he had been warned "the DNC would lose $1 million" if he failed to call Davis back. The revelation appeared to contradict Mr. Sullivan's sworn testimony.
"At no time did either Martin or Laura suggest that Davis' help in the labor community was conditioned upon or was a quid pro quo for the DNC's assistance in raising money for Carey's election," Mr. Sullivan told the committee. "It was certainly my impression that Davis wanted to help the DNC regardless of whether we were helpful in finding him support for the Carey campaign."
Mr. Sullivan agreed to help the Carey campaign, which promised to give Democrats $1 million if the DNC would line up a $100,000 donation for Mr. Carey.
Mr. Sullivan directed a subordinate, Mark Thomann, to divert $100,000 that was originally intended for President Clinton to the Carey campaign, according to Mr. Thomann, former DNC finance director for Northern California.
Although Mr. Sullivan has insisted he merely asked Mr. Thomann to research the legality of the donation, Mr. Thomann told The Washington Times: "It was not just 'Check out the legality of it.' My boss asked me to do it."
The donor was Philippine businesswoman Judith Vazquez, who wanted to give $100,000 to Mr. Clinton but was barred from doing so because she is a foreigner. Mr. Sullivan said there would be "a change in direction" for the money and Mrs. Vazquez was persuaded to cut a check to the Carey campaign.
The Carey campaign ultimately rejected the money because Mrs. Vazquez was an employer and thus barred by federal election rules from contributing to a Teamsters candidate.
Democrats have argued that no harm was done because the deal was never consummated.
"If the money isn't transferred, I guess there is nothing wrong," said Sen. John Glenn, Ohio Democrat, during the hearings. "The bottom line, as I read all this, is not what everyone's intent was or whether things were discussed that might lead to some money being contributed in a certain way. The bottom line to me is that no money ever got there."
But the bottom line according to Mrs. White is that the mere lining up of the donor constituted one of the "DNC overt acts" to further the conspiracy. Another overt act was the Teamsters' effort to keep its end of the money-laundering bargain by giving the Democrats $236,500 on June 24 and 25, 1996, Mrs. White said.
A third was a memo that Miss Hartigan sent to Davis less than two weeks earlier, asking the Teamsters to give $250,000 to various state Democratic parties.
Other "DNC overt acts," according to Mrs. White's indictment of former Teamsters political director William W. Hamilton Jr., included:
- Davis' forwarding of the Hartigan memo to Mr. Hamilton.
- Mr. Hamilton's instructions to a Teamsters employee to obtain approval for the contributions to Democrats.
- A second memo sent to Davis on Aug. 10, 1996, seeking another $1 million in Teamsters contributions to state Democratic parties. The memo bore Mr. Sullivan's name, but was written by Miss Hartigan.
- Davis' forwarding of the second memo to Mr. Hamilton. Davis attached a cover sheet that said he would let Mr. Hamilton know when the Democrats had "fulfilled their commitment."
Last month, Mrs. White assigned three additional FBI agents, a forensic auditor and other staff to the Teamsters investigation in order to pursue the role of Democrats in the scandal. In addition to scrutinizing the Clinton-Gore campaign and the DNC, Mrs. White's office is also examining the roles of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
Copyright 1998 News World Communications, Inc.
Reprinted with permission of
The Washington Times.
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