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When I Do It, It's OK
GOP's Foreign-Money Advocacy Comes Back to Haunt Them, Even as They Attack Gore Over Maria Hsia

by Tamara Baker

Monday, Mar. 27, 2000 -- SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA (AmpolNS) -- "When I do it, it's OK; when YOU do it, it's bad."

I swear to God, folks, that seems to be the motto of the Republican Party.

Republican Newt Gingrich got Democratic House Speaker Jim Wright ousted over a $55,000 book deal Wright cut. Then, one week before Newt becomes Speaker in 1995, what did he do? Gingrich cut a book deal with Rupert Murdoch for $4.5 million -- nearly eighty times what Wright got -- in a blatant quid pro quo. In exchange for his $4.5 million, Newt passed legislation that, among other things, put $65 million into Murdoch's pocket by slashing his taxes (and his alone), and allowed the existence of FOX News by repealing the law against foreign ownership of more than 25% of a US media enterprise.
Dick Armey attacked Clinton over Paula Jones, saying that if he, Dick Armey, had even faced accusations (not convictions or even evidence, mind you, just mere accusations) similar to the sexual harassment ones leveled against President Clinton, that he, Dick Armey, would resign his position. However, Mr. Armey is not a man of his word: several females, all former students of his, came forward to say that the former Economics Chair of a Texas university did not take "no" for an answer when it came to having his sexual advances being rebuffed...and Dick Armey didn't resign from anything.
Bill Clinton got raked over the coals for boneheadedly succumbing to the blandishments of an intern with a groupie mentality. Meanwhile, Republican horndog serial adulterers such as Henry Hyde, Bob Dole, Helen Chenoweth, Bob Barr, Dan Burton and (but of course!) Newt Gingrich are called "statesmen."

And now, we have another example.

RNC Chair Jim Nicholson has just been burning up the fax lines trying to get his Freeper minions to keep up the heat on the mainstream press to "cover" the Maria Hsia campaign-finance convictions I mentioned last week.

But what Mr. Nicholson would rather you didn't know, is this:

Even as the GOP harangues Gore over foreign donations that were all returned, and over a case against Hsia so bogus that Hsia's presiding judge is even now considering dismissing the charges despite the guilty verdict, the Associated Press reported on March 24, 2000 that the Republican Party has been pushing strongly for legalizing foreign soft-money donations.

You read that right.

As Jonathan Salant reported for AP, records showed that in 1999, Republican Party lawyers argued that contributions from foreign sources should be considered legal -- even as GOP officials were attacking Democrats for accepting those contributions.

Here's some excerpts from Salant's story:

In a case that escaped much public attention, GOP lawyers submitted briefs to the Federal Election Commission last year claiming that the federal ban on foreign contributions applied solely to donations to candidates, not the unregulated sums known as soft money that are given to the political parties.
"Foreign national donations to party committee non-federal accounts are legally permissible ...," the Republican National Committee's lawyers wrote in a brief in a dispute over a loan from a foreign businessman. "It could not be more apparent that ... Congress intended the proscriptions of the Federal Election Campaign Act to apply only to 'hard money' contributions."

Yupper, folks: The GOP says that foreign-money donations are OK so long as it's "soft money." But wait! There's more:

Republican officials said lawyers were simply trying to make the best possible case from the available law and rulings, but did not believe the loan should have been treated as a foreign donation as regulators argued.
"It has always been the policy of the RNC not to accept foreign national contributions," spokesman Mike Collins said.

...unless, of course, they're cunningly-disguised book deals from Rupert Murdoch, or monies given to then-RNC Chair Haley Barbour by Chinese businessmen in Kowloon Harbour (more on that little sweet little arrangement in a moment.)

But back to the excerpts from Mr. Salant's story:

...the GOP has relentlessly tried to make the vice president's involvement in the controversy -- including his visit to a Buddhist temple where illegal donations were made -- an issue in the campaign...
But the same scandal prompted revelations that Republicans, shortly before their historic 1994 election victory that gave them control of Congress, arranged a $2.1 million loan from a Hong Kong businessman. Former RNC chairman Haley Barbour has defended his role in arranging the loan.
The FEC's chief lawyer recommended a full-scale investigation into whether Barbour knew the money came from foreign sources, but the six-member commission deadlocked along party lines.
Before the case was dropped, the RNC defended Barbour in a series of legal filings. The GOP's main argument was that the loan should not be considered a campaign contribution and therefore the ban on foreign donations was irrelevant.
The party's lawyers also argued that if the loan was considered to be a contribution, then the foreign ban did not apply. The lawyers said the rule applied only to donations to candidates, known as hard money, and not to the unregulated contributions to political parties often referred to as soft money or non-federal donations .
That's the same argument Attorney General Janet Reno used in refusing to appoint an independent counsel to investigate the 1996 fundraising practices, a decision often criticized by Republicans.

Again: If the Republicans do it, it's OK. If Democrats do it, it's bad.

Salant reports that the DNC has gone to court to force the FEC to continue its investigation of Barbour. I should certainly hope so!

Perhaps the FEC needs a little extra persuasion. Here's how to contact them:

Federal Election Commission
999 E Street N.W.
Washington, DC 20463

(800) 424-9530
In Washington: (202) 694-1100
For the hearing impaired, TTY (202) 219-3336

You know what to do...