Bush Fund-Raisers Among Overnight Guests

AP ^ | 3/10/04

[mgist]

Bush Fund-Raisers Among Overnight Guests

 

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush opened the White House and Camp David to dozens of overnight guests last year, including foreign dignitaries, family friends and at least nine of his biggest campaign fund-raisers, documents show.

In all, Bush and first lady Laura Bush have invited at least 270 people to stay at the White House and at least the same number to overnight at the Camp David retreat since moving to Washington in January 2001, according to lists the White House provided The Associated Press.

 

 

Some guests spent a night in the Lincoln Bedroom, historic quarters that gained new fame in the Clinton administration amid allegations that Democrats rewarded major donors like Hollywood heavyweights Steven Spielberg and Barbra Streisand with accommodations there.

That scandal and Bush's criticism of it is one of the reasons the White House identifies guests. In a debate with Vice President Al Gore in October 2000, Bush said: ``I believe they've moved that sign, `The buck stops here,' from the Oval Office desk to `The buck stops here' on the Lincoln Bedroom. And that's not good for the country.''

 

Los Angeles attorney Donald Etra stayed at the Bush White House several times and at Camp David once. Etra, a Yale classmate of President Bush, said he and his wife were invited as friends, not because they each gave Bush $1,000 in 2000.

 

``Friendship comes first, donations come second,'' Etra said.

 

Describing a stay in the Lincoln Bedroom, he said it was almost impossible to sleep.

 

``It is so unbelievably exciting and unbelievable that you are staying in the White House,'' he said. ``One hesitates to put a coffee cup down on the coffee table because there's an original copy of the Emancipation Proclamation under glass.''

 

Bush's overnight guest roster is virtually free of celebrities - pro golfer Ben Crenshaw is the biggest name - but not of campaign supporters.

 

At least nine of Bush's biggest fund-raisers appear on the latest list of White House overnight guests, covering June 2002 through December 2003, and-or on the Camp David list, which covers last year. They include:

 

Mercer Reynolds, an Ohio financier, former Bush partner in the Texas Rangers baseball team and former ambassador to Switzerland. Reynolds is leading Bush's campaign fund-raising effort. He was a guest at the White House and the Camp David retreat in Maryland's Catoctin Mountains.

 

Brad Freeman, a venture capitalist who is leading Bush's California fund-raising effort, has raised at least $200,000 for his re-election campaign and is also a major Republican Party fund-raiser. Freeman stayed at the White House.

 

Roland Betts, who raised at least $100,000 for Bush in 2000, was a Bush fraternity brother at Yale and a Texas Rangers partner. Betts stayed at the White House and Camp David.

 

William DeWitt, a Bush partner in the oil business and Texas Rangers who has raised at least $200,000 for Bush's re-election effort, stayed at the White House.

 

James Francis, who headed the Bush campaign's 2000 team of $100,000-and-up volunteer fund-raisers and was a Bush appointee in Texas when Bush was governor. Francis was a White House guest.

 

Joseph O'Neill, an oilman and childhood friend who introduced Bush to Laura Bush and raised at least $100,000 for each of Bush's presidential campaigns, stayed at the White House.

 

Colorado Gov. Bill Owens and New York Gov. George Pataki, who each raised at least $200,000 for Bush's re-election campaign, were White House guests.

 

James Langdon, who raised at least $100,000 for Bush, is a Washington attorney specializing in international oil and gas transactions. Langdon, whose clients include the Russian oil company Lukoil, is a member of Bush's foreign intelligence advisory board and served on Bush's 2000 presidential transition team on energy policy.

 

``Some of these guests are old classmates, some of them have been friends of theirs for many, many years,'' White House spokeswoman Erin Healy said. ``They enjoy the opportunity to spend time with them.''

 

Langdon, who stayed at Camp David a few weeks before Russian President Vladimir Putin did last September, said Bush's invitations to him and the other fund-raisers differ from the allegations of the Clinton years.

 

``Of course I'm a fund-raiser - I support him in every way I can. But my relationship with him and his wife and his family spans more than three decades,'' said Langdon, who grew up in Texas and was a Bush friend since Bush's early years there. ``I certainly don't need to be rewarded with a trip to Camp David for doing what I'm doing.''

 

Several Bush relatives visited the White House and Camp David, including former President George H.W. Bush and former first lady Barbara Bush. Visiting world leaders stayed at Camp David, including British Prime Minister Tony Blair and King Abdullah II of Jordan.

 

Guests do not have to reimburse the government for their stays.
 

[Miss Marple]

I see your point. If it weren't this, it would be something else, though. The media has gone into full DNC mode, and it is to be expected.

Don't lose heart. I am convinced the more the public sees of Kerry, the more they will dislike him.

[lepton]

It is the press's attempt to draw moral equivalency between the last two administrations.

Unfortunately, they do that with pretty much anything that sounds vaguely like something Clinton did. It is impossible to completely avoid this comparison - but what can be done is to be aware of it, and to have the facts at hand to refute it.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Bush: Thank you for your support in the past. Please be our guests at the White House for an evening and stay the night.

clintoon: If you will donate $50,000 to the DNC, you can spend a night in the White House.

A subtle but distinct difference that will be completely lost on the left.

[lysie]

One Democratic fund-raiser, who spoke only on condition of anonymity, said he regularly solicited contributions from Washington lobbyists who understood the money might gain them the rarest contact of all -- unfiltered access to the president.

Donations got lobbyists invited to coffees with Clinton

Big difference!

[ravingnutter]

Lincoln Bedroom Sleepover for Gore Benefactor Surrounded by Questionable Coincidences

President[Clinton]Had Big Role in Setting Donor Perks

The Smoking Gun Memo in Clinton's handwriting, which reads:

"Yes, pursue all 3 and promptly -- and get other names of the 100,000 or more," Clinton wrote, apparently seeking names of people who had given $100,000 or more to the Democrats. Clinton went on: "Ready to start overnights right away -- give me the top 10 list back, along with the 100."

[sphinx]

A subtle but distinct difference that will be completely lost on the left.

The RNC has historically run its major donor programs as "membership clubs." You join the Eagles, Team 100, etc. and are eligible to participate in a program. This will consist of several meetings a year. The president, of course, is likely to be a guest at some of these functions, which are social in nature and generally involve rather large numbers of people. Think upscale Lincoln Day dinners. However, the RNC never says, "Send us $50,000 or $100,000 for a meeting with the president." And the RNC would never dream of renting out the Lincoln Bedroom.

[AppyPappy]

True but there goes the moral high ground on this issue.

You mean the Democrats I assume.

[johniegrad]

My position is well outlined in subsequent posts.

[AppyPappy]

The press will now use this type of issue to try to attack the president's character after giving the last administration a pass on it. Why provide any ammunition for the enemy?

Because they don't need ammunition. They can spin anything. You are playing the game to avoid losing and wondering why you aren't winning. The key is to attack, not constantly defend.

[MississippiMan]

I respectfully disagree.

Yeah, there's a difference, but the PERCEIVED moral high ground has been lost. The media will see to that. Republicans are held to entirely different standards, and must conduct themselves accordingly or pay the price.

MM

[cyncooper]

The friends of President Bush are clearly of long standing, not contributors he meets one day and they get to spend the night the next, ala Clinton.

I hope the difference is clear

The Clinton fundraising scheme was planned in a memo proposing they solicit contributions by rewarding donors with an overnight in the Lincoln bedroom and Clinton's own handwritten note on the memo said "start overnights right away".

See the diff?

Hope so.

[cyncooper]

Bush hosts long time friends and officials.

The Clinton WH used an overnight stay as a reward for donations.

Completely different.

[cyncooper]

What do you find interesting about it?

[cyncooper]

You mean honorable presidents are not allowed to host overnight guests?

Beam me up!

[mrsmith]

The AP reporter is SHARON THEIMER.

Doesn't sound at all damaging. We won't be hearing this subject brought up again LOL!

[cyncooper]

There is no problem with posting the article. The article was posted and the only comment the poster made was "interesting", implying there was something "to" the equivalence being drawn in the piece.

All fine and well, but there is no problem with asking the poster to clarify his motivation in posting it, even as the rest of us correctly put facts into perspective.

[HenryLeeII]

True but there goes the moral high ground on this issue.

Not really. I know the media simpletons will spin it that way, but don't forget that Xlinton was selling access to the White House for stated prices (i.e. the teas with photo-ops, overnight in the Lincoln Bedroom, etc.). With Bush it appears more that its long-term friends, party associates, etc., that are also donors/fundraisers in addition to the relationship.

[Stone Mountain]

I don't want to read liberal propaganda here.

Well, I agree with mgist. Ignoring stories that we don't agree with won't make them go away. FR is a place that people can go to get a conservative perspective on any news story, not just stories that trumpet the conservative viewpoint. Know thy enemy.