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Sen. Clinton's financing in the spotlight
Monterey Herald ^ | 5/8/05 | Paul Chavez - AP

Posted on 05/08/2005 12:37:27 PM PDT by NormsRevenge

LOS ANGELES - Campaign donations made more than four years ago at a celebrity-studded Hollywood gala have led to a federal criminal trial against a former finance director for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton that could hamper her future campaigns.

The trial set to open Tuesday focuses on a lavish August 2000 political party at a tony Brentwood estate that drew dozens of A-list guests and performers, including Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston, Cher, Diana Ross and Muhammad Ali.

Clinton hasn't been linked to charges that the cost of the event was vastly underreported, but Republicans will be watching for any ammunition they can use against the Democrat, considered an early front-runner for the 2008 presidential nomination.

David Rosen, who was Clinton's finance director during her 2000 U.S. Senate run, faces three counts of filing a false statement. An FBI agent speculated in an affidavit that Rosen was trying to duck federal financing rules so the campaign would have more money to spend on other expenses.

Rosen pleaded not guilty in January. He could face up to 15 years in prison and $750,000 in fines if convicted.

The party, called a "Hollywood Gala Salute to President William Jefferson Clinton," included both a dinner and a concert. About 350 people accepted invitations to both, which cost $25,000 a couple. About 1,200 people purchased $1,000 tickets just for the concert.

Many people got complimentary tickets and campaign reports never gave a full accounting of the total money taken in. However, organizers reported raising nearly $1.1 million for a joint committee benefiting Hillary Clinton's Senate campaign and the national and state-level Democratic parties.

Rosen, 40, reported the event was underwritten by about $400,000 worth of "in kind" contributions - goods and services provided for free or below cost - but Peter F. Paul, a three-time convicted felon who pleaded guilty in March to securities fraud charges, has told prosecutors he gave the campaign at least $1.1 million for the affair.

Paul has filed a lawsuit claiming he bankrolled the gala on a promise that former President Clinton would become a "goodwill ambassador" for his Internet media company. He is ready to testify against Rosen, according to his attorney, Joseph Conway.

Another of the event's organizers, the man who corralled the celebrities, said Rosen was a "decent person" who faced a devil's choice: risk getting fired by exposing the gala's skyrocketing tab or cover up its true cost.

"David I don't think deserves to go to jail," co-organizer Aaron Tonken said in a recent interview from prison, where he is serving 63 months for unrelated charges of defrauding charities of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Tonken believes the Federal Election Commission should fine Hillary Clinton's campaign.

To build its case, the government enlisted Raymond Reggie, a prominent political consultant whose sister is married to U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy. Prosecutors have not named Reggie, but two sources familiar with the case said he is the "cooperating witness" identified in court documents.

During a secretly recorded conversation with Reggie in September 2002, prosecutors said Rosen made incriminating statements they will introduce at trial. Reggie pleaded guilty last month in Louisiana to unrelated bank fraud charges.

A request for an interview with Hillary Clinton was referred to her lawyer, David Kendall, who would not comment. Last year, Kendall told The Associated Press that Clinton's campaign properly reported all donations in 2000.

Rosen's attorney, Paul Mark Sandler, also declined to comment.

It is not the first time a Clinton campaign has been under scrutiny. President Clinton's 1996 campaign was dogged by allegations of illegal fundraising from overseas donors.

"Things like this have occurred along the way in the Clinton national role and they have handled it," said Lee Miringoff, an independent pollster and director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion at Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

The key, he said, is whether "fingerprints lead back to her."

Government lawyers won't say publicly why they believe Rosen might have underreported the cost. But one theory suggests it would have allowed Clinton's campaign to spend more money on essentials such as advertising.

Under arcane campaign finance rules of the time, reporting the event's actual cost would have forced the campaign to forfeit coveted "hard money," according to Larry Noble, a former Federal Election Commission lawyer who now leads the campaign-finance watchdog Center for Responsive Politics.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Front Page News; Politics/Elections; US: California
KEYWORDS: campaignfinance; clinton; davidrosen; financing; hillary; hillaryscandals; senator; spotlight
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1 posted on 05/08/2005 12:37:28 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
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David Rosen


2 posted on 05/08/2005 12:38:40 PM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi ...... The War on Terrorism is the ultimate 'faith-based' initiative.)
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To: NormsRevenge

The Clintons are absolute masters of conducting massive criminal activity, while having others take the fall. Will this scam be the same as the many, many others?


3 posted on 05/08/2005 12:40:51 PM PDT by FormerACLUmember (Honoring Saint Jude's assistance every day.)
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To: NormsRevenge
The key, he said, is whether "fingerprints lead back to her."

I think "hoofprints" would be more accurate.

4 posted on 05/08/2005 12:45:20 PM PDT by Ben Hecks
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To: NormsRevenge
....drew dozens of A-list guests and performers, including Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston, Cher, Diana Ross and Muhammad Ali....

Their cumulative IQ doesn't even reach 80.

5 posted on 05/08/2005 12:48:13 PM PDT by Bullish
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To: NormsRevenge
You beat me by 9 minutes, Norm!

Good Post!:^)

6 posted on 05/08/2005 12:57:59 PM PDT by smoothsailing (Qui Nhon Turtle Co.)
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To: FormerACLUmember

I fearlessly predict that nothing will come of this as far as her heinous is concerned. The rich and powerful of the political elite are rarely imprisoned or prosecuted. They protect each other.


7 posted on 05/08/2005 1:06:09 PM PDT by Enterprise (Abortion and "euthanasia" - the twin destroyers of the Democrat Party.)
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To: NormsRevenge

""David I don't think deserves to go to jail," co-organizer Aaron Tonken said in a recent interview from prison, where he is serving 63 months for unrelated charges of defrauding charities of hundreds of thousands of dollars. "

Nice upstanding honest citizens the Clintoons do business with ay? In cahoots with charity robbing scumballs. Hey America?? do you REALLY want this Riff-Raff criminal loving duo back in the White House again? How much stink? do we have to tolerate from these ego maniac 'toons.


8 posted on 05/08/2005 1:09:46 PM PDT by tflabo (Take authority that's ours)
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To: FormerACLUmember
Chuckie: Just say "I can't remember"
Heinous: "My mind's in a blender"


9 posted on 05/08/2005 1:12:26 PM PDT by smoothsailing (Qui Nhon Turtle Co.)
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To: NormsRevenge

ABC...Anybody But Clinton


10 posted on 05/08/2005 1:17:50 PM PDT by ConservativeStatement
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To: NormsRevenge

What I want to know is why Hitlery and Booba atleast have not been charged?


11 posted on 05/08/2005 1:19:52 PM PDT by freekitty
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To: smoothsailing

LOL. One of the greatest Rush satires ever!


12 posted on 05/08/2005 1:42:02 PM PDT by FormerACLUmember (Honoring Saint Jude's assistance every day.)
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To: NormsRevenge

May the word go forth. Hillary Clinton is going to crash and burn.


13 posted on 05/08/2005 1:42:26 PM PDT by doug from upland (MOCKING DEMOCRATS 24/7 --- www.rightwingparodies.com)
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To: smoothsailing

I need a photo of Clinton giving a thumb's up. Do you have one?


14 posted on 05/08/2005 1:44:20 PM PDT by doug from upland (MOCKING DEMOCRATS 24/7 --- www.rightwingparodies.com)
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To: NormsRevenge
Contained in email yesterday from Peter Paul --

My legal problems have been diminishing since the government finally allowed me to return to the US in September, 2003. The charges filed against me in california were dismissed in January, 2005, and the charges in NY were greatly diminished in a superseding indictment filed by the govcernment in May, 2004. There was no $50 million stock fraud, there was only a violation of SEC Reg 10(b)5 in the way I traded my own stock in accounts I legally held at Merrill Lynch.My allocution, prepared by the government, and the superseding indictment confirm that. So in fact my legal problems have been diminishing dramatically after I first blew the whistle on the Clintons in March, 2001.

15 posted on 05/08/2005 1:46:48 PM PDT by doug from upland (MOCKING DEMOCRATS 24/7 --- www.rightwingparodies.com)
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To: NormsRevenge

David doesn't deserve to go to jail ---- HILLARY DOES!


16 posted on 05/08/2005 1:48:03 PM PDT by doug from upland (MOCKING DEMOCRATS 24/7 --- www.rightwingparodies.com)
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To: doug from upland

"May the word go forth. Hillary Clinton is going to crash and burn."

Hey Dougster....from your lips to God's ears.


17 posted on 05/08/2005 1:49:48 PM PDT by tflabo (Take authority that's ours)
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To: NormsRevenge

Odds are that this is coming out in plenty of time for the, "this is old news, it's already been answered for, can we move on..." diatribe. Excuse me for not getting anxious about it - but the Clinton pattern should be well known to us. I'll get excited when the indictment is for Hillary.


18 posted on 05/08/2005 1:54:40 PM PDT by AD from SpringBay (We have the government we allow and deserve.)
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To: AD from SpringBay

"We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good." - Hillary Rodham Clinton June 2004"


Hey A.D. Statements like these from Hitlery get ME anxious. You may be right but I hope that the Klintoon teflon outerwear gets to wear mighty thin soon and stickiness ensues. Enough of them already.


19 posted on 05/08/2005 2:08:03 PM PDT by tflabo (Take authority that's ours)
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To: Bullish

Ouch !


20 posted on 05/08/2005 2:30:21 PM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks
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