Frontline is a presentation of the documentary consortium.
One of the rules that I apply before I support a candidate, I like to know him, I like to
talk to him, I like to ask him questions, I like to know how he thinks, and I like to
be able to talk to him after he wins.
Tonight on Frontline, who are the big money campaign donors?
Are you a fat cat?
No, I'm not.
I've raised over nine million dollars through this event alone.
Correspondent Robert Krulwich investigates who these contributors are and what they want
in return.
We asked Mr. Andreas, why did you give the money to the president?
I can give you an awful lot of money, millions of dollars, at the same time that I want enormous
help from the government.
The best campaign money can buy.
With funding provided by the financial support of viewers like you and by the Corporation
for Public Broadcasting, this is Frontline.
This program is a co-production with the Center for Investigative Reporting.
Additional funding provided by these funders.
This is Middleburg, Virginia, horse country, where the local gentry take their riding very
seriously, where they still gather on weekends to go fox hunting.
Middleburg is just an hour's drive from Washington, D.C., but it seems a world apart, a bastion
of old money and sprawling estates, a world where pedigrees and bloodlines matter most.
It's not exactly the sort of place you'd expect to find a lot of Democrats, and yet this is
the town where the Democratic Party began its presidential campaign.
We were very pleased to be hosted by Pamela Harriman, who has been a stalwart of the Democratic
Party and has been a supporter of so many of the elected officials that are here with
me today.
Chairman Ron Brown and the Democratic Party rely heavily on Mrs. Harriman's generosity.
When her husband, Averill Harriman, the diplomat and presidential advisor, died in 1986, Pamela
Harriman inherited $75 million and this Middleburg estate, the ideal site for a private retreat
where high-power Democrats could meet to figure out how they might recapture the White House.
We've developed a strategy, a preliminary strategy for the 1992 general election campaign.
The strategy was endorsed by a group of about 25 wealthy donors who call themselves the
managing trustees.
Each one contributes at least $200,000 to the party.
The man standing behind Ron Brown, Steve Grossman, is one of the donors.
We went through a whole exercise where we wrote a values statement.
Some of the leaders in the party, Aaliyah Messenger, Jay Rockefeller's sister, Peter
Lewis from Cleveland, Al Checke, chairman of Northwest Airlines, these people got together
and said, let's define what we, the managing trustees, believe should be the values of
the Democratic Party.
What do we stand for?
What are the defining issues that we're going to take to the American people and say, let's
write a new chapter?
The managing trustees wanted to say that it can't simply be the party of labor.
It can't simply be the party of this or the party of that in the traditions and history
that the Democratic Party has had, that it has to represent business.
The managing trustees say they learned a painful lesson in 1988.
They helped the Democrats raise more than $50 million for the Dukakis campaign matching
what the Republicans raised for Bush, and they say they got nothing in return.
To compete effectively with the Republicans, the managing trustees concluded they would
have to raise money early and spend it on research.
And by way of example, if you've got two companies making a product, widgets, and one company
spends $3 million on research and development, and the other company spends $17,000, and
the products aren't that different, it's very obvious who's going to win the market
share.
In the search for this year's widget or candidate, Mrs. Harriman favored Senator Jay Rockefeller.
She also liked Bill Clinton.
But the managing trustees did not want to anoint a particular candidate.
They just wanted to make sure that whoever won the nomination would play by the rules
established at Middleburg.
And one of the questions that we had, one of the questions I had, frankly, was to ask
each of the potential candidates, okay, if the party invests, and if we invest in the
party at this point, at this stage in the game, in a general election strategy, and
we underwrite the expenses of it, will each one of you, and I looked in the eyes of each
one of them who were there, will you then step in and use that strategy?
Will you use the structure that the party puts in place?
Will you use the information that has been gathered and gained there?
One of the, and the answer from every one of them was yes.
Governor Clinton, if you were to run for president, could you win on the secret strategy that
you all talked about the last two days?
Well let me, I don't even know how to answer that question, but I will say this, I believe
that...
How much money did you give to the campaign?
I have given about $300,000 into the Democratic party to get a Democratic nominee elected
president.
I raised and gave some...
You sometimes rub your eyes and think, did I just give $300,000 to some politicians?
Oh my God.
Absolutely, absolutely.
And you know, if we are successful, and the Democrats win this time, it will have been
well worth it.
You know, I can't say, hey Jerry, you need to do more, because frankly you've done a
tremendous amount.
But I want to let you know, if there's any way you could squeeze it out, I'd be grateful.
We'll spend it well, and we'll always remember you.
After Middleburg, the managing trustees hit the phones.
Yeah, it's $10,000 a table, and you know, $1,000 a ticket, and I would like, love you
guys to do a table, or whatever you could do.
As the fundraisers say, money is the first primary.
I guess the goal is to raise as much as it takes to win.
Bill Clinton recruited this man, Robert Farmer, to his campaign.
Farmer had raised $50 million for Dukakis in 1988, a record for Democrats.
In the waning days of the 1988 campaign, my job really was meeting with and calling on
people who could give personal checks for $50,000 or $100,000.
And in the beginning days of this campaign, I remember talking to somebody very important
on the phone, and my secretary came in and said, so-and-so's on the line, and I said
to the very important person on the phone, I've got to hang up, there's a guy who might
give me $250.
I don't believe that.
That's a true story.
I mean, that's how the difference is at the beginning and at the end.
In the beginning, Bill Clinton, governor of a small and poor state, did not seem to have
great fundraising potential.
But he surprised nearly everyone.
How did he do it?
It was high society and high-stakes politics, as Governor Bill Clinton enjoyed the single
largest fundraiser in Arkansas history, $500 a plate and plenty of takers.
You can't imagine how important you are to this campaign.
The most important man of all was Jackson Stevens, who oddly enough is a Bush supporter,
a Republican, and one of the richest men in Arkansas.
But he does a lot of business with the state government in Little Rock.
And a bank, in which he's the largest shareholder, gave Clinton a $3.5 million line of credit,
one of the biggest ever given to a presidential campaign.
In his search for early money, Clinton also invaded Republican territory in New York,
looking for big donors on Wall Street.
You know, as Willie Sutton said when asked why he robbed banks, he said, that's where
the money is.
Ken Brody is an investment banker with Goldman Sachs.
He's the man who, as he puts it, exposed Clinton to Wall Street money.
And we ran him from early morning to late night.
And of course, as everybody has seen now, he's got the stamina of a horse.
But just as Brody and his friends were organizing their biggest New York fundraiser on the eve
of the all-important New Hampshire primary, they were blindsided by scandal.
It was a media circus of the highest, some might say lowest order.
Reporters and camera crews falling over one another to get closer to Jennifer Flowers.
Yes, I was Bill Clinton's lover for 12 years.
And for the past two years, I have lied to the press about our relationship to protect
him.
What happened when Jennifer Flowers hit?
Well, what happened was a lot of people would call up and say, this is very concerning.
Maybe we should drop it.
Maybe he can't last.
Maybe we can't get people.
People are saying they're not going to come or they're not going to give money.
Brody sent faxes to every potential donor.
They said, stick with us.
We're going to make it.
Now keep your attention focused on the fundraiser.
And the result was clear.
We raised $700,000.
That amount I have been told is the most that any Democrat pre-New Hampshire has raised
in Manhattan.
And it was a spectacular success.
You raised $700,000 before sex or after sex?
During.
During?
So to speak.
So to speak.
I hope you're about half as happy as I am tonight.
King survived the scandal, finishing a respectable second in New Hampshire and enduring a grueling
primary in New York.
I'm a humble little defensive fighter, isn't I?
Yeah, that's right.
A great brahman.
He emerged as the clear leader in the Democratic field, and not coincidentally, the man with
the most money.
If he didn't have money early, he wouldn't be where he is today.
I can say that categorically, without reservation.
The fact that he had money meant that he had organization and he had an ability to weather
the storm.
He would have never gotten through New York if he hadn't had the money and the ability
to raise some during that very critical time.
Having raised money from a leading Republican in Arkansas and traditional Republicans in
New York, Clinton moved even deeper into Republican territory.
This is a very, very happy day for a free Cuba.
There's probably no group in America more loyal to Republican presidents than hardline
anti-Castro Cubans in Miami.
The very idea of giving money to a Democrat for them is almost unthinkable, but managing
trustee Hugh Westbrook had a hunch, or maybe it was a prayer.
Cuban Americans, in their heart of hearts, particularly on domestic issues, are Democrats.
They're very concerned about the kinds of things that the Democratic Party is concerned
about, but on a single issue of foreign policy, particularly as it related to Cuban Castro,
the Republicans have been able to rule the day, as it were.
Westbrook decided to help his friend, Democratic Congressman Robert Torricelli, introduce a
foreign policy bill which would appeal to Cuban Americans.
One day the Cuban people are going to live in freedom.
The Torricelli bill would drastically tighten the U.S. embargo against Fidel Castro.
So you recommended to all Democrats that they endorse this bill from Congressman Torricelli?
I recommended to the Clinton campaign and to the Kerry campaign.
And the Clinton campaign took notice.
It's a turning point in Cuban history.
They learned that this man, Jorge Mas Canosa, a loyal ally of Ronald Reagan's, one of the
most powerful men in Miami, was willing to help Clinton, but first, Clinton would have
to endorse the Torricelli bill.
Those were Canosa's terms.
Not all Cuban Americans thought Clinton should ally himself with Mas Canosa.
When you saw Bill Clinton and Mas Canosa sharing a cup of coffee at the Versailles restaurant
here in Miami last summer, what did you think?
Well, American politicians sure make strange bedfellows.
The guy doesn't stand for anything that the Democratic stands for, nothing.
When Clinton comes knocking, we are certainly going to open the door.
Although Mas Canosa would not speak to Frontline, his representative in Washington, Jose Cardenas,
did.
This probably marks the first high-profile outing for the Cuban Americans and a relationship
with a Democratic candidate for president.
No other Democratic candidate really made the effort to go down into the heart of Little
Havana and start talking tough on Castro.
Mas Canosa sent word to Clinton through Democrats in Congress, when we hear you say that you'll
endorse our bill, then maybe you'll get some money.
Once that deal was cut, Bill Clinton came to this restaurant, which is called Victor's
Cafe on the south side of Miami, and on April the 23rd, for the very first time, he endorsed
the Torricelli bill.
Mas Canosa had put the word out that it's okay for Cuban Americans to come to this fundraiser,
and about 300 people showed up.
But until Clinton spoke, some were still a little nervous about being seen with a Democrat.
Clinton walks in.
Everybody was very happy, very enthusiastic, but you would see some of them to the side.
They wouldn't take pictures.
I would invite them.
Come on over.
Let's take a picture.
No, no, no, no, no.
Not now.
Not now.
They were just waiting to see.
They didn't want to have themselves photographed with a Democrat.
No, no, no, because they're very, very loyal, again, to the Republicans, and they're very
prominent people.
Of course, in their hearts, we're all Cubans, so we wanted to see what he had to say.
Clinton told the crowd he liked the Torricelli bill, and then he promised...
... to put the hammer down on Castro in Cuba.
Once he said, I support the Torricelli bill...
... the whole place came down.
That's it.
Everybody forgot they were Republicans for that moment, and everybody was applauding.
We became Cubans, and we were kind of all united and very thankful that he said it.
And now it was okay to take your picture with a Democrat?
Yeah.
Clinton raised about $125,000 at the event.
Why did Clinton do it?
My opinion is that he did it in a very pragmatic way, because he needed the cash for the Pennsylvania
primaries, which was going to be a few days later, and the rumors are that he was short
of cash for the publicity there, at least that's what I have.
Whether Clinton did it for the money or for the votes or for both, Hugh Westbrook's strategy
had paid off.
And when you gazed out at Cuban Americans smiling at a Democratic candidate, what went
through your mind?
My heart was warmed.
If the Democrats have their managing trustees, the Republicans have Team 100.
To be a member, you must contribute at least $100,000 to the Republican Party.
Well, this horse is a very proud horse.
He's done so well with his own career, and now it's almost like he knows that his foes
are doing well too, so that even makes him more proud.
Alec Cortellus is one of the founders of Team 100.
He breeds Arabian racehorses on his magnificent farm in Ocala, Florida.
This is the office away from the office, and it was designed really to have a comfortable
look to it and a feeling, which it does.
And I have a lot of the paraphernalia that I'm very proud of.
Cortellus has been bankrolling Republican presidents for 20 years.
This is with President Reagan at the White House, where we had lunch, and the man was
just extremely fit.
And as I told you, I looked very carefully at his hair, and no question, it's his own.
No question about it.
One of the rules that I apply before I support a candidate, I like to know him, I like to
talk to him, I like to ask him questions, I like to know how he thinks, I like to know
what he's going to do, and I like to be able to talk to him after he wins.
George Bush qualifies on all counts.
Cortellus is the president's friend and advisor, and in 1988 he raised an enormous war chest
for the Bush campaign.
Bob Marshbacher, who then was the chairman, I was vice-chairman, the two of us and some
others got together and we came up with the idea of Team 100 for no better name at the
time, and within 90 days we raised $25 million.
Cortellus is also president of the University of Florida Board of Regents.
He and his wife are major contributors to the university, and he's an honored guest
at the home football games.
In 1989, after Cortellus had raised millions of dollars for the Bush campaign, the president
named him chairman of a committee that recommended people for jobs in the Bush administration.
Oh, there's been all kinds of conversations that Team 100 members became ambassadors.
I can tell you myself, because I've been involved in the process, the only ones that came ambassadors
were the ones that deserved to be ambassadors and the ones could afford to be ambassadors.
Since the 1988 campaign, 11 donors who contributed $100,000 or more to the Republican Party were
named by President Bush to be ambassadors.
Did that bother Cortellus?
Well, there's some people that love to be ambassadors.
Now, I know I wouldn't.
You know how hard a job it is to be an ambassador.
Some of my friends that are ambassadors, they tell me they have to go to four or five parties
a day.
I can't think of anything worse can happen to me than have to go smile for five parties
a day.
It's terrible.
How you been?
Good.
How are you?
If George Bush is re-elected, he will owe a major debt to Cortellus and all the Team
100 members, and they will get special access to the president.
They're all CEOs.
That's why when we sit and sometimes the president will come at an event and they'll talk to
him and give him input, and they're from all over the country, this is an ideal thing for
our president, to be able to get input from people that are dedicated to him by virtue
of the fact they're putting their own time and their money.
Several Team 100 members have been accused of trading money for political favors.
Consider the case of Howard Leach.
He's a Team 100 member, a close friend of President Bush, and a major investor in California
agribusiness.
Last February, Leach organized a fundraising luncheon for the president in San Francisco.
He greeted Mr. Bush at the airport.
The president and Mrs. Bush arrived in California for a fundraising luncheon in San Francisco.
And during that visit, the president was asking about what some of the problems were in California.
So obviously when the president asked what the concerns were, we talked about the economy,
and the water was mentioned as one of the problems.
The problem of water in California is that it's scarce, especially after six years of
drought.
In California, water falls mainly in the north, while the agribusiness interests Howard Leach
represents want the water sent south.
That's where two prominent Team 100 members have their ranches.
Please join me in welcoming our governor, Pete Wilson.
Howard Leach's successful fundraiser on February 25th brought in $1 million for the president's
campaign.
Nine days later, Howard Leach and his friends got what they wanted, water.
Reversing Department of Interior policy, President Bush signed an emergency order sending 326
billion gallons of federally-subsidized water to corporate farms in central and southern
California.
Leach and his friends were delighted.
But environmentalists and people and businesses in the cities were angry, and so were fishermen.
Now there's one there.
There's another one over there.
In fact, there's two there, isn't there?
Chinook salmon are dying in California, gasping for breath in the sun before they even have
a chance to spawn.
The fish are dying because the cool water they need to stay alive was diverted by President
Bush to corporate farms hundreds of miles to the south.
The private interest contributes dollars so they can get their clout.
Fish aren't going to vote.
What's a few dead fish?
And Howard Leach denies he got any political favors from the president.
Now the fact that the Department of Interior found some way to balance the environmental
and the farming needs a few days later may be totally coincidental.
It may be that the president had some interest in it.
I have no idea.
But there certainly was no cause and effect as far as I know, and that's a totally unfair
characterization of the president's action and his concern over the people of California
and their needs.
This month the U.S. Congress passed a water bill which would reverse the president's order,
guaranteeing more water for the cities and for the fish.
California agribusiness is urging Bush to veto the bill.
Look at the way the American people view the political system today.
A fixed system, a rigged system.
Fred Wertheimer, president of Common Cause, a public interest group, has worked for 20
years to reform the campaign finance system.
You have to understand the way this system works.
This is a sophisticated system.
People don't have to articulate the exchange of money for a quid pro quo.
That's bribery.
God, that's a crime.
So we put this crime over here and we allow to unfold what can only be viewed as legalized
corruption, a system where I can give you an awful lot of money, millions of dollars
as it turns out, at the same time that I want enormous help from the government.
It wasn't supposed to be like this, not after Watergate.
Ten years ago, these men botched a burglary attempt at the Democratic Party headquarters
in Washington.
Watergate became the biggest political scandal in modern American history and led Congress
in 1974 to establish the Federal Election Commission, or FEC, now headed by Joan Aikens.
So you're a Watergate baby.
Well, yes, basically.
So what was the sin here?
What was Congress trying to regulate against?
The problem that Congress found was that there was, let's call it laundered money or money
under the table, there were cash contributions that were never accounted for, and they felt
that disclosure was the most important factor.
Do you think that now that the Federal Election Commission has been alive for a decade and
a bit, that things are better?
I hope that the disclosure provisions are working well.
Fred Wertheimer argues that simply publicizing the name of anybody who gives more than $200
to a campaign does almost nothing to stop corruption.
The free flow of money is a formula for selling our government to wealthy people and special
interests.
But what about the power of embarrassment?
Isn't that enough?
It would be embarrassing, it seems to me, if I were a member of a House or a member
of the Senate or an occupant of the White House, to receive money and do favors for
Harry Jones if Harry Jones' name, Harry Jones' money, and my favor are in the newspaper.
You don't live in Washington.
No, I don't.
But embarrassment in Washington is kind of an alien concept.
Embarrassment is built into the system.
I take the money, I smile, I take a little hit, and after all, we're all doing it.
We're Democrats, we're Republicans, most of all, we're incumbents.
We're all doing it.
Not just reformers are critical of the FEC.
Old pros like Bob Strauss, former chairman of the Democratic Party, say the FEC just
isn't working.
People are not really worried very much about violating the FEC rules.
They figure, what the heck?
The election will be over six months before it ever comes up.
So if I fail to follow the rules here, there, and yonder, I'll either be in office, and
I can work it out, or I'm out of office and won't give a damn.
Is he right?
That's Bob Strauss' opinion.
It is an opinion expressed by several other political consultants and campaign managers.
Does it embarrass you?
No.
We are doing, administering the law and enforcing it to the best of our abilities under our
budget with the number of people we have, and it's a very difficult area to try to enforce.
And she says Congress regularly tells her to do less.
You have to sort of be slightly namby-pamby in this, because they've given you namby-pamby
instructions.
They've given us instructions in the legislative history on almost every section of the law.
Try but not too hard.
Well, in some cases, yes.
Hey, hey, ho, ho, soft money has got to go, hey, hey, ho, ho.
Today, of course, big donors have found a way to give as much money as they want.
It's called the soft money loophole, and that's what these people are upset about.
Technically, big money donors can't give more than $1,000 to a presidential candidate.
But there's no limit on the money you can give to political parties, so the parties
have their own fundraisers, and they use the money they raise to help their candidates.
The president's dinner held last April in Washington was the largest fundraiser in the
history of American politics.
Are you a fat cat?
No, I'm not at all.
I'm a skinny lady.
I am a fat cat.
Here's one.
I'm losing weight, though, this year, guy.
The price of admission was $1,500.
Bush, man, there's money for everybody.
Hi, are you a fat cat?
If you could afford to pay $15,000, you were entitled to have a congressman sit at your
table.
Come on in.
Come on in.
$1,500.
I don't have enough money.
What are you fighting?
What are you fighting?
What are you fighting?
What are you fighting?
What are you fighting?
My friends, this sounds almost too good to be true, but together, you and I and 14,000
others have raised over $9 million through this event alone.
The president also seemed inspired by the $9 million event.
I intend to win this thing, and I intend to win it, and with your help, we will win it
big come November.
Thank you all, and may God bless the United States of America.
The problem with the soft money loophole is you never know who's going to wander through.
This man, Michael Kojima, was the biggest contributor that night at the president's
dinner.
He gave $500,000.
He was rewarded with a seat at the president's head table.
The president kissed Kojima's wife, and on his way out, shook Kojima's hand.
But Mr. Kojima proved to be something of an embarrassment.
Michael Kojima, the country's most wanted deadbeat dad, owes more than $100,000.
Soon after the president's dinner, the district attorney in Los Angeles aired this public
service spot and circulated wanted posters for Mr. Kojima, who owed child support payments
to two former wives.
Kojima went underground, but this month he was arrested in Salt Lake City.
He pled no contest to two counts of failure to provide.
Mr. Kojima doesn't want to say anything.
The Republican Party has placed Kojima's donation in escrow.
The fate of the money will be determined by a court in Washington after the election.
But the question remains, where did Michael Kojima get $500,000?
My best guess is that he raised this through contributions from foreign businessmen with
whom he's been actively engaged in the past.
My guess is that he probably bundled a significant number of these contributions and passed them
on to the Republican Party in order, again, to enhance his own appearance of importance.
The second largest donation to the dinner, $400,000, came from this man, Dwayne Andreas,
and his company, Archer Daniels Midland.
In this presidential campaign, Andreas and his company are the top soft money contributors.
People like that are important.
They do important things.
It's easy to criticize somebody who gave a ton of political money.
He does give important political money.
And when he phones, people tend to answer his phone call, no question about that.
Robert Strauss, the former chairman of the Democratic Party, is an old friend of Andreas's
and used to be on the board of his company.
He darned sure has an interest in seeing people he cares about get elected to office, people
who he thinks understand his business problems, understand the problems they face, so of course
it has a business aspect to it.
This week with David Brinkley, brought to you by ADM, supermarket to the world.
Andreas's company, ADM, is the world's biggest processor of agricultural products, a business
heavily dependent on government subsidies and tax breaks.
His company also makes ethanol, a gasoline additive derived from corn.
This year, what Andreas wanted most from the White House was a waiver from the Clean Air
Act so more ethanol could be sold across the country.
Dwayne Andreas is a classic example of what is wrong with the system today.
He is the thread that runs through this last quarter of a century.
He was a huge giver to Hubert Humphrey.
He was a huge giver to Richard Nixon.
Dwayne Andreas has been friends with every president from Harry Truman to George Bush.
His 1972 donations to Richard Nixon are linked to the Watergate scandal.
Most people have got to know whether or not their president is a crook.
Well, I'm not a crook.
On a Florida golf course, Andreas handed over $25,000 in cash to a Nixon campaign official.
It is a fact that was established that money that originated with Andreas and then went
through several intermediaries did find its way into the Watergate burglar's bank accounts.
That $25,000 later provided Watergate investigators with their first link between the burglaries
and the Nixon campaign.
And there's another curious contribution.
Here at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., we have discovered a five-page document
which has never been made public.
It's an interview with Rosemary Woods, President Nixon's personal secretary, conducted by
the Watergate Special Prosecutor's Office.
In it, she tells the prosecutors that in 1972, just before the presidential election, Dwayne
Andreas came to the White House carrying a brown accordion folder surrounded by a rubber
band looking something like this.
And inside the folder, she says, was $100,000 in hundred-dollar bills.
She knows because later she counted the money.
She was instructed to take the folder to the basement of the White House and put it in
the president's private safe, which she did.
About a year later, after the election, President Nixon told her to return the folder to Mr.
Andreas.
She gave it to a friend, Hobart Lewis, who brought it to Andreas.
We asked Mr. Andreas, why did you give the money to President Nixon and how come you
got it back?
In a letter to Frontline, Mr. Andreas would only say, quote, my present recollection is
that all of the matters referred to were thoroughly investigated without any adverse findings.
We contacted Richard Nixon.
His assistant wrote, he will not participate in your documentary.
The man who arrived at the White House with $100,000 in 1972 continues to be a welcome
visitor there today.
And I'm announcing today that the administration has decided to effectively grant a one-pound
volatility waiver for ethanol.
This month, President Bush, on his own authority, directed the Environmental Protection Agency
to grant the ethanol waiver that Duane Andreas had lobbied for.
Thank you all very much for coming down.
Concludes a happy, happy event.
Thank you.
An administration official said that because of the waiver, there would be an explosive
increase in demand for ethanol, nearly doubling domestic consumption.
No account of this election could totally ignore the appearance, the disappearance,
and the reappearance of Mr. H. Ross Perot.
Everybody's accusing me of buying the election.
My reply to them is, that's right.
The Texas billionaire announced he would dip into his $3 billion personal fortune and pay
for his campaign all by himself.
He promised to spend $100 million, or whatever it cost.
I made that deal with you because you can't afford it, it's that simple.
This was not Ross Perot's first venture into campaign finance.
He's been a major political donor for 20 years.
In fact, in 1974, he was the largest political contributor in the country.
Over the years, he and his family have supported candidates Lloyd Benson, John Glenn, Richard
Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and George Bush.
The only difference this year is that Ross Perot, the donor, has made himself the candidate.
But enough about Perot.
When the summer convention season arrives, it's a special time for big political donors.
In Houston, during the convention, golf tournaments were arranged for wealthy contributors at
a local country club.
While delegates at the Astrodome debated abortion, gay rights, and the economy, these donors
were getting better acquainted.
The Republicans Team 100 stayed at an elegant Houston hotel.
With the Team 100, we serve on various committees and are briefed and we select things.
Of course, since I'm in banking software, I selected banking.
Deanna is in the environment.
Ken and Deanna Kirschman are Team 100 members from Orlando, Florida.
Well, I feel that Bush will win.
We went through it, you know, earlier with the caucus and came through.
We were over in Europe at the time, and we thought...
Not going home.
Yeah.
We didn't know whether we'd come home or not, but we feel good about Bush.
Bob Mosbacher, the former secretary of commerce, is a founder of Team 100.
He makes sure that the $100,000 donors meet with the president at the White House and
have meetings with cabinet officials.
Team 100 members have even traveled together to the Soviet Union and to Eastern Europe.
California businessman Howard Leach went on both trips.
We had the opportunity to visit our ambassadors there.
We had the opportunity to meet with some officials of the government that were basically wanting
to encourage members of our group to consider private investment there.
Larry Bathgate says Team 100 is a kind of special club.
If you ask the membership, what's the best thing about it are the friendships that develop.
And I know Bob Farmer told you that.
It's true.
I feel that way, and I know our members do.
And that's really what I sell.
I say to them, you're going to thank me a year from now and say this is one of the best
investments you've ever made.
Hello, Bob.
How are you?
I'm fine.
I've been trying to reach you.
Big Democratic donors also congregated in their own parallel universe.
Folks, if we just form a line here, we'll get you as quick as we can.
During the Democratic convention in New York, they had their exclusive parties, like this
one, Manhattan's Upper East Side.
It was so exclusive, they wouldn't even tell us who was hosting it.
What is the event?
No, they don't want press, is what they're saying.
Right.
I understand that.
I was just wondering if someone could tell us what the event was or whether it was connected
to the Democratic convention sponsored by the-
I have to have that blank book on my face at this point now because I'm in their employ.
All right.
Hi, mom.
It's sponsored by the Stock Exchange.
Again, now I feel like a politician trying to duck and dodge.
Hi, ladies.
Can we help you?
Yes, we're invited to this.
For which party?
For the American Stock Exchange.
Here it is.
The cat's out of the bag.
Oh, sorry.
Enjoy yourselves.
That's what it is.
I think that people do expect a certain amount of access.
I think that they expect to be treated nicely at a convention, and in fact, there are some
major events that took place at the convention that were designed for trustees and managing
trustees, parties, and other social events when people who are like-minded have a chance
to come together.
And that's fine.
I mean, I believe people entertain customers, clients, and these are really the best clients
of the Democratic party.
While the Republicans and Democrats entertain their big donors, private companies sponsor
their own parties.
This one in Houston was hosted by the Washington law firm Patten, Boggs, and Blow.
Hi, Bill.
Good to see you.
Marilyn Quayle was there.
Now, wait a second.
Patten, Boggs, and Blow is Ron Brown's law firm.
That's Ron Brown, chairman of the Democratic party.
Well, it didn't seem to bother Marilyn much, and it didn't bother Ron, who wasn't there,
but his Republican partners were.
That, however, is how it works.
More contacts, more business.
One of the most active corporations at both conventions was Atlantic Richfield, or ARCO,
the giant oil company.
During this presidential election, ARCO has given over $400,000 to the Republican party
and even more to the Democrats, nearly 600,000.
What ARCO wants most from Washington is permission to drill for oil in a wildlife refuge in Alaska.
In Houston, ARCO chairman, Lod Cook, threw the biggest part, a $1,000-a-plate Republican
fundraiser.
And now, the man who took this gala from an idea and turned it into today's huge success,
the chairman of ARCO, the chairman of this gala, and the man of the hour, Mr. Lod Cook.
We've achieved our fundraising goal for the gala.
In fact, we've done better.
We've raised over $4 million.
Oh, now, ladies and gentlemen, I think I hear a train whistle.
Yes, it's a 1992 Republican victory train with a full head of steam for the White House.
Clinton would have his bus tour, but Bush, at least for this one afternoon, could enjoy
his whistle-stop train, trying out his Harry Truman imitation in front of 4,000 prosperous
Republicans.
At times during the campaign, the Democrats seemed almost embarrassed about raising vast
sums of money in public, not the Republicans.
This choreographed extravaganza was performed in full view of the assembled press corps.
The president's top fundraisers were introduced like starting players on a Super Bowl team.
Chairman of the Republican National Finance Committee, Mr. Larry Batcave, former Secretary
of Commerce and current general chairman of the Bush-Whale 92 campaign, and all-around
real guy, the Honorable Bob Mosbacher.
The victory gala also had support from the Terminator, and you'll notice actor Bruce
Willis.
He's right in front of California fundraiser Howard Leach.
On the floor, Howard Baker worked the crowd, and businessmen got acquainted.
In short, it was a gathering of the faithful and the affluent.
And I look forward to this fight.
I can feel it.
I can feel it building in my blood.
And one thing that is the most comfort is that through good times and bad, I have had
you at my side.
And we want to thank you for this fantastic show of support.
May God bless this great nation of ours.
Thank you for our many blessings, and may God bless the United States of America.
Thank you very, very much.
With the help of our co-chairman, Lad Cooke, the Republican Treasury now had another $4
million, and the president was ready to embark on the fight of his life.
As soon as their conventions ended, each presidential candidate got a $55 million check from the
U.S. Treasury.
The idea, of course, is public financing is supposed to eliminate the need to raise any
more private money.
But both parties want more, so they go right on raising millions of dollars from corporations
and from unions and from wealthy individuals.
They've got it both ways now.
George Bush, for example, or Clinton, they take $50 million in public money because this
is being put up for a clean system.
So I take it with one hand, and that's what I run my campaign on.
On my other hand, I'm out there raising all this money that this public money is substituting
for and running it through the system.
That's a ripoff.
It violates the system.
It undermines confidence in government to an incredible degree today, and we've got
to fix it.
Why is it still so important to raise more?
Well, it's partly like the arms race.
This is a huge country.
So while a presidential candidate upon nominations gets $55 million, frankly, that's barely
scratches the surface of reaching a country of 260 million folks.
Good.
We want 10 times as much, right, yeah.
So the parties go on trying to raise as much private money as they can.
Usually the Republicans are more successful, but this year, after the conventions, the
Democrats did better.
I will send you the stuff, and if you can do it, great, and if you can't, I love you.
Do me a favor.
When you're here, give me a call.
One problem the Republicans had is that some of their Team 100 members who were flying
high four years ago are now in financial trouble.
Donald Trump is a Team 100 dropout.
Even the co-founder of the team, Larry Bathgate, is having trouble this year making his $100,000
contribution.
I, like many Americans who these last three years with the recession have suffered, and
I am a real estate investor and developer.
And for the last two or three years, that has not been a business that one would choose
to go into if you were starting out.
And so things have not been as good as they used to be.
Sensing the possibility of victory for the first time since Jimmy Carter, big money donors
now flock to the Democratic Party.
Pamela Harriman hosted a special briefing for $10,000 donors at the Red Fox Inn in downtown
Middleburg, and the place was packed.
I'm a tassel-shoed lawyer who loves Bill Clinton, my wife from Arkansas, and she introduced
me to him, and I really fell in love with him, so that's why I'm here.
I think that the event itself is very important because it gives access, direct access to
senior officials in the campaign to understand what they're trying to do in the next two
months.
The executive industry has had meetings with both of the candidates, both in Detroit and
down in Washington, and we'll pursue that for the balance of this election, I'm sure,
to make sure our views at the company level are incorporated as much as possible into
their thinking.
Stage two of the event was a $1,000 a plate dinner at Pamela Harriman's estate, Willow
Oaks.
Al Gore arrived with his motorcade.
And as night fell, the candidate himself returned once more to Mrs. Harriman's.
In the 80s, Bill Clinton had been one of the first board members of Harriman's political
action committee.
Now her protege with her financial support seemed on his way to the White House.
The Republicans were now scrambling to keep pace.
Bob Mosbacher officially moved from the Bush campaign to the Republican National Committee
so he could raise as much soft money as possible.
And in October, the president himself was still on the fundraising circuit.
This city and this state have been good to us.
When all the primaries and the presidential campaigns are considered, the 1992 presidential
campaign will cost in excess of $400 million.
Thanks for coming.
Thank you so much.
And what did all those donations buy?
I was at the Waldorf Towers in New York in a big suite because the ambiance, the environment
is important in these things.
And a fellow came in and I made the pitch for the help and he reached into his pocket
and pulled out a check and made it out for $100,000.
And he set it down on the coffee table and he said, Mr. Farmer, I want to ask you just
one question.
And I didn't want to appear too anxious.
I did have my check.
And I said, go ahead.
And he said, is this hello or is this goodbye?
That's a very good question because people who give the checks, they want to feel that
they have the opportunity for input on issues that the campaign cares about them, not just
as a fat walking wallet, but as a real person.
And so I thought that was a very good, one of the better questions I've heard asked
in fundraising business.
I said this is hello.
Campaigns come and go, but the relationships remain.
And for some of these big donors, it really doesn't matter who wins this presidential
election.
Remember Dwayne Andreas?
This is where Dwayne Andreas maintains his vacation residence.
He's got the top floor of this hotel here called the Seaview Hotel in Bowell Harbor,
Florida, with a view overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.
Now, as it happens in this very same building, Senator Howard Baker owns an apartment and
not only Senator Baker, but also Robert Dole, a man who's run for president a number of
times and his wife, Elizabeth Dole, a former member of the cabinet, not only the Dole's
and the Baker's, but also Tip O'Neill, former speaker of the house, just happens to have
an apartment here.
And not only Baker and O'Neill and the Dole's, but also Jack Stevens, a major contributor
to the Republican Party and the Democratic Party.
Not only Stevens and the others, but also David Brinkley and also Bob Strauss, ambassador
to Russia.
Now, how do they all happen to live here?
Well, we're all very close personal friends and what happens very simple, not a complicated
story.
I remember visiting one time 15 years ago, 12 years ago, and I had a room at the hotel
paying for my room and Wayne said, you ought to buy an apartment here.
And so I looked around, it was very small, two rooms, and Helen and I go there, love
it.
And we bought one.
I was telling David Brinkley about it, he said, we've been thinking about getting a
place in Florida.
And I said, well, you ought to come down there and look at Seaview, and he bought one.
Dole, I was telling Elizabeth, Bob Dole, dinner one night about it, and they bought one.
So I said, you're a damn fool not to buy one of these, Bob, you love going down there.
Seaview is a national monument of sorts to an informal world of golf clubs, beach cabanas,
and political connections that don't show up on Federal Election Commission disclosure
forms.
It has nothing to do with being Democrats or Republicans, these are people who have
common values.
You know, I have a theory about that that you have to keep in mind.
The good guys, if you live to middle age, you find out the good guys all manage to kind
of get together and have a communication.
And the bad guys that don't fit in, all fit outside of that.
And the good guys get together, it doesn't have anything to do with race or creed or
color or political philosophy or sex or anything else, they're just decent, nice people who
have good sets of values that are comparable to your own and your friends.
Those are after dark friends in Washington, maybe.
You might be on opposite sides during the day, but we're all good social friends and
personal friends.
They are more than friends.
Bob Dole went to bat for ethanol and got contributions from Duane Andreas.
Andreas contributed to Howard Baker's big fundraiser and to Tip O'Neill's big retirement
dinner.
Andreas' firm, ADM, sponsors David Brinkley's show, and ADM appointed Bob Strauss to its
board of directors.
It's a cozy world, and no matter who wins this election, Strauss and his friends will
have access to the White House.
I'm going to be in Russia when this show airs as our ambassador, and I haven't taken part
in this campaign, but I think each of these candidates will run a good campaign.
They'll have good people around them doing it, and the public will vote.
Whoever gets elected, the country will go on fine.
Take my word for it.
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