Note: alana (African Latino Asian Native American) community [add m for Mixed -bloods] alanams

Kerry's California Coddling

His campaign lavishes VIP attention on well-connected backers, trying to make them feel more like friends than mere fundraisers.

October 26, 2004

Beverly Hills producer Daphna Ziman is no ordinary political fundraiser.

She and her husband sat with other top fundraisers in a special skybox for Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry's campaign at the party convention in Boston. They schmooze with the Kerrys at VIP receptions. At Rosh Hashana, Ziman said, Kerry called her with best wishes for peace in her native Israel. She sometimes calls Kerry on his cellphone — just to chat, Ziman said — as he traverses the swing states.

The Zimans belong to a rarefied group of Democratic Party fundraisers with backstage passes to the Kerry campaign. They are dealt into weekly conference calls with top party leaders and given special titles — Vice Chairs, Co-Chairs, Patriots, Trustees — based on how much money they've raised. They jet off to see the Kerrys at retreats, like a gathering at Teresa Heinz Kerry's estate near Pittsburgh in August, or a weekend in Washington, D.C., in early October.

They have helped touch off an avalanche of more than $102 million in political donations from Californians to Kerry, liberal groups and Democratic Party causes. In the process, Kerry set a record for raising more money in a single state than any candidate in any election.

Some fundraisers, like Ziman, display gold-tone brooches that spell out "Kerry 2004" in faux diamonds. Her husband, Richard Ziman, chief executive of Arden Realty — and a Kerry backer for nearly 10 years — got a silk tie whose pattern subtly blends little American flags and "JK '04."

Of course, wealthy Los Angeles fundraisers — like the Zimans, many have entertainment industry connections — don't really need campaign tchotchkes. They're committed liberals who want President Bush out of the White House.

But they also want something far more intangible — a level of access and attention to which fundraisers in Omaha could never aspire.

"The nice thing about John is that he listens. He really listens to people," Ziman said, sitting on a beige leather sofa with leopard spotted pillows in her beamed neo-Tudor mansion.

Rainmakers like the Zimans have been crucial to the Democratic Party's ability to match Bush's war chest of political contributions for the 2004 presidential race — particularly since campaign finance reform limited the usefulness of individual big-dollar donors. Their role is heightened in California, where Kerry holds a commanding lead, and where the fiercest campaign is the shakedown for money — not votes.

"In general, California has been used to raise dollars for the rest of the country," said Mark Gorenberg, the Kerry-Edwards California finance chairman. "We're primarily raising money to fund the ground game or the ear war in the swing states."

California fundraising has been "nothing short of amazing," Gorenberg said. In Kerry's last swing through the state, he earned $7 million with just two events, Gorenberg said. Four mid-October events raised $3 million for Democratic causes.

Making key political fundraisers feel appreciated — through access, symbolic gifts and honorary titles — has become a priority for both parties.

The Bush campaign led the way in the 2000 campaign, when it created the Pioneers, Rangers and Super-Rangers, and granted them substantial rewards: According to one study, at least 146 of them got federal jobs or appointments, some in positions to regulate their industries; at least two got Cabinet posts, and 24 were made ambassadors.

Last year, the Kerry campaign unveiled its own inner circle. Those who raised $100,000 were named Vice Chairs, $50,000 fundraisers were called Co-Chairs, and those raising $25,000 became members of the "national finance committee."

After the convention in Boston, Kerry campaign treasurer Bob Farmer created the Trustees, fundraisers who gather $250,000. Nearly 500 fundraisers signed up, 80 of them in California, though some are still working toward their goal, Farmer said. Trustees are eligible for the weekly conference call and retreats where they have personal access to the Kerrys — a taste of the kind of relationships that, in Hollywood, are a tradition.

"This is a very creative community with very healthy egos. There is no shortage of people wanting to offer advice," said Andy Spahn, the political advisor to longtime Democratic donors Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen, as he sat in his sun-filled office eyeing a CNN broadcast of Bush speaking in New Hampshire.

"There's a real process of humoring," Spahn said. "A lot of the listening is ego massage."

One campaign volunteer put it more bluntly: "Donors love to hear themselves talk."

By all accounts, the Kerry campaign does lots of listening.

According to someone familiar with the relationship, Spielberg has repeatedly encouraged Kerry to smile more. The director has also sent Kerry John Wayne movies that demonstrate how he used pauses to give his words emphasis — an attempt to tone down Kerry's "academic" speaking style, the associate said.

DNC national finance co-chairman Peter Maroney has chatted with fundraisers at hotels like the Peninsula. Top liberal fundraisers such as director Rob Reiner and environmental activist Laurie David and her television star husband, Larry David, went over the campaign's ads with Kerry strategist John Martilla a few weeks ago at a private Brentwood home.

Supermarket billionaire Ron Burkle, who hosted a $4.2-million fundraiser for Kerry in March, is among those who have participated in Tuesday conference calls for West Coast fundraisers, Maroney said. Sometimes Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe fields their questions, he said.

"It helps in keeping people informed," Maroney said.

Kerry treasurer Farmer hosts a national Trustee call every week, during which fundraisers can listen to a revolving political A-list — strategist Bob Shrum, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, foreign policy advisor Madeleine Albright and sometimes even Kerry and his running mate, John Edwards — deal with issues such as the campaign's slow response to the Swift boat attack ads.

"If you're in Akron, Ohio, or Kansas City, you suddenly feel very connected to the campaign," said Farmer, the chairman of the Trustees program. "I think involvement always leads to money."

Laurie David said she has declined to accept a title — one out-of-date DNC list calls her a "Patriot," meaning she raised at least $100,000, though party officials say she has probably surpassed that — but she participates in the Trustees' calls.

"For any political junkie, they're fantastic," she said. "You really get to hear the inside of what's going on. You get to stay home and discuss stuff and participate if you have anything to say."

Though the Kerry campaign's fundraising ended with the party convention and the acceptance of public funding, donors can still give to DNC accounts like the "Kerry Edwards Victory '04" fund, which finances efforts to turn out the vote and television and radio ads, among other things. The overall limit is $57,500 each election cycle, Farmer said.

In August, the Trustees were invited to a retreat luncheon with the Kerrys at Heinz Kerry's 88-acre estate, Rosemont, near Pittsburgh, he said.

"We sent out a letter to everyone saying, 'When you visit someone's home, it's appropriate to bring a bottle of wine or flowers,' " Farmer recalled. " 'What we're suggesting is you bring a check for $20,000 or $25,000.' The Trustees brought a total of $2.5 million. It was unbelievable."

At another such meeting in Washington the first weekend of October, the Trustees helped raise $4.5 million. Trustees were invited to a special meeting with Kerry and to receptions with party luminaries, he said.

"It creates a national community," California's Gorenberg said. "It's a nice reward for key people around the country."

But established Hollywood fundraisers are harder to impress. The Zimans didn't even go to the D.C. retreat. They went to a wedding in Las Vegas.

"This is not about the perks," said Daphna Ziman, a former model and record company executive. "We are doing this for our children and the future of this country."

Campaign finance reform has altered the "VIP lounge mentality" that prevailed when presidential candidates courted a handful of Hollywood insiders who could each legally donate millions of dollars, said Skip Paul, an early Edwards fundraiser.

Candidates "have come in and auditioned and kissed rings. We expect to be courted," Paul said. "But it's not that efficient anymore. It doesn't pay to drive across town and wait for 15 minutes in someone's waiting room while they take calls from their agent. It's not, 'Do you know a few rich people?' But, 'Do you know a lot of people?' "

But in a city where the Academy Awards is just the climax of a year-round series of events, political fundraising benefits from a well-oiled social machine. In this universe, an August fundraiser in Santa Monica, featuring Tony Bennett, earned $3 million even though it was put together on 10 days' notice.

"I sat right next to John [Kerry] and gave him my opinions," said Richard Ziman, who with his wife was co-chairman of the event.

Here, Gulfstream liberals mingle with Gulfstream conservatives and Gulfstream libertarians, and political fundraising networks overlap with philanthropic money-raising circles. Fundraisers for Bill Clinton reinvent themselves as fundraisers for Al Gore and lunch with their friend Maria Shriver, the wife of Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The wealthy liberal establishment employs a growing team of professional political consultants — drafted from the White House and national political campaigns — who act as liaisons between major fundraisers and the candidates, charities and causes they support.

The motivations of Los Angeles fundraisers are as varied as their resumes: They're concerned about the war in Iraq and the growing toll on U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians. They're worried about eroding environmental protections, U.S. policy toward Israel, job losses and abortion rights. They're concerned about intolerant attitudes toward gays and stem cell research. Some just want a friend for the entertainment industry in Washington.

Ambitious politicians like Kerry have tapped into this donor-rich community for years. "There's no question there are people in this community with long relationships with Kerry," said veteran political advisor Marge Tabankin.

Emerging fundraisers are quickly drawn into the fold.

Just days after Laurie David initiated a high-profile event for a pro-Democratic group, America Coming Together, DNC chairman McAuliffe penciled in a closed-door meeting with David and her husband in the "Chimp Room" of the Beverly Hilton.

At times, however, it can be difficult to figure out who's massaging whom.

When Dan Burrell came to Los Angeles to orchestrate Kerry's fundraising, he crashed at the Ziman residence — for three weeks, the Zimans said.

"John Kerry calls me up and says … can you give him a hand," Richard Ziman said. "He had no car, no place to stay. He ate out of the pantry like the rest of us. I talked to him every single day."

Then there is Jennifer Hodges, a volunteer coordinator working with the campaign and married to a freelance animation writer. Not long ago, she worked a fundraiser honoring McAuliffe at the home of an animation producer.

"I'm talking to her, making sure her celebrities are taken care of, and it turns out she owns one of the biggest animation companies in L.A.," Hodges said. "I said, 'Oh my God, can my husband send a spec script?' She said, 'Sure.' He called her the next day."

Daphna Ziman said she doesn't mind feeding Kerry campaigners. What irks her, she said, is their insistence on "idiotic" fundraiser titles that clash with her party's populist mission.

"I told some people in the campaign that I don't want to be called a Co-Chair or a Trustee anymore," Ziman said. "I want everybody to be equal. I feel so equal to an autistic 35-year-old man who has saved $50. Fifty dollars coming from a working person is worth much more than $25,000 coming from me and Richard."

But the treatment that big money donors receive is quite different. On a recent night, Ziman was one of a handful of people publicly thanked by Kerry's wife at a DNC fundraiser where the level of access was determined by the money donors had brought in.

The event's host was Luciana Solomon, a former "Bond girl" who played the flame-haired assassin who mocked James Bond's charms in 1965's "Thunderball" before being shot dead on the dance floor by one of her own men ("Do you mind if my friend sits this one out?" Bond remarked. "She's just dead.").

Actors Valerie Harper and Samuel L. Jackson were among the celebrities at the soiree. But most of the people Heinz Kerry mingled with in a restricted VIP area were a more obscure but far more crucial group, fundraisers who had each donated or helped raise more than $5,000 for the event.

Later, Heinz Kerry descended the garden path to address the larger, lower-paying group, saying that Los Angeles donors were "always there with a smile, always there with a hug, and always, always, with some dollars."

There was hesitant laughter.

"Well, that's why we're here, isn't it?" Heinz Kerry continued. "Unfortunately, we need money to run, as you know. And you've been superb."

Heinz Kerry detailed the social issues her audience cares about. But she also provided the intimate, insider tone they have come to expect. She confided that her husband had waited a long time to run for president. "He's the slowpoke," she said. "I think of him as a good claret. He takes time, and it's good."

She drew applause when she observed that Californians don't see the political ads broadcast in battleground states "because you're so progressive and so kind, you just give us the money and we spend it elsewhere."

At the Zimans' home, a silent army of caterers set up tables on a recent day for a fundraiser for Environment 2004, one of the pro-Democratic independent groups reaching out to swing state voters who could side with Bush — a choice Ziman finds incomprehensible.

"What is it about the American people?" Ziman said, disappearing down a hall to get dressed. "I really feel like half the population has had a lobotomy."

"Do you want to stay and meet Pierce Brosnan?" her voice trailed behind her. "He's the godfather of my daughters."

A few days later, Ziman began her seemingly endless morning phone calls in a small room adjacent to her French provincial-style kitchen, in front of a window with a view of water rushing down a stone fountain. Her husband padded around the kitchen in his T-shirt and shorts, reminding her about another reception.

Solomon, the hostess of the Heinz Kerry fundraiser, called. Kerry's wife, Ziman reported, was very happy with her.

"I told her that she and you would be friends for life," Ziman told Solomon. "Teresa is one of those people who will always make time for people. She'll be one of the only first ladies to use the White House kitchen. She makes the best cookies. I have to keep away from her."

"By the way, Luciana," Ziman asked her, "can you do another fundraiser?

"A lunch for Women for Kerry? You can? Oh, thank you so much!"

RSCH: Following the imposition of ceilings on donation amounts, a political body could simply set up as many affiliates as it needed to maintain its total political contribution level at the same level as before, he said.

Limiting the number of political bodies and affiliates would run counter to the freedom of association guaranteed by the Constitution, he said.

Lawmakers are also considering ways to deal with the practice of diverting donations, in which contributions earmarked for a specific lawmaker are made to his or her political party or its fundraising body before making their way to the lawmaker's pocket. Lawmakers are obliged to report political donations only if they come directly from a political lobby. "The problem is that the practice has been used as a means to launder money," Iwai said. The origin of contributions paid to lawmakers through a political party or its fund management organ can be concealed, clearing the way for industry lobbies to bribe lawmakers. To stamp out this practice, donations made on condition that they be given to specific lawmakers or political bodies should be banned, according to DPJ policy affairs chief Yoshito Sengoku. But the LDP is against the proposal, saying it would be hard to legally define the practice. Experts say it would still be difficult to track money because diverted funds can be filtered through various channels, including a political party and its numerous branches across the nation.

Politicians "must go back to the drawing board and discuss how to reduce demand" for political funds. Much of that money goes to org’l upkeep. strengthening the power of a political party's headquarters to raise funds, possibly by boosting current government subsidies to political parties from the current 35 billion yen a year, while limiting the number of local party branches that can collect contributions.

"Trying only to tighten regulations under the current circumstances will just lead politicians into playing a cat-and-mouse game with the law, making them search for more ways to collect illegal contributions."

RSCH: For regular updates on campaign fundraising in this and other key races, please visit http://www.ilcampaign.org . Both the Sunshine Project and the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform are nonprofit, nonpartisan projects that work to increase public awareness of how political campaigns are funded in Illinois.

October 25, 2004 03:09 PM US Eastern Timezone

Convio, Leading Nonprofits and Political Campaign Expert Address Impact of Internet on Public Policy at Independent Sector Conference

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 25, 2004--

Bhagat's session at this year's Independent Sector Conference (Making Participation Count, The Fairmont Chicago, Nov 7-9), is titled "The Power of the Internet to Shape Public Policy," and is scheduled on Nov. 8, 2:30-4:00 p.m. For more information on the conference, please visit http://www.independentsector.org/AnnualConference/2004/main.htm.

Convio, Inc. is the leading provider of software and services to help nonprofits use the Internet for developing strong constituent relationships that drive fundraising, marketing, advocacy and other forms of support. Dean for America used Convio's online tools to attract 650,000-plus constituents and raise more than $20 million online in less than a year, and now is a model for nonprofits on effective use of the Internet to mobilize a constituency to take action.

One of the most influential organizations serving the charitable community, Independent Sector is a coalition of leading nonprofits, foundations and corporations strengthening not-for-profit initiative, philanthropy and citizen action. The Independent Sector Annual Conference is the premier national meeting ground for the leadership of the entire nonprofit sector.

In his session, Bhagat will provide an overview of what nonprofits can learn from today's most progressive political campaigns about how to use the Internet to engage constituents so they will advocate, donate, volunteer and participate in other critical ways.

"Political campaigns historically have broken new ground in using media to reach, motivate and mobilize constituents, which is exactly what nonprofits need to do to fulfill their missions," said Vinay Bhagat, founder and chief strategy officer of Convio. "So, it is important to take stock of what today's campaigns are teaching us, and the big lessons now are all about utilizing online tools."

Co-presenting with Bhagat will be:

-- Liz Nielsen, Easter Seals. Nielsen will discuss Easter Seals' "Full Participation for All" campaign -- an online petition-based initiative targeting federal, state and local policy makers to make sure people with disabilities have equal opportunities to be active members of society. Nielsen also will explain how Easter Seals plans to use the Internet to motivate campaign participants to provide additional forms of support.

-- Bobby Clark, CampaignWorks (formerly with Dean For America). Clark will talk about the applicability of online strategies and tactics used by the Dean campaign to other organizations, among them, the Don't Amend Alliance, a Utah-based organization working to stop a proposed state constitutional amendment that would deny legal rights and protections to any form of domestic relationship other than traditional marriage. The Don't Amend Alliance is using Internet tools for petition drives, "viral" email marketing (people sending emails to friends and relatives), fundraising and more to generate support for defeating the proposed amendment.

-- Tracy May, American Cancer Society-Chicago. May will explain how her organization has used the Internet to mobilize constituents for the annual "Walk & Roll" event, a 5-mile walk, 10-mile in-line skate or 15-mile bike ride along Chicago's lakefront to raise funds and awareness for eliminating cancer. May also will discuss online cross-marketing to event participants so they also will advocate, fundraise, volunteer and participate in additional ways.

About Convio, Inc.

Convio is the leading provider of software and services that help nonprofit organizations use the Internet to build strong constituent relationships to drive support and participation. Convio has online solutions for fundraising and membership, advocacy, special events, volunteer fundraising, Web site management and email communications. All solutions include the Constituent360(TM) platform, a sophisticated, online marketing database that centralizes constituent data and integrates with offline databases. This gives organizations a unified view of constituent interests and motivations -- key for personalized and targeted outreach and communications. Convio also provides services and consulting to help organizations achieve success online.

In addition to Easter Seals, Don't Amend Alliance, and American Cancer Society-Chicago, Convio's clients include the American Diabetes Association, American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, AVON Foundation, Brady Campaign United with the Million Mom March, Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, Chicago Public Radio, Farm Aid, Georgetown University, KCET Community Television of Southern California, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, National Trust for Historic Preservation, Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and the Y-ME National Breast Cancer Organization. For more information, please visit www.convio.com.

Article copyright Business Wire 2004

CEO Gene Austin
Whitney Wood Otstott, 512-652-2632
wotstott@convio.com

Now, three separate sets of state and federal investigators are looking into whether DeLay and his associates may have finally crossed the line. They are trying to determine how the majority leader's interlocking political action committees (PACs) work in concert with his protégés in the lobbying industry -- a fundraising apparatus the Washington press corps refers to as "DeLay Inc." They are also considering allegations that this elaborate operation broke state and federal laws -- allegations that have prompted DeLay to hire criminal defense attorneys and raise money for a legal defense fund.

Two civil suits filed in Austin allege that DeLay's Texas political action committee raised hundreds of thousands of dollars through illegal means. A parallel criminal investigation by Austin's district attorney, Ronnie Earle, has already led to the indictment of DeLay's top Texas fundraisers -- and Earle is not ruling out the possibility that DeLay himself could be a target of the investigation. And the Senate Indian Affairs Committee has subpoenaed records on two DeLay associates who used their access to "the Leader" to secure $45 million in lobbying and consulting fees from four Indian tribes. A federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., is also investigating those fees.

Today DeLay controls a leadership PAC substantially larger than the PAC that Speaker Hastert operates. He directs more campaign money to Republican candidates than does Hastert. He has such firm control of K Street that many lobbying firms won't fill important positions without consulting his office.

Buried in the exhibits supporting the lawsuit filed against him in Austin is a letter that encapsulates the civil and criminal investigations threatening him. It's addressed to a Texas-based political action committee, Texans for a Republican Majority (TRMPAC), but the salutation reads "Dear Congressman DeLay." The letter is from the Williams corporation, a natural gas and pipeline company headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It says:

On behalf of the Williams Companies, Inc., I am pleased to forward our contribution of $25,000 for the TRMPAC that we pledged at the June 2, 2002 fundraiser.
With best wishes.
Sincerely,
Deborah B. Lawrence
Vice President for Government Affairs
Enclosure: check $25,000

One of very few things you cannot do under Texas campaign finance law, however, is accept a corporate donation to be used in a political campaign, with a narrow exemption for administrative expenses. In September, an Austin grand jury indicted Williams and seven other companies for making illegal contributions to TRMPAC; three DeLay fundraisers, including a key political aide, were also indicted.

The evidence Earle's investigators presented to the grand jury isn't public, but documents connected with the civil suits filed against TRMPAC lay out some of the details of the case. A deposition in one of the suits features accounts of turf disputes between TRMPAC's fundraisers in Texas and Washington, both of whom try to claim credit for corporate donations; letters and testimony in the case also reveal that the fundraisers reassured donors that their contributions were "nondisclosable." All in all, argues Earle, the evidence suggests "an illegal movement to basically steal an election by using illegal secret corporate donations to political campaigns."

Earle is referring to a watershed moment in Texas politics -- the 2002 election in which the state House of Representatives, after a carefully targeted campaign devised by DeLay and his associates, swung to the GOP. The new majority immediately proceeded to draw a new congressional district map designed to give DeLay half a dozen more Republican seats in Congress.

To engineer this fundamental shift in the state's political landscape, DeLay and one of his top aides, Jim Ellis, created a brand-new political action committee -- TRMPAC ("trim-pac"). Its initial contributions were unremarkable -- $50,000 from DeLay's leadership PAC, and $25,000 each from a Texas company and two businessmen including Bob Perry, the Houston home-builder who more recently underwrote the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth attack ads. But then, aware that past attempts to take control of the state House using only individual donations had come up short, TRMPAC's fundraisers went corporate. In one particularly productive day, September 9, 2002, a Republican state representative and a TRMPAC official visited six corporate offices and garnered pledges for contributions to the committee or its targeted candidates that included $22,000 from the Compass Bank and $25,000 from Reliant Energy. The fundraisers' schedule, obtained by the Texas Observer, includes an hour-by-hour account of the trip -- along with notes explaining the political favors the donors wanted.

The committee spent $1.4 million on 21 races, putting Republicans in control of the House for the first time in 130 years, and toppling the Democratic speaker who stood in the way of an off-year redistricting bill. DeLay personally worked on the maps, creating districts designed to elect five to seven more Republicans to Congress. "I'm the majority leader," he told the Washington Post, "and I want more seats."

Republicans control every statewide office in Texas, so it appeared there was no one -- other than lawyers filing civil suits -- to challenge TRMPAC's use of corporate money. But the PAC's operatives had apparently overlooked Earle, a Democrat who has indicted a Democratic attorney general for bribery, indicted a Democratic speaker for failing to report illegal gifts, and successfully prosecuted Republicans for corruption.

Some of the issues Earle is investigating were first made public by the watchdog group Texans for Public Justice, which noticed an interesting discrepancy between the group's federal and state filings: Roughly $600,000 of the $1.4 million TRMPAC spent in its campaign to change the majority in the Texas House had been reported to the IRS, but not to the state's ethics commission. As it happened, the federal records showed that about $600,000 of the group's money had come from corporate contributions, clearly identified as such by the PAC's fundraisers. Texas law allows PACs to use corporate money for administrative purposes -- that is, expenses that would be incurred by any business, such as office space, phone bills, and routine mailings. But phone banks to promote candidates and similar campaign expenses don't qualify.

Ellis, the DeLay aide who helped set up TRMPAC, told the Texas Observer that there was a simple explanation for the discrepancy -- the $600,000, nearly half of the committee's total expenses, had been used exclusively for administrative purposes and therefore didn't have to be reported to the state.

Ronnie Earle doesn't buy it. The 62-year-old district attorney is approaching the end of 27 years in office and has said he would have retired were it not for this case. Earle has the somber countenance of a hanging judge and a sense of humor as arid as his West Texas origins. Investigating the TRMPAC case has been slow, he says, because it's like "watching clowns climb out of a Volkswagen. There are a lot more in there than I imagined." In fact, in addition to the indictments for making and accepting illegal corporate contributions, Earle has won grand jury indictments against Ellis and TRMPAC executive director John Colyandro for an even more serious offense -- money laundering, a first-degree felony. In September 2002, TRMPAC sent the Republican National State Elections Committee $190,000 in what internal emails suggest was "soft," or corporate, money. Three weeks later, the committee sent a total of $190,000 to candidates in Texas House races. Earle maintains that the money was moved through the national committee to conceal its illegal corporate origins; TRMPAC officials have insisted that the corresponding amounts were mere coincidence. The PAC sent the money to the national party, Ellis told the Texas Observer, because "we like what the party does."

In the wake of the indictments, DeLay has maintained that he was not involved in running TRMPAC, and that he is not a target of the inquiry. Earle, for his part, will only say that the majority leader "is not a target if he hasn't committed a crime. Whoever is guilty of a crime will be a target."

But DeLay's troubles aren't limited to Texas. In February, Shawn Martin, an assiduous reporter who covers everything from plane crashes to parish council politics for the small daily in Lake Charles, Louisiana, broke a story that quickly got the majority leader's attention. Two of DeLay's associates, Jack Abramoff and Mike Scanlon, had extracted a staggering $31 million in lobbying and consulting fees from the 800-member Coushatta Indian tribe of Louisiana -- more than General Electric spent on all of its corporate lobbying efforts in the same three-year period. The pair also had lucrative contracts with tribes in other states, bringing its total for Indian lobbying up to $45 million in less than three years.

Until the Indian billing scandal broke, Abramoff had been one of the most successful lobbyists in Washington. He was also an original member of the "kitchen cabinet" DeLay formed when he was elected majority whip in 1994 -- a position that certainly did not hurt Abramoff's lobbying practice. A tribal leader who has been critical of the fees told the Washington Post that Abramoff frequently talked about his close contacts with DeLay when discussing how he could help the tribes.

Abramoff also was DeLay's go-to guy on Israel issues, and he was instrumental in DeLay's push to make sure U.S. labor law could not be used to cover sweatshop workers in the Marianas, an American protectorate in the South Pacific. (Clothing made in sweatshops in the Marianas can be labeled "Made in U.S.A.") At a 1997 dinner on the Marianas island of Saipan, according to the Dallas Observer, DeLay spoke of "one of my closest and dearest friends, Jack Abramoff, your most able representative in Washington."

DeLay was also a mentor to Mike Scanlon, Abramoff's partner on the tribal contracts, who had been on DeLay's congressional staff and helped run the "war room" DeLay had set up to ensure Bill Clinton's impeachment. Some of the millions Abramoff and Scanlon collected from the tribes appear to have ended up in GOP accounts, most notably a $500,000 contribution that Scanlon's firm made to the national Republican Governors Association in 2002. Abramoff is a Bush Pioneer, having brought in $100,000 for the 2004 campaign. Tribal members have also said they were encouraged to donate to political campaigns and charities supported by Abramoff and Scanlon. One of the pair's clients, the Mississippi Choctaws, for example, pitched in $1,000 to TRMPAC.

The tribal lobbying scandal has provided a rare window into the inner workings of DeLay's fundraising system, especially the majority leader's "K Street strategy." In 1995, DeLay held meetings with lobbyists and showed them lists of their firms' political contributions. He pointed out that Republicans were now in power, and that lobbyists' political giving had better reflect their understanding of that fact. At the same time, DeLay and the House leadership effectively closed their doors to lobbyists who were former Democratic members of Congress and former Democratic staffers. (In 1998, DeLay pulled an intellectual property rights bill from the House floor in retaliation for the Electronic Industries Alliance's hiring of a former Democratic congressman as its director.)

Conservative congressional scholar Norman Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute described the K Street strategy as "Tammany Hall all over again," a system in which even second-tier lobbyists earning $250,000 or less were vetted by the Republican leadership, and then were expected to contribute heavily to Republican candidates. The operation has never before been opened to public view, but the subpoenas in the Abramoff/Scanlon case are beginning to crack open one of Washington's most powerful networks.

Senator John McCain, who holds DeLay in low regard, is now eight months into an inquiry at the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, where he has an investigator working full time on Abramoff and Scanlon. A grand jury in Washington is also looking at evidence related to Abramoff and Scanlon's billing of the Indian tribes and filing subpoenas for the records of businesses and tribes connected to the two lobbyists. Even the moribund House ethics committee has been forced to consider complaints against DeLay, including one that focuses on a $25,000 contribution to TRMPAC from a Kansas utility. Internal company emails indicate that the contribution was made so the utility could "get a seat at the table" in negotiations over the federal energy bill. The committee, 4 of whose 10 members have received contributions from DeLay's PAC, was expected to dismiss that complaint; a more serious problem for DeLay could arise from allegations that a $100,000 bribe was offered to a Republican congressman on the House floor in an attempt to swing his vote on the Medicare bill last November. "That probably didn't happen without the backing of the leadership," says a source familiar with the probe.

Late last year, Washington Times editorial page editor Tony Blankley was reminiscing about the fall of another seemingly invincible congressional figure -- his former boss, Newt Gingrich. Gingrich was ousted as House speaker in 1998 not because of any single issue, Blankley said, but because he had been involved in too many fights and had faced too many allegations large and small, until the Beltway cognoscenti knew his power had been badly undermined.

Facing a broad, bipartisan assault on his political machine, and the risk that the paper trail could lead to his office, DeLay may find himself in a similar position. "These guys always skate too close to the edge," says Fred Wertheimer, a veteran campaign finance reform advocate who has lodged complaints against DeLay with Congress and the IRS regarding allegations that DeLay set up a charity to cultivate political influence. "Ultimately, they all fall."

Lewis, a former Clinton White House communications director, will take over the leadership of Clinton's cash collecting efforts in January, something party insiders say demonstrates how seriously the New York Democrat is taking her upcoming re-election bid.

"What we're going to do is get ready for 2006," Lewis said. "The first job is making (fundraising) the priority again

A senior liberal political operative, Lewis has held top jobs in the White House, at the Democratic National Committee and at Planned Parenthood. In her new position, she will oversee a fundraising machine based on long lists of mailing addresses, e-mail addresses and major donor private telephone numbers.

Clinton spent $29.9 million on her 2000 race and is expected to spend at least as much in 2006. She currently has $5.3 million in her campaign account, the paper said. Nov. 29 (UPI)