DUBIOUS Democratic fund-raising methods are coming under increasing scrutiny in the closing stages of the election campaign, writes Joe Carroll.
A leading fund-raiser, Chinese-born Mr John Huang, was forced to testify in court yesterday about his activities when employed in the Commerce Department and allegations that pressure was put on members of US trade missions to contribute to Democratic National Committee (DNC) election funds.
Mr Huang, who later moved to a full-time post with the DNC, has also come under media attention for his efforts to raise millions of dollars from the American-Asian community, including a fund-raising event in a Buddhist temple in California attended by Vice-president Al Gore. Mr Huang once worked for the wealthy Indonesian Lippo Group, which media reports have identified with contributions to the Democrats.
The White House has also been embarrassed by an investigation by the State and Justice Departments into charges that Mr James Wood, an Arkansas lawyer whom Mr Clinton appointed head of the American Institute in Taiwan, used his position to pressure Taiwanese businessmen to contribute to the president's re-election campaign. The institute is the de facto US diplomatic mission to Taiwan since formal diplomatic relations were ended in 1979.
There were further embarrassing headlines for the DNC yesterday when the Washington Post reported that the committee would not be filing its final report on election contributions until after the poll. This would be the first time since the federal election law was introduced after the Watergate scandal that the DNC has not filed a "pre-election" report on funding covering the first two weeks in October.
The DNC said it was not required to file the report because it had not spent any money directly on behalf of President Clinton or other candidates during that period. The Republican National Committee (RNC) has disclosed that it took in about $25 million and spent $36 million.
The RNC chairman, Mr Haley Barbour, has said the DNC decision showed "the utter contempt that this administration and its political arm have for the law".
Later yesterday, the White House tried to head off the criticism of the DNC when it ordered the committee to release details of fund-raising during this month.
Meanwhile, it has also been revealed that Mr Rupert Murdoch, head of News International, has contributed $1 million to the Republican Party in California where Mr Bob Dole has been campaigning intensively. A spokeswoman for Mr Murdoch, who is a US citizen, could not explain why he contributed so much to the party in California where he has a $7-million home and owns 20th Century Fox Studios.