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From The Post Reno 'Mad' About Delay in Obtaining Videotapes (Oct. 10) Daschle's Mount Rushmore Trip Shows Fund-Raising's New Face (Oct. 10) Campaign Finance Bill Blocked Again (Oct. 10) DNC Ex-Aide Denies Teamster Link (Oct. 10) 'False Statements' Attributed to Straw Donor by Waxman (Oct. 10) 'Bob of the CIA' Told a Story, Then Became One (Oct. 10) On Tape, Reagan Appeals to Donors at White House By Ruth Marcus Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, October 10, 1997; Page A01 The setting was the stately East Room of the White House. Dozens of the party's biggest donors crowded in for a pep talk by the president, who thanked them for giving the party the "financial strength to recapture" the White House and urged them to do more. "And let me ask you now, I know this is silly, but can I count on you to help?" the president asked to thunderous applause. "I thought that might be your answer. Besides keeping the White House, at the top of our list is getting back the Senate. And I know we've got a lot of people here today who'll help lead the charge." That was 10 years ago. The president was Ronald Reagan and the contributors were the Republican Eagles, an elite group of donors who had given at least $10,000 in that year to the Republican National Committee. In the month after the Sept. 30, 1987 event, the party collected $1.3 million in renewals and new memberships in the Eagles, the RNC finance chairman said at the time. The Reagan remarks were captured by the White House Communications Agency – the same agency that videotaped President Clinton's White House coffees. The tape, archived at the Reagan library, was provided to The Washington Post by a Democratic source. It has become common for presidents of both parties to reward big donors with White House dinners. The Republican Team 100 donors were feted at the White House during the Bush administration, while the Democratic National Committee's trustees have been entertained there during Clinton's tenure. Both parties have defended those events as legitimate thank-yous for supporters. And Clinton administration officials have pointed to the Bush and Reagan events as evidence that they simply continued – or at worst perfected – an already robust tradition of stroking contributors. The Reagan tape, with his exhortation to the Eagles for future "help" and the party's apparent success in raising money from them afterward, provides yet another illustration of the fuzzy line between permissible reward and improper solicitation. For example, Republicans have seized on comments that Democratic fund-raiser John Huang allegedly made at one White House coffee that Clinton attended with Democratic donors. One participant, whose remarks were disputed by others, said Huang told the group, "Elections, as you know, cost money, lots of money, and I'm sure everyone in this room will want to support the reelection of the president." In his East Room remarks, Reagan stressed the importance of the money the group provided, likening the Eagles to the "cavalry coming to the rescue" of the party after the Watergate scandal and the disastrous midterm elections of 1974. "Thanks to the Eagles, the Republican Party had the financial strength to recapture not only the White House but to win the Senate as well." A.B. Culvahouse, Reagan's White House counsel at the time, said he saw no problem with Reagan's remarks and a huge difference between them and Clinton's coffees and other activities. He said the East Room is considered part of the White House residence, not an official space; that Reagan had only large receptions a few times a year rather than repeated small gatherings, and that no issues of substance were discussed. He added that events like this were fully disclosed on Reagan's schedule, not secret coffees. "There was no solicitation," Culvahouse said. "It was a general kind of reception where he was thanking them for help and asking them to help in the future. . . . " But Kent Cooper of the Center for Responsive Politics said the Reagan tape appears "very similar" to GOP charges of Clinton's use of the White House for fund-raising. "You want to use the aura of the White House to thank and also induce donors to be part of your team and that's the type of carefully crafted language that substitutes for the phrase, 'Give me as much as you can of your money.' " © Copyright 1997 The Washington Post Company Back to the top Go to Campaign Finance Report | Go to Politics Section