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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) On Tape, Reagan Appeals to Donors At White House (Oct. 10) Campaign Finance Bill Blocked Again (Oct. 10) 'False Statements' Attributed To Straw Donor by Waxman (Oct. 10) 'Bob of the CIA' Told a Story, Then Became One (Oct. 10) DNC Ex-Aide Denies Teamster Link By Edward Walsh Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, October 10, 1997; Page A10 A former finance director of the Democratic National Committee denied yesterday that he took part in an illegal conspiracy to "swap" campaign contributions with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and assailed the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee for what he called its "heavy-handed" and "partisan" investigation of campaign fund-raising abuses. Describing events in the summer of 1996, Richard L. Sullivan, who left the DNC in February, confirmed testimony by another DNC fund-raiser, Mark Thomann, that Sullivan asked him to find out whether a wealthy businesswoman who had pledged $100,000 to the Democrats would give the money instead to the reelection campaign of Teamsters President Ron Carey. At the same time, Thomann said, he came under heavy pressure from Nathaniel Charny, a Teamsters lawyer, who called repeatedly demanding to know "where's the money." But Sullivan insisted his request to Thomann was not part of a "swap" of campaign contributions with the Teamsters or outgrowth of an alleged conspiracy by a consultant working both for the DNC and the Carey union campaign. Ultimately, the $100,000 contribution was never made to the Carey campaign. He said that earlier in 1996 the consultant, Martin Davis, had told him and Laura Hartigan, finance director of President Clinton's reelection campaign, that if the DNC aided the Carey campaign "it would help him raise money from the unions." But, Sullivan added, "at no time did either Martin or Laura suggest that Davis's help in the labor community was conditioned upon or was a quid pro quo for the DNC's assistance in raising money for Carey's election. It was certainly my impression that Davis wanted to help the DNC regardless of whether we were helpful in finding him support for the Carey campaign." Davis has pleaded guilty to fraud charges in connection with an investigation of the ties between the Teamsters and the DNC being conducted by the U.S. attorney's office for the Southern District of New York. As a result of allegations of a money laundering scheme by Carey aides, a federal judge also has invalidated the Teamsters election, which Carey won narrowly. Much of yesterday's hearing centered on DNC attempts to find a home for a pledged $100,000 contribution from Judith Vasquez, a wealthy businesswoman from the Philippines who could not legally contribute to the party, and whether it was connected to the alleged conspiracy by Carey aides to engineer a contributions "swap" with the Democrats. Senate Republicans have suggested the DNC agreed to steer donations to the Carey campaign for Davis's promise to generate as much as $1 million in Teamsters' contributions to state Democratic parties. Thomann, who was in charge of DNC fund-raising in Northern California, told the committee that initially Vasquez was asked to give her contribution to Vote Now '96, a South Florida voter registration organization with close ties to the Democrats. But he said that in July 1996 Sullivan told him "we have a change of direction" for the Vasquez contribution and directed him to find out whether she should would be willing to give the $100,000 to "Teamsters for a Corruption Free Union," the Carey organization. Thomann said he was troubled by the idea of giving money to an organization that had "no relationship" with Democratic election campaigns. He said he also determined that Vasquez, as an employer, also could not legally contribute to a labor union election campaign. "Richard immediately was fine with that," Thomann added. "He exerted absolutely no pressure on me." In the end, the full $100,000 contribution was given to Vote Now '96. In his testimony, Sullivan described this as "a contribution indifferently pursued and not made." He also argued that on "the key points" he and Thomann agreed – "that I asked him to determine the woman's willingness to contribute, that I asked that the legal requirements be checked, that those requirements were not satisfied and that she did not contribute [to Carey]." Questioning Sullivan, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) accused him of being "hedging, evasive and untruthful" in an earlier deposition when Sullivan said he did not ask anyone to try to raise money for Carey. Sullivan replied that in the same deposition he mentioned his call to Thomann about the Vasquez pledge and that "I did not ask Mark to ask her to contribute." Before he was questioned, Sullivan delivered a stinging rebuke to the committee and its Republican staff, accusing it of "badgering" him and trying to "twist my words." "This all amounts to a most eye-opening experience in this town when a 33-year-old who worked hard and honorably in American politics is systematically hounded at great personal cost to satisfy the partisan demands of the moment." Sullivan also threw back at committee Chairman Fred D. Thompson (R-Tenn.) some of the phrases that Thompson used Tuesday when he called on President Clinton to "step up to the plate" and "take responsibility" for Democratic fund-raising abuses. "This is your Senate," Sullivan said. "This is your Republican Congress. And these are the majority's hearings. And the majority has a responsibility." The committee yesterday also unanimously approved subpoenas to the White House Communications Agency ordering it to produce witnesses who can testify about the agency's filming of White House coffees with Democratic donors and the belated delivery of those audiotapes to the panel. © Copyright 1997 The Washington Post Company Back to the top Go to Campaign Finance Report | Go to Politics Section