Ex-Aide to Sen. Clinton Is Defended

Hillary Rodham Clinton’s finance director was kept in the dark about the skyrocketing costs of a star-studded fundraiser for her 2000 Senate campaign, his attorney told jurors in Los Angeles on Thursday.

“David Rosen’s responsibility was not to be a Sherlock Holmes, to go around with a flashlight and root things out,” defense lawyer Paul Sandler said in his opening remarks at Rosen’s trial in federal court.

Rosen, 40, is charged with causing the Clinton campaign to file false reports to the Federal Election Commission. He is specifically accused of understating by $800,000 the $1.1-million cost of putting on the Aug. 12, 2000, extravaganza, held at a Brentwood estate on the eve of the Democratic National Convention.

A Justice Department lawyer told jurors Wednesday that Hillary Clinton had nothing to do with any wrongdoing. He accused Rosen of masterminding the coverup to avoid being fired from his $105,000-a-year job.

In his remarks to the jury Thursday, Sandler disclosed that Rosen would testify in his own defense. He described the government’s case as a “bizarre miscarriage of justice.”

Sandler blamed the underreporting on Peter Paul, a three-time convicted felon who underwrote the $1.1-million affair, and on Paul’s protege, Aaron Tonken, who is now serving a five-year prison sentence for fraud.

At the time of the fundraiser, Paul was promoting an Internet venture with “Spider-Man” creator Stan Lee. He has said he bankrolled the event in hopes of getting President Clinton to join the enterprise after he left office.

Sandler said Rosen never saw any of the bills or budgets that were generated during the planning stages for the event. “He did everything by the book,” the defense attorney said. “Had he known about it, he would have reported it.”

Sandler also contended that under federal election law, Paul, the donor, was responsible for accurately reporting his in-kind contributions to the Clinton campaign headquarters for forwarding to the election commission.

Prosecutors have decided not to call Paul to testify in the case, but one of their first witnesses Thursday was a onetime friend and confidant of Rosen’s, who said he worked on the fundraiser at President Clinton’s behest.

James Levin, a Chicago businessman and Democratic Party fundraiser, was described as the president’s “eyes and ears” at the event.

On Monday, Levin agreed to plead guilty to federal bribery, fraud and conspiracy charges in connection with the award of public contracts to his family’s fencing company in Chicago, he said. As a condition of his plea deal, he said, he agreed to testify truthfully against Rosen.

Levin said Thursday that Rosen was keenly aware that the Los Angeles fundraiser’s budget was spiraling out of control.

When told about the mounting expenditures, Rosen responded with comments like, “Shut up and leave me alone” or “I don’t want to hear about it anymore,” Levin testified.

Levin also recalled a conversation he said he had with Rosen during a dress rehearsal for the event. He said they both expressed dismay about the price tag. “The cost of this event will never be the cost of this event,” he quoted his friend as saying.

Sandler began his cross-examination by pointing out that he and Levin had met once before, at Rosen’s wedding in November.

Levin acknowledged having told the defense lawyer after the reception that the charges against Rosen were unfounded.

On the stand Thursday, Levin said he only meant to suggest that the case was politically motivated.

“I’m here to tell the truth,” he said.

Sandler also questioned why Levin had never bothered to alert President Clinton about the cost overruns, given the fact that he had promised to serve as his point man. Levin offered no explanation.

The trial is scheduled to resume Tuesday.