Justice Dept. Request to L.A. Agents : FBI Investigation Asked on Karl Donations to Hart

The Justice Department said Tuesday that the FBI has been asked to investigate allegations that Orange County video producer Stuart Karl improperly funneled campaign contributions to Democratic presidential candidate Gary Hart in 1984 and 1988.

John Russell, a department spokesman, said Justice Department officials contacted FBI agents in Los Angeles on Monday to discuss the inquiry, launched in the wake of news reports that Karl secretly reimbursed his employees for contributions to Hart and put a Hart aide on his payroll in 1986 and early 1987.

Karl was reported to have engineered similar contributions to two unsuccessful 1986 Democratic congressional candidates, Orange County Superior Court Judge David O. Carter and Kathleen Kennedy Townsend of Baltimore.

Federal election law limits individual contributions to $1,000 per election and also establishes criminal penalties for hiding the true source of campaign contributions.

Reportedly Pressured Staff

Rama Middell, a former senior executive assistant at Karl’s now-defunct video company, Karl-Lorimar Home Video, has told reporters that Karl asked her and other employees to donate to Hart’s 1984 campaign in order to get around the $1,000 contribution limit. Other former Karl employees said last week that Karl pressured workers into making contributions and then reimbursed them.

“That’s illegal, if that’s what in fact took place,” said one Justice Department official who asked not to be identified. “That would be a violation that we would be very interested in.”

However, Hart could not be held criminally liable for any of the purported contributions unless it could be established that he knew the money had been secretly funneled from an unreported source, officials said.

Russell said the investigation, requested by U.S. Atty. Robert C. Bonner in Los Angeles, is a “preliminary” inquiry that will focus “on whether these contributions that the employees made violated federal criminal statutes.”

‘No Laws Were Violated’

Bernie Schneider, general counsel for Hart’s 1988 campaign, said “no laws were violated by the campaign, to my knowledge. We’re looking at it, and Gary’s made it very, very clear that he wants his campaigns to be conducted in not only a legal way, but at a standard that exceeds legality.”

Campaign officials said they have already returned a total of $3,000 in contributions made by Karl employees, including contributions from two employees who have reportedly denied that they were reimbursed by Karl.

“We have no independent information that any of these people were reimbursed, but just to avoid the hint of impropriety, Gary said send ‘em back,” Schneider said.

Judge Carter took a similar position Tuesday, saying his first step is to determine the amount of contributions involved.

“If there was some pressure on (Karl’s) employees to give funds, then we would like to put those funds either into escrow with the (Federal Elections Commission) or to donate them to charity, regardless of their eventual status,” Carter said.

He said that on Monday he had asked federal election officials in Washington for an “advisory opinion” on the proper disposition of the campaign funds. It has been estimated that he received as much as $9,000 in possibly improper contributions.

Carter said that he had no funds remaining from his 1986 campaign but that “we are prepared to take out a second trust deed on our house” to raise the money.

Carter was defeated by then-Assemblyman Richard H. Robinson (D-Garden Grove) for the Democratic nomination in the 38th Congressional District. Robinson then lost to the incumbent, Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove), in the 1986 general election.

Times staff writers David Lauter and Jess Bravin contributed to this story.