GOP Chief Spoke at Asian Fund-Raisers

Republican Party Chairman Haley Barbour, who blasted the Democratic National Committee for accepting foreign contributions during the recent election campaign, was the featured speaker at fund-raisers for a GOP organization in Tokyo and Hong Kong last year.

The events raised money from U.S. citizens living in Asia, according to the organizers, and the money financed international voter-registration and get-out-the-vote efforts.

The disclosure of Barbour’s activities sheds light on one of the unknowns of overseas money in the American political system: what the Republicans were doing offshore at the same time that the Democrats were waging an aggressive solicitation effort that has embroiled them in a national controversy.

Democrats, from President Clinton on down, have hinted in recent weeks that the Republican Party, like the DNC, had engaged in foreign fund-raising ventures.

The GOP, it appears, was neither as pure of offshore fund-raising efforts as its spokesmen have maintained, nor as culpable as some Democrats have privately suggested.

There is no indication that the Republicans were seeking money from non-U.S. citizens, in contrast to the enormous donations that the DNC collected.

The DNC has returned several of those donations because they violated laws designed to keep foreign influence out of U.S. electoral politics or because questions were raised about whether the real source of the money had been concealed.

The Democrats’ activities are under review by three federal agencies and will be the focus of numerous congressional committees that plan to investigate the impact of foreign contributions on the American political system early next year.

Barbour declared as recently as Nov. 7, two days after the election, that he had never been involved in raising money overseas. However, the Tokyo and Hong Kong receptions where he spoke were sponsored by Republicans Abroad, whose organizers said that contributions came from U.S. citizens living in Asia.

In addition, nominal sums were received from a small number of Japanese guests. Leaders of Republicans Abroad say those payments were legal because they remained with the group in Japan and were used only to cover the cost of the dinner, not to finance political activity.

Republican Party officials insist that there is no comparison between their fund-raisers in Asia and the Democrats’ acceptance of six-figure donations from foreign individuals and companies for use in the United States.

Barbour was in Tokyo and Hong Kong in August 1995 for meetings of the International Democratic Union, a worldwide association of conservative political parties, but was traveling at the expense of the Republican National Committee. There is no question that he was aware that he was attending fund-raisers, although he did not solicit funds, organizers say.

Joan Shepherd, the current Asia-Pacific chairwoman of Republicans Abroad who hosted the Tokyo fund-raiser and participated in the Hong Kong reception, said both were openly intended to raise funds. The Tokyo dinner was billed as a $250-a-person event and raised more than $10,000, she said. It launched a fund-raising campaign that Shepherd said brought in $46,000 in 15 months.

Michael Jones, the Washington-based executive director of Republicans Abroad, was also present. Jones said Barbour “would have seen we were trying to raise money there. We decided to utilize his appearance to help us out.” He said the Hong Kong reception garnered “under $10,000.”

Nevertheless, Barbour did not mention the events when he was asked two weeks ago during a session with reporters and editors at the Washington bureau of The Times: “Have you ever personally solicited or been involved in the process of raising money overseas?”

He replied, “I have been overseas and spoken to Republicans Abroad, groups of American citizens, but even those haven’t been fund-raisers. . . . We have never had any kind of foreign fund-raising for the party.”

At another point he said, “Nobody from the RNC went overseas raising money.”

Barbour was on vacation and not available for comment Wednesday. RNC spokeswoman Mary Crawford said the chairman was clearly referring to the national committee at the time.

“I thought he made it pretty plain that he does do events for Republicans Abroad,” said Crawford, who also attended the session with The Times’ staffers. “These were not fund-raisers for the Republican National Committee.”

At the time, Republicans Abroad was an auxiliary of the Republican National Committee, which federal election regulations define as “part of the official party structure.” The group, and others like it, lost auxiliary status earlier this year, although the RNC still pays the rent for its Washington headquarters.

Barbour, a lawyer who became RNC chairman in 1993, has repeatedly criticized Clinton and the Democrats for accepting large sums from Asian interests, including Indonesian financier James Riady and his associates, who, the White House recently acknowledged, discussed U.S. policy in Indonesia and China with the president.

DNC fund-raiser John Huang, an executive with one of Riady’s companies before going to work for the Commerce Department and then the DNC, traveled to Taiwan to prospect for funds for the DNC in May.

“There is absolutely no comparison” between Barbour’s role in the foreign fund-raisers and the DNC controversy, Crawford said. It is part of Barbour’s job, she said, to meet with Republicans living abroad.

“It is no different from meeting with the Orange County Republicans when he is in Orange County. How could one possibly, in any way, shape or form, compare that to what is clearly an orchestrated effort to raise funds from foreign interests overseas by people who have direct influence over the American foreign policy that impacts those foreign interests?”

Crawford’s Democratic counterpart saw the matter differently.

“This is the height of hypocrisy,” DNC spokeswoman Amy Weiss Tobe said. “The Republicans have proven that those who live in glass houses ought not to throw stones.”

Campaign watchdog groups also expressed skepticism.

“What the story illustrates,” said Ellen Miller, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics, “is the extraordinary hypocrisy of the Republicans and the extent to which both parties are up to their eyebrows in the money-politics cesspool.”

Overall, Republicans Abroad, raised $162,301 during the past two years, its Federal Election Commission report said. The group makes its fund-raising and spending plans independently of the RNC, Jones said. There is also a Democrats Abroad. Democratic National Chairman Christopher J. Dodd never raised any money overseas or for Democrats Abroad, Tobe said.

The Republicans Abroad’s high-profile Tokyo event attracted 75 to 100 people, including some of the most prominent Republicans and American business people there.

At the door, U.S. citizens signed in on one sheet and non-Americans on another. Charlotte Kennedy Takahashi, a former chairwoman for Republicans Abroad in Japan, said some Japanese attended and paid about $100 to cover their costs, a customary arrangement in Japan, but made no contributions.

Republicans Abroad restricts its donations to U.S. citizens--declining to take money from legal residents living abroad, even though they legally are permitted to contribute, Jones said.

Robert Connelly, who owns a company in Tokyo, attended with his wife and contributed $1,000.

He said Barbour’s speech focused on “the need to have coherent foreign policy.” Barbour did not aggressively solicit money, he said. “Certainly, it was mentioned. But it was not emphasized.”

Times staff writer Sonni Efron in Tokyo and researcher Robin Cochran in Washington contributed to this story.