GOP Senators Cast Wide Net in Probe of Fund-Raising by Democratic Party

Subpoenas served Wednesday show that the Senate investigation of Democratic Party fund-raising will be an extraordinarily wide-ranging probe that seeks information involving hundreds of individuals and corporations in the United States and Asia.

The subpoenas, obtained by The Times, reveal that Senate Republicans are delving deeply into the worldwide operations of the Lippo Group and the activities of John Huang, the former Clinton administration official and Democratic Party fund-raiser who is at the center of the controversy.

At least 13 companies affiliated with the Lippo Group, the Indonesia-based conglomerate that employed Huang before he joined the Commerce Department in 1994, were issued subpoenas in the Los Angeles area, congressional sources said.

The records sought by the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee include Huang’s personnel file, appointment books, calendars, electronic mail and telephone logs, in addition to all political donations made by Huang and his wife.

“We wanted to cast a net as wide as we could to get all relevant information,” said a source familiar with the Senate inquiry.

The requests for documents indicate that the Senate panel, led by Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.), is concentrating on Democratic donors and the Clinton administration. Only two of the 51 subpoenas focus on potential wrongdoing by Republicans.

Last week, Sen. John Glenn (D-Ohio) criticized the partisan nature of the committee’s approach. “We’ll be out combing the bushes to see what we can find to balance what we see as an unfair representation at the start,” Glenn said.

Thompson is seeking Senate approval for a $6.5-million budget to conduct wide-ranging hearings later this year.

Many of the subpoenas were sent to donors who gave large contributions to the Democratic National Committee, which were returned after they were deemed to be illegal or questionable.

Among the donors are Taiwanese Americans Johnny Chien Chuen Chung of Torrance and Yah Lin “Charlie” Trie, South Korean John H.K. Lee and Thai businesswoman Pauline Kanchanalak.

The panel also is seeking information about a White House coffee last April attended by Vice President Al Gore and Ann W. Brown, head of the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Spokeswomen for Gore and Brown confirmed that the consumer safety chief attended the reception for contributors but said there was nothing improper about her presence.

“She attended as a DNC contributor, not in her CPSC role,” said Kathleen Begala, a commission spokeswoman. “She has been a contributor to the DNC for many years.”

Indeed, records show that Brown contributed $25,000 to the DNC in two donations that were entered on the party’s books only four days after her coffee with Gore. She contributed so much to the party and its candidates that she exceeded the legal limit on “hard money” donations, and the DNC had to refund $10,000 to her on the day before Clinton’s reelection.

Among the guests at the April 26 coffee was John J. Kelly, head of the Electronics Industry Assn., whose 1,300 member companies often find themselves under scrutiny by the CPSC.

But Brown and Kelly both said they did not talk to each other at the coffee, according to Begala.

Also included on the subpoena list are James C. Wood Jr., former American envoy to Taiwan; Mark E. Middleton, who left his White House post in early 1995 to represent Asian clients; Mark Grobmyer, a Clinton golfing partner from Little Rock, Ark., who also catered to Asian businesses, and C. Joseph Giroir, an Arkansas attorney who works closely with Lippo to find U.S. partners for deals in Asia.

Lippo officials have told the Senate committee they intend to comply fully with the document requests, according to congressional sources.

The Lippo Group is being represented by the Los Angeles law firm of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips. Calls to Lippo and the law firm were not returned.

The scope of the inquiry is reflected in the documents being sought from the Lippo organization: information about scores of affiliates, subsidiaries and divisions; home telephone numbers and addresses for Lippo employees; all contributions to charitable or tax-exempt organizations made by Lippo companies, Huang, his wife, Lippo head Mochtar Riady and his son, James; and any documents “referring or relating to” a list of 99 individuals or companies.

The committee also is seeking any documents pertaining to Lippo’s employment of Webster L. Hubbell, the former associate attorney general who pleaded guilty to separate fraud and tax-evasion charges in December 1994.

Hubbell has declined to describe the nature of an employment relationship he entered with what he described as an affiliate of the Lippo Group in the summer of 1994, soon after he resigned from the Justice Department.

Times staff writers Doyle McManus and David Willman contributed to this story.