Donor Probe Veers Toward Bipartisanship

A Senate panel on Friday granted legal immunity to four women--including two Buddhist nuns--suspected of making illegal donations to the Democratic National Committee during last year’s presidential campaign, resolving an impasse that threatened to scuttle scheduled hearings on campaign finance abuses.

Once hamstrung by political sniping, the Senate’s campaign fund-raising probe took a sudden turn toward bipartisanship as Republicans and Democrats struck a deal that could allow greater scrutiny of both parties’ missteps.

“Sure, we’ve had our disagreements, and as time moves on, we’ll still have them,” said Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.), the committee chairman. “But we have a broader responsibility.”

With the opening of televised hearings just days away, members of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee granted immunity to Hueitsan Huang and Siuw Moi Lian, who each gave $5,000 donations to the DNC at the controversial April 29, 1996, fund-raising lunch at the Hsi Lai Temple in Hacienda Heights, Calif., attended by Vice President Al Gore. Both Huang and Lian were later reimbursed by the temple for their contributions.

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The committee also granted immunity to Xi Ping Wang and Yue F. Chu, two Maryland women who were reimbursed after funneling $25,000 to the Democratic Party in 1996 at the behest of the Macao-based business partner of controversial fund-raiser Yah Lin “Charlie” Trie.

The panel will consider granting immunity in exchange for testimony to as many as 17 other witnesses--most of them Buddhist monks and nuns--after senators return from a weeklong break.

The granting of immunity gives Thompson some colorful characters to fill the witness chair--and potentially important behind-the-scenes testimony--once the hearings get underway July 8.

Democrats had been blocking immunity, which required a two-thirds vote, to wrest concessions from the Republicans. In exchange for their support for immunity, committee Democrats received a guarantee from Thompson that he would approve their two dozen outstanding subpoenas of GOP organizations--a move some Republican senators have vehemently opposed.

“I think we have an opportunity now . . . to do a great job for the American people,” said Sen. John Glenn (D-Ohio). “If there is one thing that needs fixing, it’s this campaign fund-raising system.”

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After 10 days of hearings on the influence of illegal foreign contributions in U.S. elections, Thompson has pledged to hold a second phase of hearings in the fall delving into structural flaws in the campaign finance system, including the role of “soft-money” donations to political parties.

Of the witnesses who were granted immunity Friday, Huang and Lian were members of the Fo Kuang Shan Buddhist Order, a Taiwan-based sect with members around the world.

Investigators hope that Huang, who lives in Richardson, Texas, can shed light on donation laundering at events other than the well-publicized Gore luncheon. Huang is also expected to provide more information on Man Ya Shih, a senior official at a Texas temple who has said that she was reimbursed by the temple for a $5,000 contribution by a woman whom investigators believe is Maria Hsia, a California-based Democratic fund-raiser.

Lian lives in San Francisco, according to investigators, who hope she will reveal information on any other illegal donations at Fo Kuang Shan temples across the United States.

Meanwhile, Wang and Chu are related to Ming Chen, an employee of a trading company owned by Trie, a former Little Rock, Ark., restaurateur and friend of President Clinton. Senate investigators have determined that Ng Lap Seng, Trie’s business partner, asked Wang and Chu to donate money in their names so he could attend a Feb. 19, 1996, fund-raiser at Washington’s Hay-Adams Hotel. Ng is not permitted to contribute because he is not a legal U.S. resident.

The harmony at Friday’s meeting was in marked contrast to the partisan outbreaks that have threatened recently to steer the investigation off course. Just two weeks ago, Democrats were preparing to walk out on the investigation, which they condemned as a partisan show. Outraged Republicans were accusing the Democrats of obstructing the investigation and engaging in damage control for their party’s missteps.

In the end, it was neither Thompson nor Glenn who broke the impasse. Instead, two other members of the committee--Sens. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and Carl Levin (D-Mich.)--conducted back-channel negotiations that led to Friday’s agreement.