Clinton Steps Up Fund-Raising to Ease Party Debt

At a seafood supper in Houston, he recently inspired guests to dish out $600,000. At a posh dinner in San Francisco just a few days earlier, he captured a similar bounty. And in New Jersey and Pennsylvania on Wednesday, President Clinton stepped up the quest for dollars in an odyssey of five fund-raisers that yielded Democrats an estimated $2 million.

As stories of elusive videotapes, partisan accusations and the setback of campaign finance reform have dominated headlines of late, an entirely different tale of political money-raising has been unfolding.

Responding to fears that legal costs and a huge debt could paralyze the Democratic Party in the 1998 elections, Clinton has embarked on a stepped-up schedule of appearances aimed at raising millions of dollars by the end of the year.

For all the avalanche of negative publicity about the fund-raising techniques used in Clinton’s 1996 reelection campaign, his current efforts have caused “no political damage to the president,” said Democratic pollster Mark Mellman.

Indeed, an upbeat Clinton on Wednesday quipped to reporters on Air Force One: “I told them to film you and send it to Thompson.” He was referring to Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate committee that is investigating fund-raising abuses and the brouhaha over newly discovered videotapes of White House coffee receptions that included large donors.

While the White House now takes pains to avoid some of the practices that have sparked the controversy--such as the coffees--the quest for money continues to be aided by built-in assets of the presidency.

Frequently, an out-of-town fund-raiser is paired with an official presidential stop, such as a speech, enabling the White House to charge part of the travel costs to the public. Thus, during an April visit to New York largely devoted to presidential duties--including Clinton’s appearance at a tribute to baseball great Jackie Robinson--a political luncheon was squeezed onto the schedule. The trip was considered 76% official and 24% political, under legal guidelines followed by the White House counsel’s office.

But such distinctions fail to mollify advocates of campaign finance reform.

“It’s a very big issue, it’s a very real problem,” said Charles Lewis, director of the Center for Public Integrity, a watchdog group. “And in fairness to the Clinton folks, it’s been going on for decades.”

White House spokesman Barry Toiv said Clinton “bends over backwards to make sure the taxpayer does not incur inappropriate costs.”

(Unlike other recent trips, Wednesday’s travel may be considered entirely political, administration officials said.)

Clinton’s increased participation in fund-raising after a lull of several months in the wake of the November election reflects deep concerns within the party that the cost of the fund-raising investigations--ranging from legal fees to photocopying--could be ruinous.

Last spring, Democratic strategists settled on the answer: more fund-raising. And the strategy called for Clinton, as well as Vice President Al Gore and both of their spouses, to make renewed efforts at raising money in the second half of 1997.

Late last week, Gore made a two-day swing through Florida, headlining appearances in Jacksonville and Tampa. A week earlier, First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton traveled to a New Jersey rally. Before the event, an estimated 100 partisans paid $1,000 to attend a reception with her.

“We are pleased and honored that the president, the vice president and first lady are willing to be as active as they are to help us get back on a healthy footing,” said Steve Grossman, national chairman of the Democratic Party.

The committee owes about $15.3 million. The Republican debt is less than $3 million, according to its most recent financial disclosure.

“Clinton feels a tremendous sense of urgency in making sure the party is healthy and competitive,” Grossman added.

Republicans already command a majority of 55 to 45 in the Senate, but Democrats remain an influential force under the rules of that chamber as long as they number at least 40. Republicans outnumber Democrats in the House, 227 to 206 (there is one vacancy and one independent), and the razor-thin GOP margin means that many seats are potential battlegrounds in 1998.

Earlier this year, beleaguered Democratic leaders became concerned that the various investigations into fund-raising abuses during the 1996 campaign would require so much time and effort that the national party apparatus would be rendered impotent as a force in the coming election.

“There was a real question in people’s minds whether the DNC was going to be able to fulfill any meaningful function as a political organization. And there was a feeling that the Republicans wanted to bleed it dry,” one insider recalled of the thinking that led to a request for a more active presidential role in fund-raising.

In an interview, Grossman declined to reveal the cash target for money-raising efforts in coming months, but alluded to the debt millstone. “We hope and fully expect that we will have taken a significant bite out of that debt by the end of the year,” he said.

Wednesday’s five appearances ranged from an intimate gathering of real estate executives in one of their offices to a raucous lunch for 600 in a banquet hall. Price tags varied from as little as $25 per head to up to $15,000 a ticket at one of the gatherings.

One of Clinton’s goals Wednesday was to help New Jersey state Sen. James McGreevey, whose challenge this fall to Republican Gov. Christine Todd Whitman has gained increasing national attention.

Some of those near Clinton said that he has mixed feelings about his party’s money-raising demands.

“He doesn’t enjoy the cattle calls, the events with thousands and thousands of people because he doesn’t have an opportunity to spend time with people,” said one White House aide. By contrast, Clinton has said that he enjoys smaller gatherings.

Clearly, he tries to keep potential donors comfortable in a period when some may be reading their names in newspaper articles about fund-raising. “I think it’s a good thing you’re here tonight, not a bad thing, and I’m proud of you for doing it,” he told donors in Houston last month.

Times staff writer Melissa Healy contributed to this story.