Ex-DNC Chief Lays Out Some Blame

In testimony during the Senate campaign fund-raising hearings on Tuesday, former Democratic Chairman Donald L. Fowler accepted some responsibility for the scandal that exploded at the Democratic National Committee last year but laid a portion of the blame at the gates of the White House, where presidential advisor Harold M. Ickes became a de facto party chairman.

Describing his relationship with Ickes as one of “dynamic tension,” Fowler said the deputy White House chief of staff essentially ran the DNC fund-raising operation, overruling Fowler.

“I did feel that he was involved in the management of the DNC in a fashion that I didn’t appreciate,” Fowler said in his deposition, remarks that he repeated Tuesday.

With a phalanx of attorneys seated behind him, the former chairman of the problem-plagued DNC insisted there was no intentional effort by anyone at the Democratic Party or the White House to raise foreign money or otherwise skirt federal election laws.

“If any member of our staff or anyone else associated with our fund-raising efforts did things that were illegal or unethical, they did so in violation of our policies,” Fowler said. “Our vetting was deficient, but our purpose and our values were good and proper.”

Those values, however, came under sharp attack by Republican members of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, who produced documents portraying Fowler as so eager to raise money that he made questionable political judgments.

In helping Democratic donor Roger Tamraz push a controversial oil pipeline project with President Clinton and other White House officials, Fowler ignored stern warnings from national security advisors and his own staff about the trustworthiness of Tamraz, records show. Fowler arranged White House access for Tamraz even as national security aides put Tamraz on a “watch list” to keep him away from top administration officials.

After Fowler testified that he did not recall contacting the CIA on behalf of Tamraz, Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.), the committee chairman, unveiled previously classified CIA documents showing that Fowler twice contacted a CIA agent on Tamraz’s behalf.

“Does that refresh your recollection, Mr. Fowler?” Thompson asked.

“Not in the least,” Fowler shot back.

Fowler argued that it was part of his job as party chairman to help major contributors gain access to the administration. He said a DNC policy banning fund-raisers from contacting government officials on behalf of donors did not apply to the chairman.

It was up to the White House, Fowler testified, to ultimately decide who received “face time” with the president.

Fowler argued for reform of the campaign finance system so that major contributors do not have disproportionate influence on the political system. But under the current rules, Fowler acknowledged, money does buy access.

“As long as we finance our political system by private contributions . . . the people who give large contributions are going to be paid more attention to than the people who give small contributions,” Fowler said.

At the same time, Fowler said, he assisted both donors and non-donors alike.

Tamraz, who gave at least $300,000 to Democratic state and federal candidates in the 1996 election cycle, was one of those to whom Fowler paid attention.

Fowler’s handwritten notes from a July 1995 meeting with Tamraz indicate that the Lebanese American businessman provided Fowler with names of two people to call on Tamraz’s behalf--Sheila Heslin at the National Security Council and a CIA agent named “Bob.”

Fowler testified that he recalled telephoning the NSC to check on Tamraz’s status, but he said he has no recollection of ever calling “Bob,” an undercover agent whose last name was redacted from documents.

“I have no memory of that,” Fowler testified, acknowledging that “memory is fallible.”

The CIA, however, produced internal memos from “Bob” showing Fowler had spoken to an agent on Oct. 20, 1995, and Dec. 13, 1995.

In the first call, the CIA agent said Fowler sought information to help get Tamraz into a meeting with Vice President Al Gore.

In the second conversation, the agent said Fowler asked for a letter to clear Tamraz’s name for White House access. In both cases, the agent said he did not provide Fowler with what he wanted.

Democrats on the committee released a deposition from “Bob” that offered a possible explanation for Fowler’s lack of recall. “I was under . . . cover,” the CIA official said. “I can’t say for certain [Fowler] knew who he was talking to.”

Fowler said he was aware of concerns within the administration about Tamraz. He said he recalled reviewing a Sept. 13, 1995, memo from Gore’s national security advisor, Leon Fuerth, warning of Tamraz’s “shady and untrustworthy reputation” in pushing an oil project that is “commercially questionable at best.”

But Fowler said he did not remember seeing an earlier memo from one of his own aides saying Tamraz’s business dealings are “full of significant financial and ethical troubles.” In that memo, dated July 12, 1995, just before Fowler’s first meeting with Tamraz, aide Alejandra Y. Castillo advises Fowler: “Pay attention to these warning signals!”

Senate Democrats were quick to point out that Tamraz, a generous giver to both parties, was being courted by both.

Sen. John Glenn (D-Ohio) produced a 1985 letter in which former Republican Chairman Frank J. Fahrenkopf Jr. urged an aide to President Bush to name Tamraz to a presidential commission dealing with banking or petroleum. The letter mentioned that Tamraz is a Republican Eagle, a major GOP backer.

On Feb. 12 of this year, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) sent Tamraz a note inviting him to join the Republican Senatorial Inner Circle and receive briefings from top GOP senators and opinion leaders.

The missive was dated well after Tamraz’s name had been tied to the Democratic fund-raising scandal.

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, followed up a week later by telling Tamraz that he would make “a perfect Inner Circle member.”

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Times staff writer Robert L. Jackson contributed to this story.