Bush Defends His Elite Group of Fund-Raisers

Gov. George W. Bush of Texas is defending his use of a small group of longtime friends and political supporters as fund-raisers, each of whom has volunteered to raise $100,000 for his presidential campaign.

A citizen group, Texans for Public Justice, asked Bush for a list of the 150 to 250 people, known as Pioneers, “who each pledged to bundle together for you at least 100 checks worth $1,000 apiece.”

“The average American is not in a position to raise $100,000 for a political campaign,” said Craig McDonald, director of the group. “The coordinated use of money-bundling Pioneers to amass such large sums of money evades the spirit of the Federal Election Campaign Act.”

At a news conference Monday, Bush described the Pioneers as mostly longtime friends and political supporters.

“These are people who’ve decided to take time out of their lives to help me become the president,” Bush said. “And I am really grateful and very humbled by the outpouring of support,”

He promised that his campaign would release their names.

The campaign has previously declined to do so. Donald L. Evans, Bush’s finance chairman, turned down a request by The Times for the names earlier this month, citing “courtesy to all of those individuals” not to violate their privacy.

Bush, the Republican presidential front-runner, has raised $37 million for his White House bid in less than four months.

McDonald and Texans for Public Justice contended that the use of a small number of Pioneers to accumulate large sums of money flies in the face of federal election laws that limit campaign contributions to $1,000 per individual.

Also on Monday, Bush moved to end a flap sparked by his use of so-called soft money to pay for expenses in next month’s Iowa straw poll.

Bush, reversing his earlier position, said he would use his own campaign coffers to pay the $43,500 cost of leasing a site to court supporters at the straw poll.

Though the site will be used to boost Bush’s hopes of gaining the Republican presidential nomination, the money for the lease had come from the Republican Party, not from Bush’s campaign, officials acknowledged. After initially insisting the practice was legal, Bush issued a statement later Monday reversing his stand.

Federal Election Commission officials said the lease plan fell into a legal gray area, whereas Bush’s rivals charged it broke campaign spending laws.

“It’s good to see Gov. Bush clearly noted the error of his ways and has chosen to follow the letter and intent of the law,” said Bill Dal Col, an aide to publisher Steve Forbes, one of Bush’s rivals for the Republican nomination.