Democrats Get Record Gift of ‘Soft Money’ They Oppose

While Democrats launched a final push Monday for legislation to limit the influence of big-money donors, party officials said one contributor has given several million dollars this year to help build a national Democratic headquarters.

The gift, when confirmed in federal disclosure reports due to become public next month, will apparently be the largest of the past decade to either of the major national parties.

In an interview Monday, Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe declined to name the donor or specify the amount, saying that a report will make the information public soon. No other details about the gift could be independently confirmed.

But party officials made clear that the size of the donation, which is part of a $32-million fund-raising drive for the headquarters, will set a record.

Details about Democratic fund-raising for a new headquarters are emerging as Congress nears approval of legislation that would prohibit this type of drive.

The campaign finance bill now before Congress targets the unlimited donations to political parties known as “soft money.” These donations are often made in six- or even seven-figure sums.

This fall’s campaign would be the last in which national party leaders and federal officeholders or candidates will be able to call on major donors--including wealthy individuals, corporations and labor unions--for such contributions.

In the future, the parties will be forced to raise money in much smaller chunks from a broader base of contributors. The campaign finance bill would take these and other steps to overhaul federal election law for the first time in nearly 30 years.

On Monday, the Senate began debate on the legislation, which passed the House on a 240-189 vote last month and is expected to come to a final vote this week.

The Senate approved an earlier version last April on a 59-41 vote but must vote again because of House amendments to that bill. In both chambers, most Democrats joined with a splinter group of dissident Republicans in support of reform. GOP congressional leaders strongly oppose the legislation, calling it an unconstitutional infringement on free speech and an unnecessary barrier to building strong political parties.

Barring a major surprise, the Senate is expected to vote to send the bill to President Bush for his signature or veto, and White House aides have signaled that Bush will probably sign it.

In a further sign that obstacles to campaign finance reform are falling away, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), for years the legislation’s leading opponent, said the Senate could move swiftly toward final passage beginning as early as today.

‘We Find It Hypocritical,’ GOP Says

Proponents launched the Senate debate Monday with a stinging blast at soft money--a form of political fund-raising that they claim has undermined public confidence in good government.

“When we weigh the pros and cons of legislation, many people think we also weigh the size of the contributions we got from interests on both sides of the issue,” said Sen. Russell D. Feingold (D-Wis.), a chief sponsor of the bill. “And when those contributions can be a million dollars, or even more, it seems obvious to most people that we would reward, or at least listen especially carefully to, our biggest donors.”

Republican critics say the Democrats’ collection of soft money for a new headquarters undercuts their credibility.

“We find it hypocritical,” said Kevin Sheridan, spokesman for the Republican National Committee. “They’re out there as the vanquishers of soft money and its ‘corrupting influence’ on politics. So what are they doing right now? They’re out there shaking down every large donor they can find, every corporation . . . to permanently build a monument to their hypocrisy.”

McAuliffe, dismissing GOP criticism, said the new headquarters and upgrades in technology would help Democrats erase tactical advantages that Republicans have.

“I have to think of where we are as a party 25 years from today,” he said in an interview in his office on South Capitol Street. “This will be the last chance we ever will be able to afford a new national headquarters or new technology.”

In fact, both parties have been raising soft money at a furious pace as the likelihood has grown that Congress would move to ban it. In 2001, Federal Election Commission data show, Republicans raised $100 million in soft money, up 67% from what they collected in 1999 and 149% from their 1997 total.

Democrats, meanwhile, raised $68 million in soft money last year--up 26% from 1999 and double the amount they received in 1997.

The largest single donation to a national party since 1992 was Amway Corp.’s $1.7 million for a Republican committee in October 1994, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, an independent organization in Washington that tracks federal election data.

Late last year, two other donors gave $1 million each for the new Democratic headquarters: media executive Fred Eychaner of Chicago and the United Assn. of Journeymen, a plumbers’ trade union.

A major focus for McAuliffe, who became DNC chairman just over a year ago, has been to move the party into a newer, larger headquarters--outfitted with television and radio equipment and other high-tech gear to help the party reach out to donors and activists.

McAuliffe says he is trying to catch up to Republicans, who for years have invested in office space, computers and other equipment to help the party manage its operations in Washington and reach core supporters across the country.

In Time for Next Presidential Campaign

The Democratic plans call for a 95,000-square-foot, six-story building on E Street in southwest Washington, not far from the Capitol--nearly double the 55,000 square feet the party currently occupies.

Party officials say they have collected most of the $23-million cost of the building and are raising an additional $9 million to furnish and equip it. Groundbreaking is expected by summer, and the party hopes to occupy the building by late 2003--just before the next presidential campaign swings into high gear.

The new headquarters would help the party comply with the campaign finance legislation if it becomes law, McAuliffe said, by giving Democrats more space and resources to raise the smaller donations from a wider group of supporters. Those donations would be subject to limits of $2,000 per individual per election under the bill. Raising these smaller amounts is labor-intensive, political pros say.

In pushing the headquarters project, McAuliffe has the full backing of such top Democrats as Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) and House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.). Former President Clinton and his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), have also given their support.

Party officials say a small group of a dozen or so big donors is spearheading the headquarters campaign.

Haim Saban,, an entertainment industry executive from Los Angeles, is its chairman. Democratic officials insist that money raised for the headquarters will not siphon resources from this year’s Democratic campaigns to retake the House and maintain a slim Senate majority.