-Caveat Lector- Democrats Want Investigation of GOP By MICHELLE MITTELSTADT .c The Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) -- Democrats want the Justice Department and Congress to investigate whether House Republican leaders are violating campaign finance laws with a planned $25 million fund for key House races next year. Advisers to the House's third-ranking Republican, Majority Whip Tom DeLay of Texas, created the Republican Majority Issues Campaign to raise and spend that much in two dozen races in 2000. House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois, Majority Leader Dick Armey of Texas and the No. 4 Republican, Oklahoma's J.C. Watts, chairman of the Republican Conference, also are raising money for the effort. Campaign finance watchdog groups criticized the fund-raising strategy on a variety of fronts -- not the least of which is organizers' decision to keep their donor list secret. ``For members of Congress to set up an invisible slush fund to collect $25 million to influence the 2000 elections raises all sorts of questions,'' Larry Makinson, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics, said today. ``Who's giving the money? What promises are being made, either explicit or understood?'' Also Thursday, the chairman and top Democrat on the House ethics committee took the unusual step of releasing a letter saying the panel had not approved the GOP leaders' campaign. Approval from the ethics committee ``was never sought and, thus, never granted,'' wrote the chairman, Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, and Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif. The campaign's organizer, Karl Gallant, said his fund meets all federal election laws and simply mirrors get-out-the-vote and issue advocacy campaigns by organized labor. He contended the fund's activities do not have to be disclosed because it will operate independently and will not explicitly advocate for or against individual candidates. ``It absolutely amazes me that Big Labor can go out and mobilize liberal votes ... but suddenly conservatives don't have First Amendment rights,'' he said Thursday, adding that his ``grudging admiration'' for the AFL-CIO's advocacy campaign prompted him to emulate that effort. Gallant said he will not disclose contributors' names because it would put the campaign at a ``strategic disadvantage'' to unions. In 1996, the AFL-CIO contributed $35 million in an unsuccessful effort to help Democrats retake control of the House. Union leaders are pledging more than $40 million for television ads and mobilizing voters next year. One request for an investigation came in a letter this week to Attorney General Janet Reno from Robert Bauer, an attorney for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. The Justice Department declined comment Thursday. DeLay's congressional aides referred questions to Gallant, who previously headed DeLay's leadership political action committee. Armey's office declined comment, as did Watts'. Hastert's spokesman could not be reached immediately. Meantime, the top Democrat on the House Government Reform Committee asked the panel's chairman, Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., to include the GOP fund raising in the committee's current investigation of Democratic fund-raising abuses from the 1996 election. A committee spokesman, Mark Corallo, said the letter from Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., has not been received. DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
