shawa
CNO
Joined: 03 Sep 2004
Posts: 2004
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 Posted: Sun May 08, 2005 12:06 am Post subject: Sex, lies, secret tape at center of trial |
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The Times-Picayune got a transcipt of the secret recording.
This is just priceless!!!
His bit about 'Dull' Gore cracked me up.
| Quote: | Sex, lies, secret tape at center of trial
Reggie recording key as feds launch case
Saturday, May 07, 2005
By Martha Carr and Gordon Russell
Staff writers
Hotshot political fund-raiser David Rosen didn't hesitate when an old friend, visiting Chicago, called to invite him to a pricey meal at Morton's steakhouse.
What Rosen didn't know was that his buddy, Democratic Party operative Ray Reggie of New Orleans, was working with FBI agents to record secretly the entire conversation, a tape that is expected to be key evidence as one of the hottest political trials of the year begins Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.
A partial transcript of the Sept. 4, 2002, tape obtained by The Times-Picayune captures a conversation rife with gossip about the seamy side of political life, including the sex, drugs and prostitutes enjoyed by big-name Democratic stalwarts. But in due course Reggie deftly steers the conversation toward the feds' main interest: an August 2000 Hollywood fund-raiser for New York Sen. Hillary Clinton that is at the center of Rosen's alleged crimes.
In a detailed discussion of the event, Rosen acknowledges that the gala probably cost far more to produce than he reported on federal campaign forms, a criminal offense and the central question at issue in the case.
In return for his cooperation and testimony at trial, the feds have recommended that Reggie, whose sister is married to U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., get no more than five years in prison on two bank fraud convictions unrelated to the political fund-raising scandal. He is set to be sentenced in October.
Reggie's attorney, Mike Ellis, did not return phone calls Friday.
Rosen is accused of repeatedly misleading the Federal Elections Commission about contributions received to stage the star-studded gala on Aug. 12, 2000, two days before the start of the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles. The government alleges that a wealthy contributor, Internet entrepreneur and three-time convicted felon Peter Paul, paid more than $1.1 million to produce the event, costs which should have been reported as in-kind contributions.
Instead, the government says, Rosen underreported Paul's donations so Hillary Clinton's campaign could claim that more of the evening's proceeds were "hard" money, the kind that can be used on direct campaign expenses such as advertisements and election day efforts.
One exchange in the course of the dinner conversation appears to bolster the government's charge.
"We woulda never done it if the guy said he spent $2 million," Rosen says, according to the transcript. "So now he's (Paul) saying he spent $2 million on an event that raised $1.4."
Reggie responded, "Well, it was a pretty elaborate deal."
Rosen replied, "He may have."
Central role
An FBI affidavit in which the same conversation is quoted indicates that the secretly taped encounter has already played a critical role in the federal investigation.
The affidavit was filed in January 2003, four months after the steak dinner, to justify obtaining a warrant to search Rosen's Chicago-based fund-raising firm, The Competence Group. It remained sealed until early this year to mask the identity of Reggie, who was assisting in at least two additional and apparently unrelated investigations, according to the affidavit.
The specific targets of those probes remain a mystery, although the affidavit describes the first as involving a political figure who solicited illegal campaign contributions from foreign nationals, and the second about a Louisiana state senator who allegedly approved a fraudulent contract worth $5 million.
The Rosen trial comes at a time when Hillary Clinton, perennially short-listed as a potential Democratic presidential candidate in 2008, is also facing a 2006 Senate re-election fight in New York. Though neither Hillary Clinton nor her husband, President Clinton, has been charged in connection with the fund-raising scandal, it has been seized upon by conservative bloggers and media commentators. At the same time, it is decried by Clinton supporters as an attempt to sabotage the senator's presidential ambitions.
The man who underwrote the cost of the Hollywood gala can now be numbered among Clinton foes. Both Clintons are targeted, along with Rosen, in a civil lawsuit Paul filed stemming from the event.
Paul, who partnered with the creator of comic book superhero Spider-Man to create the Internet entertainment company Stan Lee Media, alleges in his civil case that he gave close to $2 million to Hillary Clinton's Senate campaign based on a promise that President Clinton would join the company when he left office. That promise was never fulfilled, he said.
Paul's civil allegations are similar to those in the government's criminal probe.
In the transcribed conversation with Reggie, Rosen says his defense in the civil case was being coordinated with lawyers for the Clintons, and he expresses concern that this might not be in his best interests.
"The former White House wanted to hire, or argue the case in a certain way," Rosen says in the transcript. "And I did it for them. Like, I bit the bullet and went in as a guinea pig, and argued their argument for me. Instead of frettin' and runnin' and coverin' my ass, I was a good soldier. . . . So far it's worked out, but I coulda done it a lot different."
The Clintons' lawyer, David Kendall, said Friday that he wasn't sure what to make of Rosen's "guinea pig" remarks. But he said the different parties have openly coordinated their defense strategies in the Paul case, and that on some issues, Rosen's lawyer has taken a lead role.
"It's no secret that counsel for Mr. Rosen, the Clinton for Senate Committee and the Clintons have been cooperating in the defense of a meritless civil suit brought by Peter Paul, and have succeeded in having most of that suit dismissed," Kendall said.
As his civil case loses ground in court, Paul, who claims he suffers from bipolar disorder, has seen his legal problems mount. He awaits sentencing after a federal conviction in March on charges of stock manipulation that could have cost investors $50 million.
Hillary Clinton has said her Senate campaign committee is fully cooperating with the criminal investigation and that she expects Rosen to be cleared. If convicted, Rosen faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each of three counts of making false statements.
'Hard' or 'soft' money
The government's indictment in the criminal case alleges Rosen was aware that the cost of the Hollywood gala was spiraling out of control and could ultimately exceed $1.2 million, including more than $600,000 for a celebrity-laden concert that drew more than 1,200 people.
Even so, Rosen on Oct. 15, 2000, declared only $366,564 in in-kind contributions for the event. That figure jumped to $401,419 in two subsequent filings, an amount that was still far less than the amount Paul spent to underwrite the gala, the indictment says.
Rosen's lawyer in the criminal case, Paul Sandler of Baltimore, did not return calls for comment Friday.
The government's case against Rosen hinges on precise distinctions between different categories of campaign money. Ultimately, money raised at the event went to three groups: Hillary Clinton's campaign for the Senate, a national committee supporting Democratic candidates for the Senate, and a state Democratic Party committee.
The rules for the joint fund-raiser were complex because the gala raised both "hard" money, or money given to candidates and subject to federal limits, and "soft" money, or money that flowed to advocacy groups and organizations and that was unregulated and unlimited under the federal campaign finance laws at that time. The "hard" money went to the Clinton campaign, whereas the "soft" money went to the state and national committees.
In such joint events, both costs and contributions have to be allocated according to a formula. Underreporting the cost of the gala would have allowed the Clinton campaign to spend less of its money on the event, ultimately leaving the campaign more "hard" money for ads, fliers and the like.
According to the tape, Rosen was acutely aware of these distinctions.
"With an in-kind, and then based on how you raise the money, whether it was 100 percent hard, or 30 percent hard, or 60 percent hard, you have to pay that percentage out of the in-kind," he told Reggie. "So we would have to move hard to soft.
"We gotta get rid of the hard. And that woulda hurt us."
An inside peek
Reggie first met Rosen when he signed on as a fund-raiser and media strategist for Hillary Clinton's Senate bid. Rosen was Clinton's national finance director, and Reggie, with his ties to the Kennedy family, was a powerhouse fund-raiser for the Clintons in Louisiana. After their months spent together separating wealthy Democrats from their hard-earned cash, Rosen was likely not surprised that Reggie would call to catch up with him during a stop in Chicago.
During their chat, the familiarity between the two is clear as they trade war stories and exchange gossip about the rich, powerful and politically connected.
In that way, apart from shedding light on the Hollywood gala controversy, Rosen and Reggie's conversation -- over Beringer wine, a New York strip and a "Cajun ribeye," followed by a gigantic scoop of vanilla ice cream -- offers a salacious peek into the fast-paced nexus of money and politics.
The chitchat ranges from speculation that a wealthy Clinton donor was using cocaine to lusty remarks by Rosen about the donor's young daughter. Rosen does not hesitate to disparage President Clinton, noting that he began calling regularly -- once a week -- after Rosen went to work for Hillary Clinton. "Go screw yourself , Mr. President," Rosen says, pretending to pick up one such call.
The salaciousness reaches its pinnacle with Rosen's rambling anecdote about a fat cat Clinton donor who said after a night of partying that he sent prostitutes to the hotel rooms of two top Clinton loyalists.
"So the next day, (one of the loyalists) calls (the donor) from the golf course with Clinton," Rosen told Reggie. "Clinton gets on the phone, he goes, I just wanna tell you something. . . . The day I'm outta office, I'm going out with you."
A lawyer for one of the Clinton insiders named on the tape denied the substance of the story. Kendall, Clinton's lawyer, declined to comment on the anecdote.
Reggie takes his own swipe at a party big shot, Al Gore, who flew into New Orleans for the 2002 Super Bowl, absent the privilege he enjoyed as vice president.
"I mean, I felt bad," said Reggie, who took Gore to the Ritz Carlton while he waited to fly out. "Here you are, the former VP, and the guy's like flying in a little, you know, nothing plane. And he's gonna catch a Yellow Cab. I'm like, no."
To that, Rosen added that he'll never work for Gore again. The former vice president, whom he thought he knew well, failed to recognize him at an event.
"I won't cross the street for that guy," he said. "I was willing to get talked back into another round with his ass. And I went to an event, and he was there. And I'm with him one-on-one a hundred times, at least. And he thought I was the valet parker."
Other witnesses lined up
It remains unclear how extensively the tape will be used or how critical Reggie's testimony will be to the government's case.
Bryan Sierra, a spokesman for the Justice Department's public integrity section, which is handling the case, declined to comment on the centrality of Reggie and Rosen's conversation.
But a recent filing by prosecutors indicates their case doesn't rest entirely on Reggie's shoulders. The government has lined up several other witnesses who will testify Rosen was aware the event cost far more than his reports indicated, the brief says.
Rosen "became increasingly panicked as the costs began to spiral out of control," the motion says. "On some occasions, when news of yet another cost was revealed to him, the defendant literally threw up his hands and announced that 'I did not just hear that;' 'don't tell me that again;' and that he did not want the subject discussed around him again."
The brief adds that Rosen directed one witness, who is not identified, to "take thousands of dollars of line items" off a campaign report about the event's costs.
It also says Rosen told a "confidante" that there was "no way" he could truthfully report the gala's costs. The motion says Rosen later told the confidante that if questioned, he would blame the errors on Paul and Aaron Tonken, another organizer.
Martha Carr can be reached at mcarr@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3306. Gordon Russell can be reached at grussell@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3347. |
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-3/1115447139105270.xml
_________________
“I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.” (Thomas Paine, 1776) |
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