James Riady during a press conference at the Lippo Center in Jakarta (AP)

On Our Site | Congress | Executive Branch
Supreme Court | Partisan Views | Virtual Sight-Seeing | Interest Groups & Think Tanks
Magazines

On Our Site

Money Talks
Dwight Morris's monthly column for our Campaigns Section. Morris is president of the Campaign Finance Study Group

White House Coffee Database
Search a list of people invited to DNC-organized coffees with President Clinton, Vice President Gore and their wives in 1995 and 1996.

Overnight Guests
Names from an official list of overnight guests who stayed at the White House during President Clinton's first term in office and were also listed as individual donors to the Democratic Party.

From Congress:

Senate Governmental Affairs Committee
The Senate committee that held hearings on 1996 campaign fund-raising improprieties.

• Full text of the executive summary of the committee's final report (majority report)
• Full text of the executive summary of the minority's final report
• Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.), chairman
• Sen. John Glenn (D-Ohio), ranking Democrat

House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight
The House committee investigating campaign fund-raising.

"Soft and Hard Money in Contemporary Elections: What Federal Law Does and Does Not Regulate"
A January 1997 report from the Congressional Research Service that examines the major types of financial activity in elections and explains what are widely labelled as loopholes in federal law. (Reprinted by the Center for Responsive Politics.)

From the Executive Branch:

"The FEC and the Federal Campaign Finance Law"
A primer from the Federal Election Commission.

President Clinton's March 7, 1997 press conference
Full text of the press conference during which Clinton defended Democratic fund-raising.

From the Supreme Court:

Buckley v. Valeo
Text of the 1976 U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down previously-imposed campaign spending limits on First Amendment grounds. (From FindLaw Internet Legal Resources.)

Partisan Views:

"The Selling of America's House"
The Republican National Committee offers its primer on Democratic improprieties.

"A Catalog of GOP Campaign Finance Abuses"
The Democratic National Committee suggests that the Republican campaign finance record is nothing to brag about.

Virtual Sight-Seeing

The Lippo Group
Visit the Indonesian conglomerate with close and controversial ties to President Clinton, Webster L. Hubbell and John Huang.

Fo Kuang Shan Hsi Lai Temple
Visit the Buddhist temple outside Los Angeles, where Vice President Gore headlined a fund-raiser in April 1996.

Interest Groups & Think Tanks

"Campaign Finance Reform: A Sourcebook"
One of several resources from the nation's oldest think tank, the Brookings Institution, this book includes original documentation and discussions of the issues and politics surrounding key events in campaing finance history.

"A Brief History of Money in Politics"
From The Center for Responsive Politics, a non-partisan research group that has taken a leading role in exposing the role that money plays in its elections and actions. Also see their other publications.

"New Realities, New Thinking"
A 1996 report from a task force on campaign finance reform, from the Citizens' Research Foundation. It includes a list of recommendations.

"Our Agenda for Change"
From Common Cause, a public-interest watchdog group. Its top priority in the 105th Congress is to pass "tough, bipartisan campaign finance reform legislation." Also see "The Money Trail."

"Congressional Money & Voting Scorecard (1995-1996)"
From Public Citizen, the consumer-oriented research, lobbying and litigation group founded by Ralph Nader in 1971. Scores are based on whether elected officials "represented the broad concerns of citizens or the narrow agenda of monied interests."

"The Buying of the President" databases
From the Center for Public Integrity, a watchdog group that investigates political ethics and broke the Lincoln Bedroom story.

"Money, Politics, and the First Amendment"
This briefing from the Cato Institute, a Libertarian think tank, argues that the First Amendment protects expenditures on political speech.

"Repealing the First Amendment: The Campaign Finance Reform Constitutional Amendment"
This article from the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, argues that "The most fundamental problem with having the government regulate elections is that elections are intended to control the government."

"The Campaign Finance Game: They Win, We Lose."
From the March/April 1997 issue of the League of Women Voters' "National Voter" magazine.

From Magazines

"The Coin-Operated Congress"
This feature from Mother Jones' MoJo Wire offers, among other things, a way to find out "Who are the fat cats in your neighborhood?"