RNC Won’t Resist Donor Probe, Chief Says

WASHINGTON — The head of the Republican National Committee pledged Sunday that all files concerning illegal donations the party received from a Hong Hong-based company would be turned over today to the Justice Department and the congressional committees investigating fund-raising irregularities.

“We have absolutely nothing to hide,” RNC Chairman Jim Nicholson said on CNN’s “Late Edition,” referring to $102,400 in donations illegally funneled to RNC coffers during the early 1990s by the Hong Kong firm. The party announced last week it was returning the money.

Nicholson also disputed that the illegal donations to the GOP were proof that the furor over foreign-linked money in U.S. politics, which mainly has dogged the Democratic National Committee, ultimately would envelop both parties.

Noting that the DNC has acknowledged receiving about $3 million in donations of questionable origin, Nicholson said, “The difference in these two [situations] is about the difference between a parking ticket and vehicular homicide.”

The revelation involving the Republicans, however, provided DNC Chairman Roy Romer a rare opportunity to take the political offensive on the fund-raising issue.

Romer, who appeared on the CNN program with Nicholson, noted that the company that gave the RNC the illegal donations--Young Brothers Development of Hong Kong--also provided a $2.2-million loan guarantee in 1994 to the National Policy Forum, a GOP think tank created by then-RNC Chairman Haley Barbour. That transaction enabled the policy forum to make loan repayments to the RNC during the critical final weeks of the 1994 elections, in which Republicans won control of both houses of Congress for the first time in 40 years.

“This is a cover-up of major proportions,” Romer said.

Barbour, who gave up the RNC chairmanship earlier this year after a four-year term, said Sunday that any acceptance of illegal foreign contributions by the party was “inadvertent.”

Appearing on ABC-TV’s “This Week,” he also said he would willingly appear before congressional committees to discuss the money provided by the Hong Kong company.

Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.), head of the House panel investigating campaign finance abuses, on Friday said he would seek documents from the GOP following the announcement of the illegal donations. He also said subpoenas would be sent out early this week to the Hong Kong family involved in the contributions.

Burton has been under criticism from Democrats for focusing his panel’s probe solely on Democratic miscues.

Burton also appeared on “This Week” and confirmed reports that his committee will file contempt charges this week if the White House fails to produce documents he views as crucial to its probe. Burton said the White House has “stonewalled” his request for documents about former administration officials and Asian contributions to the Democratic Party.

The White House has agreed to provide access to the documents only if confidentiality of sensitive material concerning national security is guaranteed.