Sep 12, 2007 06:06 PM EST Updated: September 13, 2007 02:32 PM EST
Democratic presidential hopeful Bill Richardson and a host of congressional candidates from both parties accepted cash from Oscar S. Wyatt Jr. and his wife, Lynn,since the federal government accused the Texas oilman of paying millions of dollars in kickbacks to Saddam Hussein. Wyatt was
indicted in 2005 on charges related to illegal payments for oil contracts from the Hussein-led Iraqi government under the United Nations’ oil-for-food program. And since then, the Wyatts have found willing recipients for nearly $22,000 in political donations. After inquiries from Politico, Richardson and Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-N.J.) said they would donate the Wyatts’ contributions to charity and return them, respectively, while other recipients are awaiting the outcome of Wyatt’s trial that started this month in New York. Donors’ backgrounds have emerged as an intriguing subplot in Campaign ’08. That’s both because the presidential race has witnessed unprecedented early fundraising and spending and because campaigns are increasingly relying on super-donors known as bundlers to rustle up cash from others — giving them influence beyond the $4,600-per-person contribution limit. Political giving is old hat for the Wyatts, a colorful couple known for entertaining at their Houston home, where guests have included the Duchess of York and Liza Minnelli.
Since the mid-1990s, they’ve cut checks totaling more than $670,000 to national committees and candidates for federal office, including donations to the earlier campaigns of four current presidential candidates in addition to Richardson: Democratic Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Joe Biden of Delaware and Republican Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Sam Brownback of Kansas. Overall, according to a Politico analysis of Federal Election Commission records, more than 70 percent of the Wyatts’ contributions have gone to Democrats — a pattern that has continued since Oscar Wyatt’s arrest. Since then, they’ve given $4,600 (actually, $2,300 from him and $2,300 from her) to both Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.) and Richardson, who served as U.S. ambassador to the U.N. during the early days of the oil-for-food program. Oscar Wyatt also gave $600 to Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), and Lynn Wyatt gave $4,600 to Lautenberg and $4,500 to the campaign and leadership committees of Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas). If Wyatt is found guilty, Rockefeller, Cornyn and Hutchison will either refund or donate Oscar Wyatt’s contributions, aides said, with each adding that it’s pursuant to their boss’s campaign policies. “If any contributor pleads guilty or is found guilty, Sen. Hutchison returns their funds or donates them to charity,” said Matt Mackowiak, a spokesman for Hutchison, who since 1996 has accepted at least $11,500 for her campaign and leadership committees from the Wyatts. In 1980, Wyatt pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of violating federal oil price regulations, according to a 2005 story in USA Today. “He does play close to the edge,” said Rep. Gene Green (D-Texas), who has accepted $10,500 from the Wyatts since 1993 — including $2,000 since the 2005 indictment. “But he’s given legal contributions to me, whether he was being investigated or not,” Green said. He will consider refunding the contributions if Wyatt is convicted, Green said, but cautioned that the justice system should be allowed to run its course. “We’ll see whether the prosecution’s fair or not,” Green said. He suggested there may be political motivations behind the Justice Department’s prosecution of Wyatt, an outspoken critic of both President Bush and his father, the 41st president, and their invasions of Iraq.
According to his lawyers, Wyatt was actually involved in peace talks with Hussein before the first war.
A member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Green said Wyatt’s donations had nothing to do with his meeting with Wyatt about the tycoon’s desire to do business in Libya after President Bush eased economic sanctions against that country in 2004. “When someone calls, I don’t check their party affiliation or my FEC list,” Green said, adding that the Wyatts “are still well thought of in Houston.” Oscar Wyatt, an 83-year-old World War II veteran, has pleaded innocent to fraud, conspiracy and violating U.S. sanctions, counts carrying a total maximum of more than 60 years in prison. According to his lawyers, Wyatt advised presidents from John F. Kennedy and Bill Clinton to Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, but he dislikes the Bushes. The federal government is arguing Wyatt’s kickbacks accorded him a privileged status in Iraq and that he tipped off Hussein’s government to the impending 2003 invasion. Wyatt’s attorney, Gerald Shargel, did not immediately respond to inquiries about whether political giving could become an issue in the trial. But the reactions of the campaigns he supported to the allegations raised in the case highlight the varied approaches being taken to hints of impropriety by donors, some of whom have become issues unto themselves in the presidential race. Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson, a former Tennessee senator, defiantly vowed to keep at least $13,800 in contributions
Politico revealed were raised by a bundler linked to a pharmaceutical company that paid $124 million to settle charges it ripped off federal and state governments. But Clinton this week took extraordinary steps to distance herself from Norman Hsu, a felon fugitive convicted on grand theft charges years ago, by returning to donors about $850,000 in bundled contributions he raised for her current and past campaigns. Critics continue to hound her campaign, though, because it has said it will allow — and indeed hopes — the donors first recruited by Hsu will re-contribute the funds on their own. “We are not asking that be done,” Clinton said in a Wednesday conference call with reporters. “But I believe the vast majority of those 200-plus donors are perfectly capable of making up their own mind on what they will or won’t do going forward.” Clinton’s Democratic competitors, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois and former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, have taken less drastic steps to inoculate themselves against donor problems. Obama’s campaign has returned some contributions raised by fundraiser Antoin “Tony” Rezko, who has been indicted in a kickback scheme, and his associates. But it has not returned more than $80,000 critics say Rezko helped raise. Campaign officials note that Rezko hasn’t been convicted and say they’ll reassess the situation if he is. The Edwards camp is staking out a similar position on donations generated by Geoffrey Fieger, who is accused of using employees as surrogate givers to Edwards’ 2004 presidential campaign to get around campaign finance limits. Eric Schultz, a campaign spokesman, said Edwards has cooperated with the federal investigation of Fieger, who is not raising money for this year’s race. “Once this prosecution concludes, if Geoffrey Fieger is found guilty, the campaign will donate all the money in question to charity,” Schultz added.
