FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION CLOSES BOOK ON REAGAN VISIT HERE

The Federal Election Commission has closed the book on allegations of election-law funding violations regarding then-president Ronald Reagan's Sept. 14, 1988, visit to Cape Girardeau.

The federal agency chose not to prosecute any of the entities associated with the Reagan visit, and closed its files on the case earlier this summer.

Reagan spoke at the Show Me Center on the Southeast Missouri State University campus during the height of the 1988 election year.

It was alleged that the university, the Southeast Missouri University Foundation, the Missouri Republican Party and the campaign organizations of U.S. Rep. Bill Emerson and Sen. John Danforth violated federal election laws regarding funding of the Reagan visit.

The complaint centered around the financial role of the university and the university foundation in connection with the Reagan visit.

According to the FEC general counsel report, the foundation contributed more than $19,000 toward expenses associated with the Reagan visit. The report contends such contributions violated federal laws prohibiting corporate donations to political campaigns.

The general counsel also said the university itself spent more than $5,000 in connection with the Reagan visit, and that the action violated campaign contribution limits.

University officials declined comment Monday, referring questions to Cape Girardeau attorney Diane Howard.

Howard, who represented the university and the university foundation, said there was never any "actual finding" by the seven-member commission regarding alleged violations.

Howard said the university and the foundation have maintained all along that "there was no violation of campaign finance laws either by the university or the foundation."

While Howard sees the FEC action as vindication for the university and the foundation, the person who filed the complaint Janet Smith of Oak Ridge Route 1 believes FEC records clearly indicate that election laws were violated.

"The concerns I had in my complaint were backed up," insisted Smith. "This was not a presidential visit; this was a political rally," she said.

That view of the election-year visit is one supported by some Southeast faculty members.

In response to the criticism, the Faculty Senate drafted a policy regarding the issue.

In June 1990, Southeast's Board of Regents approved a Faculty Senate-drafted policy prohibiting the university from making any contribution or expenditure, either real or in-kind, on behalf of any candidate or likely candidate for office.

It also prohibits the university from spending money for any event that advocates the nomination, election or defeat of any specific candidate or party, and strongly encourages university-affiliated organizations such as the foundation to refrain from such activities.

"I am real pleased that the university took steps so that this could not happen again," Smith said Monday.

The complaint was filed with the FEC on Nov. 3, 1988.

In a June 15, 1993, letter to Smith, FEC attorney Mary Ann Bumgarner explained what had happened in the case.

On May 9, 1989, the commission "found reason to believe" that the university, the university foundation, the Missouri Republican Party, the Friends of Bill Emerson, and Danforth for Senate organizations had violated federal election laws, she said.

The commission's action didn't amount to a final ruling, but only served notice that the case would proceed, said Howard, comparing it to a preliminary hearing.

On Dec. 3, 1991, the commission decided to take no further action against the university or the election campaign organizations of Emerson and Danforth, but found there was "probable cause" that the state party had violated federal election laws, Bumgarner said.

FEC documents indicate that it was felt the Emerson and Danforth committees had little involvement in the Reagan visit, and the university itself had contributed only a "small amount of goods and services" for the event.

The election funding allegations against both the state party and the university foundation remained on the FEC's books until earlier this summer.

On June 4, the commission voted to reject counter offers by the university foundation and the state party. The commission that same day exercised its "prosecutorial discretion" and decided to take no further action against the two groups, Bumgarner said.

Both Howard and FEC officials declined Monday to reveal the counter offers, saying such information was confidential.

According to FEC documents, Missouri Republican Party officials argued that the Reagan visit was a university event. But the FEC general counsel maintained the president's visit was a state party event coordinated through the White House.

The state Republican Party reported paying $70,000 to cover costs associated with Reagan's trip to Missouri. The trip involved appearances in Cape Girardeau and St. Louis.

While the university and the university foundation had extended the invitation for Reagan to visit the campus, the trip ended up being "a political rally that was coordinated by the White House and made in connection with a previously planned Victory '88 trip to St. Louis," the counsel said in its report.

Pointing to the political nature of the visit, the report noted that the Show Me Center was decked out with a banner stating "Southeast Missouri State University GOP '88."

But Howard said the university invited Reagan to campus as an "educational experience."

She said the university had also extended an invitation to the 1988 Democratic presidential candidate, Michael Dukakis, to visit the campus.

The FEC's general counsel report, however, said that the invitation to Dukakis was made on Sept. 9, 1988, five days prior to the Reagan visit.

Although the university has admitted no wrongdoing, Howard acknowledged that Southeast has since enacted a policy governing political activity on campus.

"We have learned our lesson from the allegations that were made," she said. "No one wants to give any appearance of impropriety."

But, she said, "We don't want to get to a point where we are so gun-shy we are reluctant to have political figures on campus."