TEAMSTERS, DNC AND REFORMERS

Sen. John McCain and Senate Democrats are all hot to trot over the prospect of finally enacting meaningful campaign-finance reform. The reformers' zeal would be easier to understand if they were similarly exercised over violations of existing laws.

Last week a federal grand jury indicted former Teamster president Ron Carey over fund-raising activities connected to his 1996 re-election campaign. This week, Clinton friend and fund raiser extraordinaire, Terry McAuliffe, will probably be elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

What do these two stories have to do with each other? There is strong evidence to suggest that Democratic fund raisers masterminded much of the illegal campaign activity of the Teamsters. If Democrats were truly interested in reform, they would think long and hard before installing Clinton confidante McAuliffe to their top fund-raising post.

I'm not alleging McAuliffe engaged in criminal activity. His lawyer says McAuliffe has been assured he is not a target of the government's investigation. But, as U.S. News & World Report notes, "There's no way prosecutors can lay out the Teamsters' tangled money mess without referring to the troubled 1996 Democratic fund-raising machine."

Let me explain: The Teamsters supplied vast sums of money (and manpower) to Democrats in 1992, but the union's internal problems began to drain its resources following the 1992 election. In 1995, as the Clinton-Gore campaign was gearing up for the 1996 election, the White House began to devise ways to reinvigorate the Teamsters' enthusiasm for the Clinton-Gore re-election effort.

One White House document detailed a not-so-subtle strategy to trade policy promises for union dollars.

Rekindling the Teamsters' loyalty was only half the battle. The DNC still had to conceive of a plan to free up additional Teamsters' money and resources. No problem. The DNC would arrange for a quid pro quo with the Teamsters. They would each indirectly funnel money to the other in what the Senate committee referred to as a "contribution-swap scheme." The DNC would arrange for a $100,000 illegal foreign donation to Carey's re-election campaign,. In return, the Teamsters would direct $1 million to state Democrats.

Will the reformers go ahead and install McAuliffe, or will they demand some answers?

~David Limbaugh is a Cape Girardeau lawyer.