[NYTr] The most expensive US election ever?

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

The Independent - Oct 22, 2007
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article3081835.ece

The most expensive US election ever?

By Leonard Doyle in Washington

A veteran of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI)
scandal has quietly moved into Hillary Clinton's orbit, completing a
journey that began over 20 years ago when he was George W Bush's key
financial backer before his first successful run for the presidency.

With Mrs Clinton looking increasingly unassailable in the race for the
White House, Wall Street financiers and special interest groups have
been rushing to her side. They have been collecting unprecedented
amounts of money for what is set to be the most expensive US election
ever. The latest is Alan Quasha, a Wall Street money man whose company,
Harken Energy, has attracted controversy for years. Several Harken
board members were prominent shareholders of BCCI, which collapsed
owing $10bn in the early 1990s.

In 1986, when George Bush was a failing oil entrepreneur with a drink
problem, Mr Quasha bailed him out with more than $600,000 in stocks and
a consultancy deal valued at $80,000 a year. He also made him an owner
of the Texas Rangers baseball team, ensuring a high profile for his
presidential ambitions. During Mr Bush's first term, Harken, which has
connections to the intelligaence community through members of its
board, profited enormously.

But in a subtle shift three years ago, Mr Quasha quietly hired Terry
McAuliffe, the fundraiser extraordinaire of the Democratic party while
Bill Clinton was seeking re-election. While on Mr Quasha's payroll Mr
McAuliffe laid the groundwork for Mrs Clinton's presidential bid. He
also received a seven-figure advance for his memoir, What a Party!,
describing his role raising money for Bill Clinton's presidential bids.

Mr McAuliffe is now Hilary Clinton's chief fundraiser, and is already
well on the way to raising over $1bn for the New York Senator. But The
Nation magazine, which broke the news about his book advance, says none
of the principals would talk about the Clinton campaign's new allies.
Mrs Clinton's main opponent for the Democratic nomination, Barak Obama,
complains that she is totally in hock to special interests groups who
have embedded themselves in her campaign. But his complaints have had
no impact on the polls, where Mrs Clinton claims 51 per cent support.

Howard Wolfson, the Clinton campaign's Communications director said
yesterday that Mr Quasha 'is not an advisor, nor in the inner circle,
nor a fundraiser for the campaign. In short, Mr. Quasha has no role in
this campaign.'

' I'm not sure what Mr. Quasha has to do with Mr. McAuliffe's book, Mr
Howard added, 'if the suggestion is that he was paid by Quasha for it
the suggestion is untrue.'

Such is the scent of success around Mrs Clinton that the links which
have been exposed between her campaign and key players in the BCCI
scandal are unlikely to ruffle the feathers of her supporters. Today
the BCCI scandal is a distant memory; Mrs Clinton's closeness to Mr
Quasha simply reveals how completely the tables have been turned on the
Republican Party.

Those who investigated BCCI in the 1990s remain concerned, however. "
That Hillary Clinton's campaign is involved with this particular cast
of characters should give people pause," John Moscow, a former New York
prosecutor who led the investigation of the BCCI global financial
empire, told The Nation. "Too many of the same names from earlier
troubling circumstances suggests a lack of control over who she is
dealing with, or a policy of dealing with anyone who can pay."

The Clinton camp has a special honoured donor category, "Hillraisers" ,
for those who pledge to raise up to $1m for the campaign from their
friends. A New York Times editorial has accused Mrs Clinton of making
"a shameful and lucrative retreat to private fund-raising".