Contribute to Bush's presidential library and get a meeting with Cheney or Condi?

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT
by Amy Weiss

Apparently, a nice six-figure sum may get you not only the knowledge that you've helped build a cherished tribute to the 43rd president, but also a meeting with his closest advisers while he's still in office.

A lobbyist with close ties to the Bush Administration allegedly promised potential donors a meeting with high government officials, including Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as possibilities, in exchange for a large donation to President Bush's presidential library fund.

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, sent a letter to the lobbyist, Stephen Payne, asking for a summary of his involvement in the presidential library fund raising and his records to begin an investigation. The Sunday Times of London broke the story. According to that report:

During an undercover investigation by The Sunday Times, Payne was asked to arrange meetings in Washington for an exiled former central Asian president. He outlined the cost of facilitating such access.

"The exact budget I will come up with, but it will be somewhere between $600,000 and $750,000, with about a third of it going directly to the Bush library," said Payne, who sits on the US homeland security advisory council ...

Payne said the balance of the $750,000 would go to his own lobbying company, Worldwide Strategic Partners (WSP).

Asked by an undercover reporter who the politician would be able to meet for that price, Payne said: “Cheney’s possible, definitely the national security adviser [Stephen Hadley], definitely either Dr Rice or ... I think a meeting with Dr Rice or the deputy secretary [John Negroponte] is possible ...

In a WSP brochure obtained by the Times, the company calls itself "an international relations and energy development corporation focused on diplomatic, strategic and military negotiating while maintaining positive government relations between the host nation and the United States."

There are very few regulations governing contributions to presidential libraries, and there is no limit to the donation amount. Waxman sponsored a bill that would require the disclosure of the identities of donors contributing more than $200. It passed the House overwhelmingly in March 2007, but has been pending in the Senate since October 2007.

Waxman told Payne if the Times report were true, it "raises serious concerns about the ways in which foreign interests might be secretly influencing our government through large donations to the library."

With impressive foresight, Waxman expressed his concerns for the process at a hearing last year before he introduced the legislation:

The vast scale of these secret fundraising efforts creates opportunities for abuse. Donors who do not need to be identified can give unlimited amounts of money to support these libraries while the President remains in office. According to some accounts, some mega-donors being courted to fund the Bush library are expected to contribute $10 to $20 million each.

This isn't the first presidential library that has caused controversy. During the presidential primary, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) said President Clinton should release his list of donors. His library fund accepted foreign donations, including $10 million from Saudi Arabia. Multi-million dollar foreign donations were accepted for the George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan libraries as well.

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT

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