CONTROVERSY/ETHICS

"Senator For Sale"

Some of the more salacious allegations against Bob Dole appear in "Senator For Sale," by former Dole aide Stanley Hilton, who worked for the senator during 1979 and 1980. The book takes one of the most critical views of Dole's relationship to corporations and his position changes on issues.

Among the highlights of "Senator For Sale":

Too Cozy With Archer Daniels Midland?

Hilton is disturbed by Dole's relationship with the Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) corporation. He details Dole's aggressive lobbying for massive tax credits for ethanol, a corn-based alternative to gasoline chiefly produced by ADM. Dole also backed at least five bills strengthening sugar price supports. (The Wall Street Journal has reported that ADM can make profits by selling high-fructose corn syrup at levels slightly below artificially high sugar prices, and some say Dole's efforts have contributed to consumers paying much higher prices for sweetened products than they would in a free market.)

ADM President Dwayne Andreas and his family have contributed at least $80,000 to PACs controlled by Dole; Andreas also arranged a deal allowing Dole to buy an apartment in a posh Bal Harbour, Fla., co-op at below-market prices.

The Better America Foundation

In February 1993, Dole founded The Better America Foundation, a non-profit organization with the official purpose to "promote and advocate values and principles espoused by the Republican party." Dole called it a "think tank in exile" for Republican policy wonks who were left unemployed after President Bush's defeat in 1992. The foundation kept a low profile until eight days before the 1994 Congressional elections, when it began running an ad that promoted a balanced budget and featured pictures of Ronald Reagan addressing Congress, Newt Gingrich and Bob Dole, and then finally just Bob Dole in front of an American flag. Since The Better American Foundation was a nonprofit, there was no limit to the amount anyone could give, and it did not have to release the names of its donors (these two points were listed on its 1994 and 1995 brochures).

The foundation came under intense scrutiny in June 1995 for alleged ties to Dole's presidential campaign (they were accused of using research and polling information generated by the nonprofit) and abruptly closed down. The board of directors decided to release the names of the donors and refund $2.5 million.

Mixing With Corporate Oil

Stanley Hilton says Dole has mixed politics with corporate interest since his days as county attorney in Russell, Kan. Dole reportedly protected the "oil boys" from severance taxes, and they reciprocated by helping to fund his campaigns.

Also covered in "Senator For Sale":

Hilton reports Dole was such a strong backer of President Nixon and the Vietnam War during his first term in the Senate that at one point he received a Watergate slush fund payment for a "fact-finding mission" to Vietnam so that he would be a more credible spokesman for the war.
After commodity traders gave Dole's PAC, Campaign America, more than $84,000, he dramatically changed his position on the complex financial "straddles" they had used to avoid federal income taxes, Hilton recounts.
After Dole wrote an enormous loophole into the 1986 tax act that benefited a Topeka insurance company, the chairman of the firm became a co-chair of the Senator's 1988 presidential campaign and made more than $1 million in loans to the blind trust of Elizabeth Dole. The baroque connections between the company and several Dole associates eventually led to criminal indictments.

The Nixon Connection

As a freshman Senator, Dole was one of the few who fought hard for Nixon's policies and his ill-fated Supreme Court nominees F. Clement Haynsworth Jr. in 1969 and G. Harrold Carswell in 1970. Nixon rewarded Dole by naming him Republican National Committee chairman in January 1971. Dole, advocating the President ought to do more to help other Republicans, was at odds with Nixon's campaign staff. As a result, Dole was eased out of the RNC chairmanship in early 1973, missing involvement in Watergate.

Dole defended Nixon until the president resigned but, having established his distance from the White House, joked that "Watergate happened on my night off." Nixon was one of Dole's oldest and closest political friends. It was reported in 1994 that Nixon told Dole to run "as far as you can to the right" during the 1996 primaries and then "run as fast as you can back to the middle, because only about four percent of the nation's voters are on the extreme right wing." At Nixon's funeral, Dole said that the second half of the 20th century would be known as "the Age of Nixon."

David Owen

David Owen (the man credited with saving Dole's 1974 Senate race) was an important player in Kansas politics. He was Kansas lieutenant governor from 1973 to 1975 and chairman of the state Republican party from 1983 to 1985, and he was a one-time close political adviser to Dole.

Owen became the center of controversy during Dole's 1988 presidential race when allegations of wrongdoing were raised regarding his dual role as political adviser to Bob Dole and financial adviser to Elizabeth Dole's blind trust. Dole cut all ties to Owen shortly after the ethical questions were raised, but Owen became the target of several lengthy state and federal investigations. As a result of an investigation over these allegations, Owen was found guilty on two counts of federal income tax fraud and served a year in prison. He was released from prison in late 1995 and began talking to the press about controversies from Dole's past.

Following is a summary of the major ethical charges involving Bob Dole, Dave Owens and Elizabeth Dole's blind trust:

Dole and the Small Business Administration Minority-Set-Aside Contract for EDP

On January 8, 1988 the Harris News Service in Kansas raised questions about Owen and his work as blind trust manager for Elizabeth Dole. The story said former Dole aide John Palmer signed a $279,000 promisory note to the blind trust in December 1986, 10 months after Palmer's business, EDP Enterprises Inc., received a no-bid contract worth $26 million. The contract was to supply food for army mess halls at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.

Under Owen's management, the trust in 1986 bought a million-dollar office building in a Kansas City suburb, earning a commission from the sale and as a financial adviser to Palmer's business. The Small Business Adminstration and the House Small Business Committee both investigated whether Palmer was possibly serving as front person for Owen to obtain a minority-business contract for former Dole staffer John Palmer, an African American.

The press investigated what, if any, connection Dole had to the dealings. Dole acknowledged later that he helped arrange a meeting with Palmer and the head of the SBA in 1983, but said it was a routine matter he would have done for many constituents. However, the 1988 report by the House Small Business Committee revealed that Dole had made a serious lobbying effort over two years to help Palmer win the contract.

The investigation revealed 13 ties between David Owen and Palmer and raised concern that Owen was the person in control of EDP Enterprises. But the Small Business Administration concluded that Dole (and Owen) had broken no laws.

In March 1995, The Washington Post reported that Dole had reversed his position on the Small Business Administration's minority-set-aside programs. The Post reported Dole as saying, "a lot of people have made a lot of money by finding someone in a minority group to sort of front for the effort. I do not believe that is right. I do not believe that is fair."

1986 Loans from Birdview (a Kansas satellite company) employees to Dole

In Dole's 1988 presidential bid, allegations were made that David Owen arranged for the employees and management of Birdview Satellite Communications to make a total of $24,000 in donations to Dole's 1986 Senate campaign (with empolyees ordered to donate, and later reimbursed by Birdview.)

Dole said he knew nothing about the donations and claimed to have asked the FEC to investigate (though the FEC has no record of this request). Owen told the Center for Public Integrity (a Washington based nonprofit that keeps track of money in politics) that Dole did know about the donations from the Kansas satellite company and that he attended the private fundraiser held by Birdview's president, Charles Ross, who Owen claims Dole knew well.

In similar violation, a former vice chairman of Dole's 1996 finance committee, Simon C. Fireman, agreed to pay a $1 million fine, and his company $5 million, for making illegal campaign contributions. Fireman, owner of Aqua-Leisure Industries of Avon, Mass., was accused of illegally funneling contributions to the Dole effort and other campaigns, by reimbursing employees and sales representatives.

Golfun Productions Inc.

In August 1983, Owen set up a company called Golfun Productions Inc. Owen, Elizabeth Dole's personal financial adviser at the time, used loans from Mrs. Dole to help finance the venture, and, although the investment soon became insolvent, the Doles lost no money on the deal. In fact, when all other investors lost thousands, Elizabeth Dole netted at least $71,000 in interest payments.

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