Workers Got Cash To Write Checks For Dole, Paper Says

Dole: If true, someone is in 'deep trouble'

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (CNN, April 21) -- Thousands of dollars in illegal campaign contributions went to Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole's presidential campaign last year from workers at a Massachusetts sporting goods company, The Kansas City Star reported Sunday.

The company, Aqua-Leisure Industries, is run by Simon Fireman, a national vice chairman of finance for Dole's campaign.

"I don't know anything about it," Dole said Sunday on CBS' Face The Nation. "As far as I know, it's an allegation that's been made and it ought to be checked. If somebody did that, they're in deep trouble." (111K WAV sound)

Cash into checks

The allegations were made by three people who wrote checks to the campaign, the newspaper said in a copyright story. The three, who asked not to be identified for fear of retribution, said some workers were handed stacks of $100 bills and told to return with checks made out to "Dole for President."

They reported personally receiving $4,000. Two other people claimed to know about the incident, the newspaper said.

"I knew it was illegal, especially when they gave me cash," one contributor was quoted as saying.

A lawyer for the company said workers received only their usual pay, and no one laundered contributions. "I can categorically deny those things happened," attorney Richard Stein told the Star. "There were no cash payments to employees."

Dole spokeswoman Christina Martin said campaign workers were "unaware" of the allegations. "Those individuals with concerns along these lines should address them to the FEC (Federal Election Commission)," she told the paper.

Against the rules

Federal rules forbid individuals from giving more than $1,000 per election to a candidate's campaign committee and from giving money in the name of another person. They also forbid companies from paying someone to make a contribution.

Last year Fireman, his workers and their families sent the campaign 40 individual checks totaling $40,000.

The Star said that in interviews at least nine contributors affiliated with Aqua-Leisure denied they were reimbursed. Many others could not be reached for comment or did not return phone calls. Four contributors would neither confirm nor deny they were repaid.

Major fund-raiser

Fireman, the company's founder and chairman, has been a major Republican fund-raiser, a trade adviser to three past presidents and most recently was a director of the U.S. Export-Import Bank. His company distributes swimming goggles and inflatable pool toys nationwide.

Dole knows Fireman but does not consider him a close friend, Martin said.

Campaign records show the $40,000 from Aqua-Leisure workers and their families was sent to Dole's campaign between February and September 1995, the Star said. Each gift was for $1,000, and as many as 12 individual contributions flowed into the campaign on a single day -- February 28, 1995.

The gifts came not only from top managers, but also from secretaries, a bookkeeper and a warehouse manager.

The Star said copies of financial records and canceled checks for three separate contributions to Dole from people affiliated with Aqua-Leisure show large amounts of cash flowed into contributors' bank accounts just before they donated.

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