Dole Took Indonesian Money In 1988

SAN DIEGO (Oct. 16) -- Democratic Party Chairman Christopher J. Dodd says Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole, during his unsuccessful 1988 bid for his party's presidential nomination, accepted $1,000 from the same Indonesian family that Dole now says made suspicious campaign contributions to the Democratic Party.

An independent check of Federal Election Commission records confirms that Aileen Riady, wife of James Riady, who is now a top executive of the Jakarta-based Lippo conglomerate, made the Dole contribution.

"The first rule in politics is before you make an accusation about your opponent you better check your own records," Dodd told CNN. "The Riady family gave a thousand dollars to the Dole campaign in 1987-88 when he was running for president."

The news surprised Dole campaign manager Scott Reed. "I didn't know about that," he said. But he said it doesn't affect Dole's overall complaint about the ties between Clinton and the Riady family.

Dodd, for his part, says a new Common Cause study shows that the Republicans, over the past two years, have also accepted millions of dollars in campaign contributions from non-American citizens.

Federal Election Commission records show a $1,000 contribution Dec. 17, 1987, to "Dole for President Committee" from Aileen Riady, wife of James Riady.

However, the Riadys' contributions even then were overwhelmingly to Democrats, including $2,000 to Michael Dukakis and $20,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

Also, Common Cause reports $2.4 million in soft-money contributions to all Republican committees (RNC, National Republican Senatorial Committee and National Republican Congressional Committee) since Jan. 1, 1995. The four largest, accounting for $1.4 million of the total, are:

     Joseph E. Seagram & Sons      $435,000  (Liquor; Canadian)
     Brown & Williamson            $400,000  (Kool and Carleton cigarettes; British)
     News Corp.                    $351,000  (Rupert Murdoch; Australia)
     Glaxo Wellcome                $232,500  (Pharmaceuticals; British)

Democrats charactarize News Corp. as an Australian-based company, although Rupert Murdoch has U.S. citizenship.

Dole Took Indonesian Money In 1988

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