DNC Will Release List Of Donors, Not Full Report

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, Oct. 29) -- After saying Monday they would not file a pre-election campaign finance disclosure report, Democratic National Committee officials promised to release a list of recent donors this week. But it's not an official report.

Both major parties have submitted pre-election campaign finance reports to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) since 1984. As Republican National Committee chairman Haley Barbour vowed to press the issue, the DNC said late Monday that it would voluntarily release a list of donors who gave between Oct. 1 and Oct.16, the period in question.

The list will be released "in the spirit of full disclosure" sometime later this week, according to DNC spokeswoman Amy Weiss Tobe. But the list will not be an official filing to the FEC, however, and so the DNC would suffer no penalty if any donations are left off.

"You need to trust us," Ms. Tobe said.

Had the DNC followed its usual practice it would have filed a report late last week covering money raised and spent between Oct. 1 and Oct. 16. The Republican National Committee has already turned in its report for the period.

The DNC insists it is playing by the rules. "We did not make any contributions or expenditures that would trigger a report," said Tobe.

Not just Republicans are suspicious. "Whether or not they have a technical argument that they don't have to file, there is no question this is a blatant abuse of the spirit of the law," Don Simon of campaign finance group Common Cause told The Associated Press. "There's no way to look at it other than they're trying to hide something."

Parties and other political committees must file pre-election reports 12 days before an election if they have made any previously undisclosed contributions or expenditures in connection with presidential, Senate or House elections.

The DNC has filed pre-election reports routinely in the past, in every election year since at least 1984, according to records at the FEC. Its last report covered the three months ending Sept. 30. Ms. Tobe said the next official report will be filed Dec. 5, one month after the election.

It is only the second time in memory that any national party committee has failed to file a pre-election disclosure report, according to officials at the FEC. In 1987 the National Republican Congressional Committee omitted the filing of a pre-election report and attracted bad publicity, said FEC spokeswoman Sharon Snyder.

In past years the DNC's pre-election reports have disclosed contributions totalling as much as $7 million. The Republican National Committee's pre-election report, which became public Sunday, shows it received $22 million during the period.

The flap comes amidst several controversies surrounding Democratic fund-raising. The DNC has drawn fire after revelations surfaced that DNC official John Huang had raised millions of dollars from foreign sources. And, Democrats came under fire recently after $140,000 was raised at a Buddhist temple in southern California.

CNN's Brooks Jackson contributed to this report.

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DNC Will Release List Of Donors, Not Full Report

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