What does it really matter where the candidates raise their funds? It matters much. The campaign finance laws have language that bans contributions from foreign sources. Although the Indonesian businessmen who gave the Democratic Party more than USD400,000 during the 1990s lived in the US when they wrote their checks, they were not US citizens. Despite this obvious violation of the rules, Mr. Clinton sent these foreign contributors handwritten notes thanking them for giving "when you were called upon". In exchange for their contributions, the Indonesians were invited to the White House. As another thank-you sort of payback, Mr. Clinton visited Indonesia and praised the authoritarian regime under President Suharto and refused to condemn the egregious human rights violations that regime committed in the province of East Timor which Indonesia seized from Portugal in 1975. The "Indonesia First" policy also had undeterminable tangental effects on other US trade interests in the region.
The Indonesian fund raising efforts became a crucial element of an investigation of ethics violations by then-Commerce Secretary Ron Brown. Before he joined the Democratic National Committee (DNC) fund raising endeavor, former Lippo Group employee John Huang was an Assistant Secretary of Commerce. While at the Commerce Department, Mr. Huang skewed many trade deals to favor the Lippo Group and other Indonesian companies. While at the DNC, Mr. Huang maintained contact with these groups and sought economic support from them on behalf of the political party that had pandered to him.
But when things got tense, Mr. Huang conveniently vanished. His lawyers told a Federal District Court judge that Mr. Huang would be available "at 9:30 on the morning of the sixth of November" - election day. Mere coincidence? Probably not. As facts continued to emerge and the judge made further demands and threatened contempt of court charges, Mr. Huang was produced from obscurity a week before the election. His lawyers reported that while he had been in seclusion, Mr. Huang had received letters of support from Mrs. Clinton. Mere coincidence? Probably not. Count that as strike one against the DNC.
