Haley Barbour's Nightmare

Haley Barbour's Nightmare

Tuesday, May 13th 1997 -- If you haven't been watching ex-Republican National Committee chairman Haley Barbour's satellite feeds from Yazoo, Mississippi lately, you've missed a botched cover-up attempt surpassing anything from the White House, Newt Gingrich or even Dick Nixon.

Mr. Barbour put together something called the National Policy Forum (NPF) in 1993. Barbour called NPF a "think tank" and compared it to the Heritage Foundation as late as this weekend. But the NPF was anything but a think tank -- it got its money from big corporate contributors, including several foreign sources, by promising their executives a role in GOP policy development.

The Young Brothers of Hong Kong, already accepting the return of over $100,000 in illegal and laundered campaign funds, also gave Barbour and the NPF more than $2 million. They didn't give it to build a think tank, say many, but to influence congressional "opinion" on matters important to their company's future.

The IRS seems to agree with Barbour's critics and told him -- weeks ago -- that the National Policy Forum's tax-exempt status was bogus because its activities were partisan.

The IRS decision is infected with legal and political ramifications. If the tax exempt status denial holds firm, the NPF and perhaps the RNC will be in line for some heavy fines, interest, penalties and perhaps criminal charges. Corporations donating funds to NPF may also be penalized with interest and penalties. The decision may also bleed on Newt Gingrich's own little "clubs" which he claims were tax exempt.

Of course the National Policy Forum has already gone out of business. How convenient! If it was truly a think tank, why wouldn't it continue?

Democrats are jumping for joy over this revelation and have forced a congressional committee investigating campaign finance abuses to subpoena NPF's documents. Here's the evidence so far:

1. A memo from Barbour telling GOP donors that the Republican National Committee was behind the National Policy Forum.
2. A quote from a Barbour memo to RNC $100,000-plus donors telling them "[t]he RNC is creating the National Policy Forum to help develop and articulate a positive Republican agenda for America and provide a proactive forum for Republican participation at the grass-roots level"
3. Barbour's calling the policy forum "an issue development subsidiary" of the RNC.
4. The NPF, from the start, expecting to provide its policy reports to candidates to help "in crafting individual candidate's strategy, message and tactics."
5. The party's money men being assured a role in NPF's policy development councils as a reward for their money.
6. The NPF first coming to public attention over reports that it got $4 million from the RNC.

According to the Associated Press, RNC spokeswoman Mary Crawford said the language in the memos suggesting the RNC controlled the NPF or used it to reward donors was "clearly inaccurate.… The RNC and the policy forum were separate entities," she said.

Mary Crawford is a lovely lady, so I guess that clears everything up.