NEWSPAPER STING: The London-based newspaper, The Sunday Times, carried out an undercover investigation of Stephen Payne, a lobbyist and member of the U.S. Homeland Security Advisory Council. Caught on video, which the newspaper published online, Payne offered to arrange meetings with high-level Bush administration officials for a former Kyrgyzstan president in exchange for $750,000.

Approximately $250,000 of Payne's fee would go to the future George W. Bush Presidential Library as a donation. The rest of the money would go to Payne's consulting firm, Worldwide Strategic Partners.

How The Sunday Times' Sting Went Down

People have long wondered if donations to presidential libraries came with certain perks, especially since accepting foreign donations is legal, which is not true for presidential campaigns.

The Sunday Times wanted to find out what channels could get foreigners in contact with Bush administration officials. Although the paper's story doesn't say how many different avenues they tried, here's a summary of how The Times reporter got to Payne:

1. In 2005, Yerzhan Dosmukhamedov (also known as Eric Dos) worked with Payne to arrange a visit with Dick Cheney to Kazakhstan to improve that country's image.
2. Dos said Payne's company received $2 million through a Kazakh oil company for arranging that visit.
3. Last week, Dos and The Sunday Times made up a story about former Kyrgyzstan president Askar Akayev, who was thrown out of office by his own people in 2005 for corruption and now lives in exile in Russia. Dos told Payne that Akayev hoped to improve his international reputation and thought that might be possible if a high-ranking U.S. official in the Bush administration met with and endorsed him. (The current Kyrgyzstan president knew nothing about this meeting.)
4. Dos and an undercover Times reporter met with Payne last week in London to ask if he could help. The reporter carried a concealed video recorder.
5. When asked who would be available from the Bush administration for meetings if the Kyrgyzstan president paid the fee, Payne said, "Cheney's possible, definitely the national security adviser [Stephen Hadley], definitely either Dr. [Condoleezza] Rice or . . . I think a meeting with Dr. Rice or the deputy secretary [John Negroponte] is possible . . . (The Sunday Times, 7/13/08)
6. As for the fee, Payne said, "The exact budget I will come up with, but it will be somewhere between $600,000 and $750,000, with about a third of it going directly to the Bush library." (The Sunday Times, 7/13/08)

Payne's Behavior Not Illegal, Just "Inappropriate"

There's probably nothing illegal in Stephen Payne's offer. Keep in mind the following:

• Payne did not promise access to top ranking administration officials—he said only that it might be possible to arrange meetings.
• There is no evidence that the Bush administration offered to exchange meetings with its officials for donations to the future George W. Bush Presidential Library.
• The law only requires an annual report on the total amount of money the library raises, not an itemized list of donors and amounts.

But Payne said his meetings weren't about fund raising for the presidential library.

"I was not there to raise money for the library, I have no interest in the library," Payne told the Houston Chronicle on Monday. "I was there to get a client. We proposed to do specific public relations work for the former president of Kyrgyzstan. ... I made it clear on multiple occasions that the library wasn't taking any money yet, and that foreign contributions may or may not be accepted." (Houston Chronicle, 7/14/08)

During a press conference Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said, "If you're referring to the Steve Payne situation, obviously... we would say that that was inappropriate, and only people... that are a part of the foundation and are acting on behalf of the President are allowed to do that." (White House, 7/16/08)

Companies, Foreign Interests Secretly Influencing American Government?

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform plans to investigate The Sunday Times story.

Committee Chair Henry Waxman (D—Calif.) wrote in a letter to Payne about the investigation, "If true, this report raises serious concerns about the ways in which foreign interests might be secretly influencing our government through large donations to the library. To that end, a presidential library can solicit secret donations from companies and foreign interests that seek to secretly influence governmental affairs." (FoxNews, 7/15/08)

Monday a spokesman for the future Bush library said it would accept no foreign donations until after Bush leaves office.

Copyright © 2008 Informify

Question for Readers:

Do you think the government should be required to disclose who donates to presidential libraries? Do you think the libraries should accept foreign donations?