A prominent Democratic campaign consultant and fundraiser who was indicted in 2003 for his work on Hillary Clinton’s senate campaign will co-host an event featuring Bill Clinton in Chicago on Friday.
David Rosen has long been in the Clinton orbit. He became a party fundraiser for the Clinton/Gore 1996 presidential campaign. He also worked as a finance director for the Democratic National Committee.
He continues that work on Friday, when he co-hosts the Chicago event at the home of Thad Wong and Emily Sachs Wong. The sticker price for attendees ranges from $1,000 to $2,700.
Rosen started his political consulting firm, The Competence Group, in 2000 and has since worked for former Missouri Rep. Dick Gephardt, one-time Democratic presidential hopeful Gen. Wesley Clark, former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, and, notably, disgraced Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
But before working on those campaigns, Rosen worked for another prominent politician: Hillary Clinton.
The consultant was named national finance director of Clinton’s 2000 senate campaign. And it was his work there that led to a Dec. 2003 indictment on four felony counts of making false statements to the Federal Election Commission.
The indictment centered on a swanky, A-list gala held in Los Angeles in Aug. 2000. Sponsored by the New York Senate 2000 Committee, and authorized by the Clinton campaign, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the New York State Democratic Committee, the event featured musical performances by Cher and Paul Anka.
Rosen played a central role in coordinating the event, which was financed by Peter Paul and Stephen Gordon of Stan Lee Media and Aaron Tonkin, a Los Angeles fundraiser.
Paul, who went on to sue Hillary Clinton numerous times, has claimed that he hosted the expensive event in order to curry favor with Bill Clinton. He hoped that after Clinton left office, he would sit on the board of Stan Lee Media. He also reportedly hoped to have drug charges on his record expunged.
Paul claimed that he was told by Rosen that the best way to win favor with the president was to raise money for his wife’s campaign. But days after the event, when Paul’s past drug charges were revealed publicly, the Clintons distanced themselves from him.
The event was a success, at least for the Clinton’s. Though the event hosts spent as much as $2.4 million, according to one estimate, it raised $1 million for the then-first lady’s Senate campaign — a contest she went on to win.
But federal investigators began looking into Rosen’s role in the event, and in Sept. 2002, tapped Ray Reggie, the brother-in-law of Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy, to wear a wire during conversations with the Democratic moneyman.
In one conversation, Rosen acknowledged that the fundraiser likely cost far more to operate than what the Clinton campaign reported on federal campaign finance forms.
Rosen was indicted the next year, in Dec. 2003. The indictment claimed that Rosen downplayed the expense of the gala by manipulating documents and invoices provided to the FEC. In doing so, the campaign was able to report less “in-kind” contributions, or donations of goods and services. That would have maximized the amount of so-called “hard money” that the campaign reported. Such funds are used on typical campaign activities, such as TV ads.
In the indictment, which wasn’t unsealed until 2005, Rosen was accused of providing a fraudulent invoice which stated that the cost of a concert held in coordination with the gala cost $200,000 when the actual price tag was $600,000.
After Rosen’s indictment was unsealed, Tonken, the L.A. fundraiser, gave an interview from prison in which he claimed that Rosen repeatedly instructed him to get rid of invoices related to the gala.
He also alleged that Clinton insiders were aware of what was going on at the time.
“Everyone around her knew there was a crime in what was going on,” Tonken told Josh Gerstein, a reporter for Politico who then worked for the New York Sun.
Though Clinton was never named as a target of the investigation, Tonken said that he kept Clinton insiders aware of the FBI’s probe. He said that he told Clinton aide Kelly Craighead about the agency’s inquiry into unrecorded expenses and that she passed that information on to Patricia Solis Doyle and Capricia Marshall, two other Clinton aides who are still in the Democratic candidate’s inner circle.
Rosen was ultimately found not guilty of the fraud charges. At trial, he testified that the costs of the event were concealed from him, a claim which the jury seemingly believed.
But one witness provided evidence undermining that claim.
Bretta Nock was hired as an event planner for the gala. She testified in May 2005 that Rosen instructed her to hide expenses for the event, including for the concert related to the gala and for expenses paid to a graphic designer.
She claimed that Rosen told her that “the overall [budget] figure needed to project a lower cost, so hence, items were adjusted accordingly.”
The only penalty incurred for the manipulated expense reports landed on the New York Senate 2000 Fundraising Committee. The Clinton fundraising group agreed to pay a $35,000 fine for failing to report more than $720,000 spent on the event.
