Lavish Clinton gala costs detailed

May 20, 2005

New Orleans political operative Ray Reggie took the stand Thursday in the trial of U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton’s former finance director to describe how expenses such as lavish party favors — director’s chairs for every guest — and efforts to round up private jets for celebrity performers helped drive the costs of a Hollywood gala into the stratosphere.

And Clinton’s finance director, David Rosen, knew it, Reggie testified on the sixth day of Rosen’s trial.

Rosen, 40, is charged with making false statements to the Federal Election Commission about the cost of the August 2000 event, held two days before the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles.

Prosecutors called Reggie to the stand to buttress their argument that Rosen deliberately caused false reports to be filed with federal officials, saying that in-kind donations for the event came to $400,000, though Rosen knew that the real costs exceeded $1.1 million.

In that way, they claim, Rosen sought to maximize the amount of “hard money” from the gala that could be used for direct campaign expenses as Clinton mounted her successful campaign to become a senator in New York.

While Reggie was not a primary organizer of the gala, he was listed on the host committee and said he flew to Los Angeles a week early to help with last-minute arrangements.

Spiraling expenses

Reggie testified that Rosen told him several times that week that the costs of the fund-raiser, on a Brentwood estate, had gotten out of control. Reggie said Rosen and organizer Aaron Tonken also told him that just the production of the concert portion of the event — featuring Cher, Sugar Ray and Patti LaBelle — was approaching $500,000.

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Lavish Clinton gala costs detailed

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