Liquor firm’s payouts to Dole campaign probed

Monday, Sept. 30, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

Bob Dole's Republican presidential campaign received contributions last year from employees of a Nevada liquor wholesaler that says it gives some workers more pay for political or charitable contributions, the Kansas City Star reported.

A company vice president acknowledged the additional pay and said he hoped the practice was "not illegal." But a Dole campaign spokeswoman said the contributions may warrant an investigation.

The wholesaler, DeLuca Liquor & Wine Ltd., has also contributed to Nevada candidates such as Rep. John Ensign, R-Nev., and Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev.

Bryan said reports in Sunday's Star that he received 36 checks of $1,000 from the company or from its vice president, Ray Norvell, during Bryan's 1988 campaign "are probably true."

He said Norvell is a friend who contributed to his campaigns for attorney general and governor.

However, Bryan said allegations about improprieties in Dole's campaign don't mean illegalities occurred in other races, including his own.

"I have no reason to believe there was anything improper," he said.

Ensign said a preliminary check of his contributions indicates Norvell, DeLuca or related companies contributed $2,000 last year, not the $10,000 or more reported in the Star. Computer files indicate Ensign received $5,000 from Norvell and another DeLuca employee, James O'Conner.

Ensign said he has never met Norvell but is trying to contract him to ask whether employees were reimbursed for contributions.

"We're going to ask him if he did that," Ensign said, "and if he did, then we'll give it back."

Ensign said he, Bryan and other politicians have no way of knowing whether a contributor is breaking the law.

"It would be a big deal if you took the money and knew about it," Ensign said.

The Kansas City Star said the company, one of the largest liquor distributors in Nevada, supplied thousands of dollars to managers and asked them to make individual contributions to Dole.

The contributions were part of $477,000 Dole received on a trip to Las Vegas in June 1995 for a meeting with gambling executives who were upset that President Clinton was considering a tax on casinos, the Star said.

Dole, then the Senate majority leader, attended a fund-raising reception at Mirage Resorts' Shadow Creek golf course. His campaign finance chief, John Moran, arranged the meeting for which Mirage Chairman Steve Wynn, a friend of Moran, was host, the newspaper said.

The Star said its investigation found some of the contributions may have been illegal. It quoted employees of DeLuca Liquor as saying the company supplied thousands of dollars to managers and asked them to make individual contributions to Dole.

Campaign records show that on a single day, the Dole campaign received at least $10,000 from five DeLuca executives and their wives, the story said.

It said Norvell, vice president in charge of DeLuca's Nevada operations, acknowledged he knew federal law prohibited corporate contributions, so he boosted his workers' pay to help them donate.

"I give them $5,000 extra salary to give to political campaigns and also charities," Norvell said. "We are prepaying it, basically, in front."

The Dole campaign said the arrangement may warrant investigation by the Federal Election Commission.

"The campaign has been most vigilant in our fund-raising efforts and we're completely unaware of DeLuca's procedures and actions," said deputy campaign press secretary Christina Martin.

"A corporation can't give an employee money and then expect him to use it on a political contribution," said Kelly Huff, an FEC spokeswoman. "It sounds like it is a contribution in the name of another. Contributions in the name of another are prohibited."

Norvell acknowledged asking "a few" of his employees to contribute, using the portion of their salaries designated for political and charitable contributions. Seven or eight executives receive the contribution allowance, he said, and are free to keep any money remaining at the end of the year.

"It's not illegal, I hope," Norvell said. "This is the way I did it, because I thought that was legal. I know you can't give company checks."