LV men part of coffee klatches

Wednesday, Feb. 5, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

Two Las Vegas businessmen, both longtime members of and contributors to the Democratic Party, participated in White House coffee klatches with President Clinton that have been criticized as a means of selling access to the White House.

Mike Sloan, a Circus Circus Enterprises Inc. executive, and Polo Towers owner Stephen Cloobeck attended the insider events where lobbyists allegedly got access to Clinton in exchange for donations.

Sloan, whose political contributions to Democrats total $40,000 over the last two years, went to the White House on Feb. 20. Cloobeck, who has donated $69,000 over the same period, went to the White House on Feb. 22.

Sloan and Cloobeck deny using the visits to push any political agendas.

Sloan, who also visited the White House when Republican George Bush was president and on another occasion during Clinton's first term, said when he got the invitation "there was nothing implied that a contribution had to be made or that the invitation was in exchange for past contributions."

"Like any American who gets an invitation to visit the president, I was in awe," said Sloan, a senior vice president for the gaming company that owns the Circus Circus, Luxor and Excalibur hotel-casinos, among others. "I did not bring up gaming. I asked the president a general question about the economy.

"At these type of events you try not to ask anything that would embarrass you, and you listen intently to what the president says. That's what I did."

Sloan said there were no captains of industry or famous people at his klatch, but he was impressed that Clinton gave 1 1/2 hours to the guests even though his aides tried to get him to leave to attend to other duties.

Asked if he would think twice about accepting another White House invitation in the wake of this incident, Sloan said: "If I get invited again to the White House, I'd go no matter who is president. How many Americans get such an opportunity and honor?"

Cloobeck, who says politics has been his "serious hobby" for 12 years, calls the coffee klatch controversy "a witch hunt."

"This type of thing (gatherings at the White House) has gone on for many years, regardless of what party has been in the White House," he said.

Cloobeck, who has visited the White House more than a half-dozen times, said his coffee meeting with Clinton was "very relaxed" and "I never did any lobbying."

"When the president asks your opinion on an issue, it is a very special moment in your life -- one not to be made a mockery of," Cloobeck said.

Republicans claim the more than 100 coffee klatches with Clinton over the last two years served as little more than efforts to gain access to the White House in exchange for political donations.

The coffee gatherings are part of a broader controversy over Democratic fund-raising practices and White House rewards to donors, now under investigation by Congress and the Justice Department.

Washington lobbyists who were invited to the events reportedly understood that the money they gave to the Democratic Party might gain them the rarest contact of all -- unfiltered access to the president.

At least 72 lobbyists were invited to the insider events with Clinton or Vice President Al Gore over the past two years, and many reported making commitments to raise specific amounts of money or making large donations around the time of their visits.

In some cases, invitations to the coffees were issued directly by Terence McAuliffe, the chief fund-raiser for Clinton's re-election campaign, or one of his lieutenants. McAuliffe ran at least some of the meetings, calling on those around the table to air their concerns.

THE ASSOCIATED Press contributed to this report.