Robbins, Liz

Public THE WASHINGTON POST FRIDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1994 A39 Lobbyist May Have Broken Law With Employee Campaign Donations Commission (FEC) filing reports, paign. The inappropriate contribu- By Lois Romano which are public, shows that Robbins tions, she said yesterday, "will be re- Washington Post Staff Writer had already reached her $1,000 gen- turned to the employees." Robbins, Liz Robbins, a prominent Wash- eral-election limit for Kennedy at the who has given close to $70,000 to ington lobbyist with close ties to the time her reimbursement checks various candidates and the Demo- Clinton White House, pressed two of were written in September. Accord- cratic Party since 1987, $24,000 of her employees in September to ing to the employees of Robbins's which was in the last election cycle, write $1,000 checks to Sen. Edward eponymous lobbying firm, Robbins said she did not realize her actions M. Kennedy's reelection campaign, wanted the checks so she could at- were illegal. then reimbursed them the same day, tend a fund-raiser at Kennedy's Mc- "Thank you for bringing this to my the employees have confirmed. Lean estate, where President Clin- attention," she said. Federal law prohibits making po- ton was the star attraction. Robbins has been a well-known litical contributions "in the name of After being contacted by The player on the Washington scene another person." It is also illegal to Washington Post, Robbins called since the mid-'70s, representing BY ARTHUR PIERSON give more than $1,000 per candidate back a day later to say that a "mis- such high-profile clients as the City LIZ ROBBINS in the general election. take" had been made and that she of New York and the H.J. Heinz Co. reimbursed staffers for donations A review of Federal Election had informed the Kennedy cam- and helping celebrities such as Paul Newman with their charities. But it is her 20-year relationship with Bill and Hillary Clinton that has given "Liz doesn't ask-she makes de- her prominence in the past two mands," said Crampton when asked years. to confirm the transaction. "My hus- She often entertains members of band has been ill, and I needed the Congress and administration officials job. I was afraid that I would lose my at her home in East Hampton, Long job." Crampton, who is Frick's moth- Island, among them senior White er and worked for Robbins for about House officials including Laura six months, said she got a blank D'Andrea Tyson, chairman of the check from her husband, Joseph, on president's Council of Economic Ad- the day of the fund-raiser and filled visers; Marcia Hales, assistant to the in the amount herself. She said she president for intergovernmental af- was not aware that the transaction fairs; Lisa Caputo, press secretary to was illegal. the First Lady; and Strobe Talbott, Said Frick, who was in the process the No. 2 State Department official. of closing on a new home at the She has an annual summer bash time: "I had to hold that job till I got there nicknamed "Congressional my house-whatever she wanted, Camp," where legislators socialize did. She told me I would get a tax with Wall Street executives and Hol- deduction on it, and when I. went lywood stars. home and told my husband, he had a Robbins has taken an interest in fit. He said, 'There's no tax deduc- the Clintons' social life as well. For tion. It's against the law. instance, she helped plan and pay for Copies of Robbins's canceled re- Hillary Rodham Clinton's 47th-birth- imbursement checks to Frick and day party in October, according to Crampton, obtained from another documents obtained by The Post. source, are dated the day of the Chelsea Clinton stayed at her house fund-raiser. The FEC report for that in the Hamptons right after the filing period shows that Crampton 1992 Democratic National Conven- and Frick donated $1,000 each to tion. And the Clintons have recipro- Kennedy, their only political contri- cated. Robbins received a coveted butions during the past election cy- invitation to the state dinner for cle. Joseph Crampton confirmed that South African President Nelson he gave his wife a blank check and Mandela, and at the Kennedy fund- added that he is a registered Repub- raiser, President Clinton in his re- lican. Asked if he would be inclined marks made reference to Robbins as to contribute to Kennedy, he re- his "friend." sponded: "Mercy, no!" According to three former em- Paul Donovan, Kennedy's chief of ployees, it was Robbins's zeal to at- staff, said yesterday: "We had no tend the Sept. 29 fund-raiser that idea of the circumstances. As soon prompted her to ask Marlene as we heard about it, we immediate- Crampton, her personal assistant un- ly refunded the contributions." til two weeks ago, and Cindi Frick, Robbins started her lobbying firm her then-accountant, to write the in 1977 after working for the City of checks to the Kennedy campaign. New York and Rep. Charles Rangel Robbins told Crampton she couldn't (D-N.Y.). In the mid-'80s, then-May- attend without paying the $2,000 or Ed Koch hired her to handle some price of admission. (Fund-raisers can tax matters for the city. cost more than $1,000 admission be- Over the years, her clients have cause it is neither illegal nor unusual also included the investment houses to pay with another person's check, of Goldman Sachs and Warburg Pin- as long as that person isn't reim- cus, and the cities of Vail, Colo., bursed.) Crampton says Robbins told Denver, and San Francisco. More her she had already "maxed out on recently, she agreed to represent Kennedy," meaning that she had the family of actor Kirk Douglas to reached her legal contribution limit. help it acquire federal grants for philanthropic endeavors. Last month, she was hired for $4,000 a month by high-profile Los Angeles District Attorney Gil Garcetti, who is directing the prosecution of O.J. Simpson, to lobby on his office's bé- half before Congress and the Justice Department.