DNC Expected to Reverse Controversial Donation Ban

WASHINGTON — Under pressure from immigrant rights groups, the Democratic National Committee is expected to announce today that it is reversing its year-old ban on political contributions from legal permanent residents, officials say.

Last January, stung by the scandal over foreign contributions to the Democratic Party, the DNC announced it would no longer accept donations from legal immigrants, even though U.S. law permits them to participate in political giving.

The DNC policy followed disclosures that the Democrats accepted more than $1 million in questionable donations from legal permanent residents during the 1996 campaign season. After a review of the checks, the DNC auditors could not confirm that the donors were the true sources of the funds.

Immigrant advocates have lobbied the DNC for months to lift the ban, which they consider an insult to immigrant communities.

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“Legal permanent residents are citizens in training,” said Stuart Kwok, an Asian American activist in Los Angeles. “What a terrible message to say, ‘It may be legal, but we’re going to ban your participation in politics.’ ”

Although the ban affects just 4% of the U.S. population, the outcry from immigrant groups prompted the party to convene a task force to review the matter. With that group’s recommendation against the policy in hand, the DNC’s executive committee will reconsider the ban at a meeting in Washington today, officials say.

Foreigners are banned from donating to U.S. elections. Citizens can write checks to whomever they choose. Legal permanent residents, however, fall somewhere in between.

Green-card holders, who are granted permanent residency in the United States, must pay taxes and register for the Selective Service, just like citizens, advocates point out. Under the law, they can also make donations--which the Supreme Court has likened to the right of free speech--but their participation in politics stops at the voting booth, where only citizens are allowed.

Advocates of the ban, however, argue that legal permanent residents are citizens of other countries and ought to wait until they receive U.S. citizenship before participating in this country’s political system.

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Besides rejecting checks from legal immigrants, the DNC policy also restricts attendance by noncitizens at small fund-raising events attended by President Clinton, Vice President Al Gore or First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The DNC’s reconsideration of the policy amuses Republicans, who dismissed the DNC ban from the outset as an ill-conceived publicity stunt. They point out that the DNC has also dropped its self-imposed $100,000 limit on party contributions.

“They took money from foreign donors who had no right to contribute, and their response was to not take contributions from people who can legally contribute,” said Mike Collins, a Republican National Committee spokesman. “Their piety has folded up like a $2 suitcase.”

Both of California’s senators, Democrats Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, have imposed their own bans on contributions from noncitizens. Aides said neither plans to reverse the ban.

But some activists say they intend to push the issue during Boxer’s reelection battle and Feinstein’s possible bid for the governorship. Charley Woo, a Los Angeles toy manufacturer who has donated to the DNC, said he confronted Boxer about the policy at a recent meeting of Asian Americans.

But most of the focus has been on the DNC.

“We considered this DNC policy stupid at the time, and that has proven to be the case,” said Karen Narasaki, executive director of the National Asian Pacific Americans Legal Consortium. “Most of the people most identified in the scandal were citizens, not legal permanent residents.”

In fact, the DNC fund-raisers who brought in the most suspect money--John Huang of Glendale; Yah Lin “Charlie” Trie, formerly of Little Rock, Ark.; and Johnny Chien Chuen Chung of Torrance--are all U.S. citizens. But legal permanent residents played a central role in the controversy.

In all, the DNC has returned about $1.3 million attributed to legal permanent residents--$250,000 from Jessica Elnitiarta, the daughter of Indonesian businessman Ted Sioeng; $450,000 from Arief and Soraya Wiriadinata, who have moved back to Indonesia; $253,500 from Thai businesswoman Pauline Kanchanalak and $325,000 from Northern California entrepreneur Yogesh K. Gandhi.

Marisa Demeo, an attorney for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund in Washington, said immigrant advocates opposed similar restrictions in campaign finance reform legislation introduced in the House and Senate last year.

Last year, Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Russell D. Feingold (D-Wis.) dropped a section of their bill to ban giving by legal permanent residents.