Dole Supporter Fined $6 Million For Illegal Campaign Donations

A former vice chairman of Bob Dole’s campaign finance committee agreed Wednesday to pay a record $6 million in fines for funneling illegal contributions through his employees to the Dole camp and other political causes.

If the plea agreement entered by Simon C. Fireman is approved by a federal judge as expected, it would be by far the largest penalty in U.S. history for illegal campaign contributions.

Fireman, the owner of AquaLeisure Industries, was accused of getting employees of his company to make contributions and then reimbursing them through a cash flume running to Hong Kong and then back to the United States.

He allegedly used $120,000 to reimburse employees for contributions to the Dole campaign, the 1992 Bush-Quayle campaign, the Republican National Committee and Democratic Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II’s 1993 campaign for Congress.

U.S. Attorney Donald Stern said there was no evidence that any of the campaigns or committees knew about the scheme and no one else was expected to be prosecuted. The Dole campaign said the illegal contributions would be given to the U.S. Treasury.

Both the Clinton and Dole camps sought to turn the plea agreement to their own advantage.

Dole spokesman Nelson Warfield stressed that the Dole campaign had cooperated fully with the probe, adding pointedly that “this approach stands in stark contrast to what the public has come to expect from others.”

President Clinton’s campaign spokesman, Joe Lockhart, shot back that Dole was obligated to explain how his campaign got involved in “this kind of criminal behavior.”

“He needs to give the details of his relationship with Mr. Fireman and what he knew about this illegal scheme,” said Lockhart.

Dole’s office came back with a call for the release of unedited copies of Clinton’s testimony in the Whitewater case.

Fireman said he had accepted the agreement to end the suffering of family members and employees of his Avon, Mass.-based company, which makes swimming masks, toys and other gear.

“I cannot further endure being used as a political tool through the continued prosecution of these charges,” said Fireman.

In addition to $1 million in fines against Fireman and $5 million against his company, the plea agreement allows the government to recommend that Fireman, 70, serve six months in prison.

Fireman and his assistant, Carol Nichols, agreed to plead guilty to 74 counts of conspiracy to make disguised cash campaign contributions, conspiracy to structure cash transactions to obtain funds for illegal contributions and conspiracy to impede the Federal Election Commission. Nichols agreed to pay $7,500.