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Non-profit

Vote Now 96

Location:

Miami, FL
Tax-Exempt Status:

501(c)(3)

Type:

Voter mobilization
Executive Director:

Gary Barron
Chairman:

Hugh Westbrook

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Vote Now 96 was a Miami, Florida-based minority voter mobilization group. 1 It was founded by Democratic fundraisers Gary Barron and Hugh Westbrook. 2

The organization was scrutinized during a 1997 campaign finance investigation after reports that the Democratic National Committee and officials in the Clinton White House steered donors to the nonprofit, which was legally required to be nonpartisan. 3 4

Background

Vote Now 96 was a Miami, Florida-based voter participation organization. Although it is forbidden for 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofits to intervene in partisan politics, the organization seemed to have the support of the Democratic National Committee. The organization raised $3 million during the 1996 election cycle, and many of the donations were steered by the DNC. 5

Vote Now 96 was scrutinized in congressional investigations of fundraising practices by the Democratic National Committee during the 1996 election that involved large sums of alleged foreign donations as well as ties to nonprofit organizations that are legally bound to be nonpartisan. 6 The FBI also reportedly investigated the group. 7

Gary Barron, the executive director of Vote Now 96, and Hugh Westbrook, the chairman of Vote Now 96, were former Democratic fundraisers. 8 In July 1996, President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton hosted the two for a dinner during Clinton’s re-election campaign. 9

Both Barron and Westbrook testified before the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, and the organization provided more than 700 pages of documents. The final committee report determined that the organization complied with all applicable laws and was cooperative. 10

DNC Ties

In 1996, Democratic National Committee chair Don Fowler ordered his staff to raise $500,000 for Vote Now 96. 11

Newsweek reported that in 1996, a DNC official called a Louisiana lawyer who had been a major Democratic donor to tell him that a donation to Vote Now 96 would help Bill Clinton’s re-election campaign and get him a tax deduction. 12

Clinton White House Deputy Chief of Staff Harold Ickes reportedly listed Vote Now 96 as one of several voter mobilization nonprofits to which a prospective donor interested in helping Clinton could contribute, even though none of those nonprofits were affiliated with the Democratic Party. Ickes proposed that the donor make a $250,000 contribution to Vote Now 96. 13

Major Foreign Donors

Nigerian businessman Gilbert Chagoury, who had ties to Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha, gave $460,000 to Vote Now 96 after being solicited by the Democratic National Committee. After he gave the donation, Chagoury was invited to a holiday party at the White House on December 21, 1996. A DNC spokesman said Chagoury “attended the dinner because he had given generously to Vote Now 96, a voter participation project important to the DNC for its work in registering and increasing voter participation amongst disenfranchised and minority communities.” 14

The DNC had to reject $25,000 in donations from Shu-Lan Liu and Yun-Liang Ren because they were noncitizens. A Senate committee report alleged that the money “found its way to Vote Now 96.” 15

Chagoury’s contributions to Vote Now 96 reportedly came in installments of $200,000, $10,000, and $250,000 in September and October 1996. 16

Filipino businesswoman Judith Vasquez wanted to donate to the Clinton re-election campaign but could not legally contribute to U.S. political campaigns as a noncitizen. The DNC reportedly recommended that she give a $100,000 donation to the re-election campaign of International Brotherhood of Teamsters president Ron Carey. However, Vasquez employed 112 people in California and was also not legally eligible to donate to union elections; the DNC then recommended that she give the $100,000 to Vote Now 96. 17

References

  1. Klaidman, Daniel. “The Democrats’ Charity Shuffle.” Newsweek. March 30, 1997. Accessed May 7, 2022. https://www.newsweek.com/democrats-charity-shuffle-170426
  2. Klaidman, Daniel. “The Democrats’ Charity Shuffle.” Newsweek. March 30, 1997. Accessed May 7, 2022. https://www.newsweek.com/democrats-charity-shuffle-170426
  3.  Klaidman, Daniel. “The Democrats’ Charity Shuffle.” Newsweek. March 30, 1997. Accessed May 7, 2022. https://www.newsweek.com/democrats-charity-shuffle-170426
  4. Abramson, Jill. “Campaign Finance: The Connection; Tax-Exempt Group Linked To Democratic Fund-Raisers.” September 20, 1997. Accessed May 7, 2022. https://www.nytimes.com/1997/09/20/us/campaign-finance-connection-tax-exempt-group-linked-democratic-fund-raisers.html
  5. Klaidman, Daniel. “The Democrats’ Charity Shuffle.” Newsweek. March 30, 1997. Accessed May 7, 2022. https://www.newsweek.com/democrats-charity-shuffle-170426
  6. Senate Governmental Affairs Committee. Final Report. March 10, 1998. Accessed May 7, 2022.  https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CRPT-105srpt167/html/CRPT-105srpt167-pt6.htm
  7. Klaidman, Daniel. “The Democrats’ Charity Shuffle.” Newsweek. March 30, 1997. Accessed May 7, 2022. https://www.newsweek.com/democrats-charity-shuffle-170426
  8. Klaidman, Daniel. “The Democrats’ Charity Shuffle.” Newsweek. March 30, 1997. Accessed May 7, 2022. https://www.newsweek.com/democrats-charity-shuffle-170426
  9. Klaidman, Daniel. “The Democrats’ Charity Shuffle.” Newsweek. March 30, 1997. Accessed May 7, 2022. https://www.newsweek.com/democrats-charity-shuffle-170426
  10. Senate Governmental Affairs Committee. Final Report. March 10, 1998. Accessed May 7, 2022.  https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CRPT-105srpt167/html/CRPT-105srpt167-pt6.htm
  11.  Klaidman, Daniel. “The Democrats’ Charity Shuffle.” Newsweek. March 30, 1997. Accessed May 7, 2022. https://www.newsweek.com/democrats-charity-shuffle-170426
  12. Klaidman, Daniel. “The Democrats’ Charity Shuffle.” Newsweek. March 30, 1997. Accessed May 7, 2022. https://www.newsweek.com/democrats-charity-shuffle-170426
  13. Michael Isikoff. “The White House Shell Game. Newsweek. February 9, 1997. Available at: https://www.newsweek.com/white-house-shell-game-174678
  14. “Nigerian Donor Dined at White House.” Associated Press. November 21, 1997. Accessed May 7, 2022. https://apnews.com/article/3db480271dde4d0c54bfc4df36c70b3f
  15. Senate Governmental Affairs Committee. Final Report. March 10, 1998. Accessed May 7, 2022.  https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CRPT-105srpt167/html/CRPT-105srpt167-pt6.htm
  16. Babcock, Charles R. and Schmidt, Susan. “Voters Group Donor Got DNC Perk.” Washington Post. November 22, 1997. Accessed May 7, 2022. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1997/11/22/voters-group-donor-got-dnc-perk/62dcf8ea-9ec4-46f2-912c-112f40b15e18/
  17.  Abramson, Jill. “Campaign Finance: The Connection; Tax-Exempt Group Linked To Democratic Fund-Raisers.” New York Times. September 20, 1997. Accessed May 7, 2022. https://www.nytimes.com/1997/09/20/us/campaign-finance-connection-tax-exempt-group-linked-democratic-fund-raisers.html
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Vote Now 96


Miami, FL