Despite the support many in the investment community provided Bill Clinton during his presidential campaign, very few people from money management and other pension- and financial-related concerns have contributed to his legal defense trust.
The trust, established last year to help finance personal legal expenses of the President and Mrs. Clinton, expects to release its second report on contributors this summer.
According to its first report, donors so far who have given $200 or more include two people from money management firms, one corporate benefits executive, and one consultant. The report, released in February, received publicity about its general contents, although not about these donors.
From the money management firms are Robert L. Bunnen Jr., vice president-marketing of New York-based Spears Benzak Salomon & Farrell, who contributed $200, and Sally Ann Schneider, administrative assistant, McMorgan & Co., San Francisco, who gave $200.
Of the others, Charles H. Cole, manager-compensation and benefits, Mobil Oil Corp., based in Fairfax, Va., donated $250, and Kathleen Loomis, principal, William M. Mercer Inc., Louisville, contributed $200.
These people were among 5,865 individuals who contributed a total of $608,080 to the officially named Presidential Legal Expense Trust, which is based in Washington, from its inception June 28, 1994, through Dec. 31. Of the contributors, 654 people made donations of $200 or more. Contributions from these individuals totaled $397,000, accounting for 65% of the total trust fund.
Because the trust reports publicly every six months, it plans to release a new list of contributors sometime in July, said Michael H. Cardozo, a trustee.
The trust accepts contributions only from U.S. citizens who are not federal employees, according to its first report. It may not accept contributions from corporations, labor unions, political committees and other entities. The trust limits individual contributions from any individual to $1,000 a year. The donations are not tax deductible.
Among other individual donors who have connections to institutional and corporate investments are: Abraham J. Briloff, professor of accounting, Baruch College, New York, who donated $1,000; Edgar M. Bronfman and Edgar M. Bronfman Jr., both executives of Joseph E. Seagram & Sons Inc., who each gave $1,000; Lew R. Wasserman, chairman & chief executive officer, MCA Inc., who's company was acquired recently by Seagram, who contributed $1,000. Tony Coehlo, managing director, Wertheim Schroder & Co., New York, who is a former Democratic congressman and who contributed $1,000; John W. Kluge, broadcasting entrepreneur, New York, who donated $1,000; Robert B. Menschel, limited partner, Goldman Sachs & Co., New York, who gave $1,000; Sacha Millstone, vice president, Raymond James & Associates, Bethesda, Md., who donated $500; David Schulte, managing partner, Chilmark Partners, Chicago, who contributed $1,000; Susan P. Thomases, attorney, and Philip L. Verveer, both of Wilkie Farr & Gallagher, in respectively, New York and Washington, who each gave $1,000; Barry Tucker, broker, Oppenheimer & Co., New York, who donated $250.
The money is kept in a non-interest-bearing account with NationsBank in Washington, although the lockbox, which receives the contributions, is in Baltimore. Mr. Cardozo said the trust negotiated the arrangement as a way to defer the cost of maintaining the lockbox and recording the contributions and the identities of the donors.
After paying legal and other expenses, only $143,979 was left in the trust as of its first reporting, while the president and First Lady still owed $981,682 in legal bills.
