Dole Learns Cheaper Way to Campaign

When Sen. Bob Dole’s entourage boarded his chartered jet for this week’s campaign trip, it first had to troop through a Northwest Airlines gate at Washington National Airport, walk down stairs to the ramp, board a bus and ride out to the waiting Boeing 727 about 100 yards away on the tarmac.

In the past, it had been much simpler, getting directly on the big white plane at a private aviation terminal at a distant part of the airport.

Why the change? Money. The switch saved $700 in fueling and gate fees, campaign officials said.

Once in California, Dole aides scheduled most of their public events for outdoors. It wasn’t just the state’s proverbial sunshine. Talking outside means not having to pay for a hall.

Not that Dole is out of money. He just can’t spend much between now and the end of the Republican National Convention in mid-August without violating federal election laws.

After an unexpectedly difficult--and costly--primary battle, Dole has come within a whisker of the $37.1-million cap on what presidential candidates legally may spend before the fall general election campaign. Candidates must agree to adhere to that ceiling as a condition of accepting federal matching funds to help finance their campaigns, which Dole did.

On May 20, the Dole campaign reported to the Federal Election Commission that it was just $177,000 away from the limit, although Dole campaign officials said this week they actually will have more money to spend over the next 10 weeks because of a series of accounting maneuvers.

There is no effective legal sanction for a violation--even an FEC spokeswoman said Thursday that the commission, which is supposed to enforce campaign spending laws, would not attempt to rule on any allegations until after the Nov. 5 election. “We don’t want to interfere with the political process,” said FEC spokeswoman Sharon Snyder.

But Democrats hope to use the power of public embarrassment against Dole if they can prove he is breaking the law. To that end, officials of President Clinton’s reelection committee are counting the Dole expenditures almost penny by penny.

“We’re watching closely with some slight amazement at the brazenness of their campaign” spending, said Clinton campaign press secretary Joe Lockhart.

For their part, Dole’s aides, who insist they will stay within the letter of the law, are seeking to minimize costs wherever they can and to stretch campaign rules to shelter whatever costs they can’t avoid.

Right now, those costs are not too high. Most of the price of running Dole’s chartered airplane, for example, is covered by the per-seat charges levied on the press and Secret Service--roughly $2,000 per person for this week’s Washington-to-California-to-Chicago trip. Of the 60 or more people aboard Dole’s jet, only eight are regular campaign staff.

But there are some unavoidable expenses, and Democrats are monitoring them closely. During Dole’s four-city, 27-hour California trip Tuesday and Wednesday, Democratic campaign aides even checked hotel registers and called in to telephone paging numbers for Dole aides to see if they were working for the Dole campaign itself, or for the Republican National Committee--a point that matters in determining compliance with campaign laws.

Clinton-Gore forces said they identified at least three people helping to prepare for Dole’s visit as representatives of the Republican National Committee and argued that that constituted a violation.

Another point of contention surrounds the words that come out of Dole’s mouth. The RNC can cover the cost of Dole’s travel to events such as party fund-raisers so long as he limits his comments to promotion of the party and its fortunes, not his own campaign.

Dole appeared Wednesday evening at an RNC reception in Sacramento--allowing the party to pay for part of his California travel. Several hundred loyal Republicans paid $1,000 each to attend the affair, which party sources said could net the national committee $250,000.

Whether Dole limited his comments to promoting the party may never be known, though--party officials did not allow reporters traveling with Dole to cover the session.

Similarly, a Dole visit to California in early July is scheduled to coincide with fund-raisers for Victory ‘96, the arm of the state GOP that will conduct voter registration drives, get-out-the-vote campaigns and similar activities, said John Herrington, the state Republican chairman.

Times staff writer Dave Lesher in Sacramento contributed to this story.