AMY GOODMAN: Right now we’re going to turn to the kingmaker. And, in fact, speaking of kings, we’re going to the Bay Guardian in San Francisco, which just published a piece called “King Alfonse: Why Senator Al D’Amato Is a Ticking Time Bomb for Dole’s ’96 Presidential Campaign.” It’s written by Dennis Bernstein, who’s an associate editor at Pacific News Service and also a producer at Pacifica station KPFA. He does a show every day called Flashpoints.

He begins this piece by saying, “A roar of laughter rolled through the packed Washington, D.C., offices of the National Republican Senate Committee in December, when GOP presidential hopeful Senator Bob Dole, in his tongue-in-cheek fashion, introduced his friend and colleague Senator Alfonse D’Amato to his bevy of high-powered lobbyists. 'Al,' Dole said, ’is the only politician in Washington who, when fundraising, refuses to take yes for an answer.”

Dole, who reportedly refers to D’Amato as “King Alfonse,” is now counting on D’Amato’s fundraising savvy and friends in all places to bring home the bacon for his uphill 1996 presidential bid. And Alfonse D’Amato becomes very important, because he is the Republican senator here in New York as Dole makes his way to New York for the Thursday primary that will take place here. And also last night, you may have seen Dole in his acceptance speech, or the speech after the Big Eight primary win. He was in Washington, and at his side was Senator Alfonse D’Amato.

Joining us to talk about him is Dennis Bernstein.

Welcome to Democracy Now!, Dennis.

DENNIS BERNSTEIN: Good morning, Amy. How are you?

AMY GOODMAN: Good. It’s nice to hear your voice. Why don’t we begin where you began, with your relationship with Alfonse D’Amato?

DENNIS BERNSTEIN: Well, in the early 1970s, Amy, I was a young college student looking for a job, and I got one in the town of Hempstead. I was an activities counselor at an old-age home. It was called an “old-age home” at that time. And it was in Hempstead, by the way, the town —

AMY GOODMAN: Long Island?

DENNIS BERNSTEIN: On Long Island. And the presiding supervisor was none other than Alfonse D’Amato. He was a member of the Republican Club, perhaps the most in-crowd county Republican team in the country. This was an old boy club, and D’Amato was inside. Soon after I got that job, Amy, I was approached by my supervisor, who asked me if I liked my new job, which indeed I did, young man making decent money. And she informed me that if I was happy, I would want to take care of the Republican Party that was looking out for me. In other words, they were looking for 1% of my salary as sort of a kickback.

Well, little did I know that I was at the beginning of one of the first of many major political firestorms which were illegal that Alfonse D’Amato was in the middle of. And by 1974, then-U.S. Attorney David Trager — he was for the Eastern District — had to open up an investigation. By 1975, his assistant, U.S. Attorney James Druker, was marching about 15 people a week before the grand jury to talk about this 1% kickback scandal — civil servants, politicians, entrepreneurs, businessmen. By May 2nd, 1975, Alfonse D’Amato had his turn before the grand jury to, yes, commit perjury.

Essentially, D’Amato told the grand jury he knew nothing about this kickback system. Lucky for Alfonse D’Amato, the letter he wrote to his political godfather, then-Nassau County boss, Margiotta, identifying a man by the name of Robert Marcus, who was a garbageman and a member of the political club where D’Amato came from in Island Park, acknowledging that Mr. Marcus had now paid his 1% and he could get the promotion that he had been longing for for some time — fortunately for D’Amato, the letter was not discovered until 1981. That was after the statute of limitations. So he got a chance to get away with perjury and miss it on the statute of limitations. That was just the beginning for Alfonse D’Amato. By the way, five of the people who worked under him were indicted. Joseph Margiotta ended up going to jail in in the early 1980s.

AMY GOODMAN: You’re listening to Dennis Bernstein.

DENNIS BERNSTEIN: Amy?

AMY GOODMAN: Yes, Dennis is out in our Pacifica station KPFA in Berkeley and has been doing a lot of investigation into Senator Alfonse D’Amato, who is the power behind the scene here in New York for Republican presidential hopeful Bob Dole. Dennis, tell us a little more about how it is that all of this information, it’s so difficult to get, and we read so little about it in the mainstream media.

DENNIS BERNSTEIN: Well, you know, when you mention Alfonse D’Amato in New York state, people’s eyes glaze over. This man has been identified with every major financial scandal throughout the 1980s, you name it — Wedtech, Unisys, Michael Milken and the junk bond operation, the HUD scandal. It goes on and on. The fact that D’Amato manages to stay in power has to do with his ability to be supported by this extraordinarily powerful machine that began on Long Island and that he managed to carry to the New York state.

Now, witness the winning of the primaries yesterday, Alfonse D’Amato standing side by side with Robert Dole after the victory. Just before Dole was introduced, somebody called out — this was incongruous, but it was right on the mark. Somebody called out, “Who owns New York state? Alfonse D’Amato!” One second later, Bob Dole was introduced to the cheering crowd. And Alfonse D’Amato does own New York state. For instance, when Alfonse D’Amato had had enough of Mario Cuomo, he handpicked Pataki. He handpicked Pataki’s fundraiser. Now, this is the essential part of Alfonse D’Amato. The fundraiser’s name is Charles Gargano. He is the key fundraiser for D’Amato. D’Amato puts him in place. He raises $14 million for Pataki. They unseat Cuomo. Immediately, Pataki —

AMY GOODMAN: On that note, Dennis, we’re going to have to break for a minute to go to music, and then we’re going to come back and also talk about D’Amato’s relationship with Puerto Rico. And then we’ll be joined by Mark Green, New York City’s public advocate, who went up against D’Amato. And a poll indicates that if he went up against him again, he’d win. You’re listening to Democracy Now!

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AMY GOODMAN: You’re listening to Democracy Now! I’m Amy Goodman. By the way, if you’d like to reach us by email, would like to send us a letter, you can send it to democracy@pacifica.org That’s democracy@pacifica.org. You can also get a tape of this program by calling the Pacifica Archives at 1-800-735-0230 — that’s 1-800-735-0230 — and get a tape of any of Democracy Now!'s programs. We're talking on the line now in California to Pacific News Service associate editor Dennis Bernstein, who has a piece in the Bay Guardian called “King Alfonse: Why Senator Al D’Amato Is a Ticking Time Bomb for Dole’s ’96 Presidential Campaign.” We’ve also been joined on the line by New York City Public Advocate Mark Green, Mark Green who went up against Senator Alfonse D’Amato in a race previously. And a new poll that’s just come out indicates if he were to go up against him now, he could win. But before we go to Mark Green, I wanted to ask Dennis Bernstein about Senator D’Amato and Puerto Rico.

DENNIS BERNSTEIN: And let me just — let me answer that, and let me just conclude about the Gargano connection. This is somebody who in the early 19— in the mid-1970s was a part of a federal criminal racketeering suit for ripping off Long Island, New York state and federal taxpayers of hundreds of millions of dollars. This is the man who is the key fundraiser now for Bob Dole, under Alfonse D’Amato. He is in place, and this is somebody to look at.

Puerto Rico, Alfonse D’Amato got the reputation of being the New York senator for Puerto Rico because he apparently was doing a great deal more in the 1980s in terms of HUD subsidies for Puerto Rico than for New York state. In fact, Puerto Rico in the mid-1980s got some $60 million in HUD subsidies, quite a bit more than New York state, and obviously Puerto Rico is minuscule. This is because several fundraisers were raising major sums of money not only for Alfonse D’Amato, but also for Bob Dole, who D’Amato was even supporting back then. These fundraisers, including Eduardo Ballori, were ultimately indicted for funneling illegal campaign contributions to Alfonse D’Amato. D’Amato said he didn’t know anything about it. Nevertheless, the same Eduardo Ballori, according to FEC records, in 1995, has been funneling a great deal of money to Bob Dole. In fact, five contributions of $1,000 apiece came on one day last year. These are the same people. The people who raise funds for D’Amato raise funds for Dole, and there is a 30-year history of illegal campaign contributions. When it comes up, Alfonse D’Amato said, “I didn’t have the slightest idea.” And if he gets caught, he returns the money. But this goes on and on and on.

AMY GOODMAN: And yet, Senator Alfonse D’Amato has now positioned himself as the chief ethical investigator into Whitewater, going after Hillary Rodham Clinton for what he calls her ethical violations, maybe even legal obligations. We don’t see much about Alfonse D’Amato’s record when talking about ethics these days.

DENNIS BERNSTEIN: Well, this is the most extraordinary thing. We’re going to be speaking to Mark Green, who’s going to be on the line with us. Alfonse D’Amato has a 900-page — reportedly 900-page Ethics Committee file, 900 pages of testimony that he refuses to release. Now, the fact that he is the arbiter on ethics in Whitewater and S&Ls is unbelievable, because Alfonse D’Amato made it possible for Michael Milken to sell junk bonds to S&Lers, to go-go S&Lers in the 1980s, that really brought those S&Ls down for a bill of between $300 billion and $500 billion to taxpayers, because Alfonse D’Amato opened up the loophole, after receiving a great deal of money from the Milken Group, a $1,000-a-plate fundraiser a week later. Somebody from the Milken Group testifies. Good legislation comes out, pro-junk bond. It passes. The junk bonders go crazy in the S&Ls. Then another fundraiser, Alfonse D’Amato makes a great deal more money from the Milken Group. So, this is the man, the man who opens up the S&Ls, that’s now judging Bill Clinton on S&Ls. It is extraordinary.

AMY GOODMAN: Dennis Bernstein, we want to bring Mark Green into this conversation right now. Mark Green, again, is New York City’s public advocate, which is an elected position. And that 900-page ethics transcript, which Senator D’Amato refuses to release, actually comes out of the Senate Ethics Committee’s 1989 investigation of him on misconduct charges. That’s of Senator Alfonse D’Amato. The investigation was prompted by Mark Green, who ran against D’Amato in New York’s 1986 Senate election. And in '89, Green filed a lengthy complaint that the Ethics Committee request a full investigation of D'Amato and his political activities. Mark Green, welcome to Democracy Now! And what came of that?

MARK GREEN: Well, in 1991, the Senate Ethics Committee, a body of the senator’s own peers, who are obviously normally reluctant to chastise one of their own, reprimanded Senator D’Amato for his “systematic misuse of office” — those are their words — because Senator D’Amato, in at least one instance, allowed his brother, a private lobbyist, to use his public office, our taxpayer office, to help the brother’s private client get a Pentagon contract. The brother used the stationery to woo the Pentagon for the private client. And they reprimanded him. Senator Warren Rudman, a friend of Senator D’Amato’s, said it was a very serious charge and reprimand. And the senator said, “See, I’m exonerated,” because he wasn’t convicted of crimes. This is like Willie Sutton saying, “Yeah, you caught me once. But I’m clean because I haven’t been convicted of 10 other crimes.” It was an embarrassment for the senator.

It’s public, but he refuses to release, as you say, these hundreds of pages of still-secret Senate Ethics proceedings, even while he demands that Bill and Hillary Clinton release every phone record and private memo going back two years in the White House and 10 years back in Arkansas. If hypocrisy were a Olympic event, Al D’Amato would win the gold, the silver and the bronze. He is demanding of the Clintons what he won’t do for himself. He, for example, makes fun of Hillary Clinton’s one-day trades, where she made a lot of money. And it turns out he had one-day trades where he made $37,000 in one day because of a favored stockbroker helping him. He criticized Governor Bill Clinton for allegedly helping contributors with government contracts back in Arkansas. Senator D’Amato’s entire career — even his friends laugh about it — is getting jobs and contracts for his contributors, his cronies and his cousins. And so, I agree with your — the other speaker that it is chutzpah, as we say in New York, it is massive nerve, for him to be accusing the Clintons what everyone has accused him of. And I’m rather surprised at the national media, not Pacifica. When Ted Koppel interviews him, they never talk about his ethics, even while he’s judging the ethics of others.

AMY GOODMAN: Mark Green, how is it that he’s escaped prosecution for all of these years?

MARK GREEN: Well, I can’t answer that. I’m not a prosecutor. Let me give you one example. When he was a local official in Nassau — may I go back 20 years, since he wants to go back with Bill Clinton 15 years? When he was a kind of equivalent of a presiding official in the town of North Hempstead on Long Island, he was accused of forcing his civil servants under him to kick back 1% of their salary to the Republican Party on the condition of staying in their post. He denied it under oath in a criminal proceeding. Nine years later, in a civil lawsuit against the system, he admitted it under oath. Well, if you admit and deny something both under oath, one time you’re lying. That’s called perjury. But nine years later, the statute of limitations had run, and he couldn’t be prosecuted for perjury. So, in my view, he’s always stayed a step ahead of the sheriff. At the moment, while he’s escaped prosecution, criminal prosecution, he probably is the most ethically reprimanded, if not ethically challenged, of the hundred sitting senators today. And yet he’s the one who Bob Dole is using to attack Bill Clinton by trying to attack his wife. And I’m —

DENNIS BERNSTEIN: Mark Green, this is —

MARK GREEN: I’m sorry. Go ahead.

DENNIS BERNSTEIN: I’m sorry, Mark Green. This is Dennis Bernstein, with Amy Goodman. I’m in California now.

MARK GREEN: Hi, Dennis.

DENNIS BERNSTEIN: Wouldn’t you agree one of the things that really distinguishes D’Amato from the other money-grabbing senators is his consistent connections to various organized crime families, whether it’s the Genovese speaking up for Mario Gigante, who’s in jail for extortion, or the Gambino family, when he tried to intercede with Rudolph Giuliani on behalf of Paul Castellano, or when he —

AMY GOODMAN: That was when Rudolph Giuliani was what? U.S. attorney?

DENNIS BERNSTEIN: Was U.S. attorney back in the '80s — or when Alfonse D'Amato shows up as the only character witness at a federal criminal racketeering trial of Philip Basile, who, along with the Lucchese crime captain Paul Vario, tried to offer a no-show job to Goodfellas of fame, _Goodfellas_’ Henry Hill? I mean, isn’t this extraordinary?

MARK GREEN: Now, what Dennis just said, for skeptics and Republicans listening, is factually accurate. Al D’Amato did each of the things that he said. But D’Amato then goes on to say, “Yes, I was a character witness for a man named Philip Basile in court, who was found guilty of an organized crime-related violation. But, hey, he’s my friend. I didn’t do it to help organized crime. He happened to have been charged with this offense. And shouldn’t one be loyal to his friends?” Second, it is — Rudy Giuliani, a Republican, now the mayor of New York, said in the 1980s that Al D’Amato, unethically, privately lobbied him to reduce the sentence for Paul Castellano, head of an organized crime family, to reduce the sentence after a conviction. Al D’Amato said, “Oh, I didn’t know it was that Paul Castellano.” And he was later — Castellano was later killed in a Mob hit. So, all that you said is true.

DENNIS BERNSTEIN: And then there’s — and then there’s Joseph Asaro, who gets indicted and pleads guilty to illegal campaign contributions to none other than Alfonse D’Amato, $58,000 worth of that stuff. D’Amato says he doesn’t know anything about it. This is, by the way, Joseph Asaro who is, according to court papers, an associate of the Bonanno crime family. Where does it stop?

MARK GREEN: Now, this is an interesting example, Dennis. Asaro also gave illegal contributions to people other than Al D’Amato. And I just ran and won for office, had 4,000 contributors. Is it possible that one of them is in organized crime and gave me money, and I didn’t know it, and it’s tainted money? Yes, it is possible. But if this happened eight times, you would then say, “Wait a second. Mark Green can’t each and every time say, 'Oh, I didn't know that. I’ll give the money back.’” At some point there’s obvious knowledge. But Senator D’Amato said he never knew his brother, a lobbyist in Washington, was using his office to help a private client. Well, that’s implausible. Once, it’s possible it’s implausible; eight, 10 times, the burden of proof shifts.

And it’s now, I think, likely that Senator D’Amato is a front for unlawful special interest contributions, whose gifts he returns with HUD contracts and other favors. And it’s a career of ethical corner-cutting that, folks, has caught up with him. It’s not my good looks or my appearance on Pacifica that led a statewide poll this week to say that if a Senate election were held today, I’d get 50%, and Al D’Amato would get 33%. It’s not me, it’s him. And in the last 20 years, in the history of New York state, there’s never been a statewide official with as high negative numbers, after he mocks Judge Ito, after he judges the ethics of the Clintons with hearings that have gone on longer than the OJ trial and the Watergate hearings, after his career of ethical investigations and violations. In fact, how does he get away with it? Well, the public is onto him. Whether this will stay this way until 1998, you don’t know in politics. But his political hold in New York is unbelievably tenuous, even as he struts his power in Washington.

AMY GOODMAN: Mark Green, I just want to let people know that the poll you’re referring to, not that we hold great stock in polls, is the Quinnipiac College poll, from the Quinnipiac College Polling Institute in Connecticut, and that was just released. You’re listening to New York City Public Advocate Mark Green and reporter Dennis Bernstein, who did a piece in the last San Francisco Bay Guardian called “King Alfonse: Why Senator Al D’Amato Is a Ticking Time Bomb for Dole’s ’96 Presidential Campaign.” Dennis, you were just saying something.

DENNIS BERNSTEIN: Amy, let me make — let me make this point about what Mark Green is saying in terms of the tenuous nature of Alfonse D’Amato’s career. He now knows he’s in trouble. He only won his last election by about 1% of the population, something like 82,000 votes out of about 7 million cast. I think this is why he is now working very hard to get Dole elected president, as he did get Pataki elected governor of New York, because Alfonse D’Amato knows that he’s going to have some problems in ’98, and I think he wants a cabinet position, maybe secretary of treasury or even secretary of state, if he works on his presentations in terms of public statements.

MARK GREEN: Maybe the head of the Office —

DENNIS BERNSTEIN: But this man —

MARK GREEN: Maybe the head of Office of Ethics at the Department of Justice.

DENNIS BERNSTEIN: There you go. Well, he’s getting a lot of experience for that right now conducting Whitewater. But the fact that The New York Times this weekend runs this cleanup piece on D’Amato in which they say that he’s cleared, they say his coming out for mafioso figures is just a matter of his personal style, and it just gets him — causes him these political blunders. Mark Green, why do you suppose Newsday in 1980 didn’t come out against D’Amato, supported him, and then Newsday and then The New York Times in 1986 supported D’Amato, knowing who he is, over you? I mean, I know — 

MARK GREEN: I can answer that.

DENNIS BERNSTEIN: — that this —

MARK GREEN: I can answer that.

DENNIS BERNSTEIN: Go on.

MARK GREEN: In 1980, Newsday is the local Long Island paper with a local Long Island candidate. After 1980, Newsday spent a decade attacking D’Amato’s ethics and uncovering scandal after scandal, so they changed. In 1986, a lot of these scandals hadn’t been published. And when I was running against Senator D’Amato, I was then a little-known public interest lawyer in the general election. I was 35 points behind him in the general election. He had $13 million from his contributors, on whom he lavished favors. I struggled to raise $2 million, because I was the underdog. And when you’re 35 points behind, The New York Times doesn’t like to waste an endorsement. They endorsed him.

AMY GOODMAN: Mark Green, we’re going to have to wrap up, but I —

MARK GREEN: He won. And then, ever since then, the Times has editorially attacked him as they found out his public record.

AMY GOODMAN: Mark, are you going to run against Senator Alfonse D’Amato, given this poll?

MARK GREEN: This spring, I’m deciding whether to next run for mayor or reelection as public advocate and then the D’Amato seat. And I’ll decide within a couple of months. But it absolutely is a possibility. Since I was 35 points behind him last time, if I’m 17 points ahead of him this time, that’s better.

AMY GOODMAN: I want to thank you very much for joining us — 

MARK GREEN: Thank you.

AMY GOODMAN: — New York City Public Advocate Mark Green and Pacific News Service associate editor Dennis Bernstein, and also a reporter for Pacifica. You’ve been listening to Democracy Now! Democracy Now! is produced by Julie Drizin. Our director in New York is Errol Maitland. Our engineer is Bernard White. Special thanks to Graceon Challenger, Paul Wonder and Michael Yoshida. I’m Amy Goodman. Tune in tomorrow for another edition of Democracy Now!