GroupWatch: Profiles of U.S. Private Organizations and Churches, was compiled
by the Interhemispheric
Resource Center, Box 2178, Somerville, MA 88062. Check when each article
was last updated as much material is no longer current. This material is provided
as a source for historical research.
Jump directly to these subsections:
Center for Democracy
Acronym/Code: CFD
Updated: 12/90
Categories:
Politics
Background:
The Center for Democracy is a non-partisan organization established in 1984 to "promote the democratic process in the United States and abroad." The concept for the group apparently came from the American Political Foundation (APF), a group founded in the late-1970s to develop a bipartisan approach to assist emerging democracies around the globe. The APF--composed of business, labor, government, and academic leaders--organized "The Democracy Program" which proposed government funding of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and its four associated institutes. The Democracy Program evolved into the Center for Democracy, a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization operating under the umbrella of Boston University. The Center has offices in Boston, Washington, DC, Guatemala City, and Strasbourg,
France. (4,5)
The Center's promotional materials claim that
it has achieved "the vision of an independent, bipartisan organization,
funded largely by the private sector, which links Democratic and Republican
leaders in common program efforts... ." However, the Center's
board of directors is dominated by political heavyweights from influential
legal and public relations firms and from the board of the National Endowment
for Democracy, a government-funded, quasi-private "democracy-building"
institution, originally headed by Allen Weinstein. Known funding sources are
primarily governmental. (19)
Funding:
The Center claims that its funding comes
from private sector members of its board of directors, individual donations,
foundations and corporations, and the Agency for International Development
(AID). (4) Specific financial information on the Center is not available,
but it is believed that a major portion of the Center's funding comes from
AID. In 1988 the Center received $465,000 to support the "institutional
and logistical development of the National Congress of Guatemala." This
AIDfunded project agreement with the Center ran through July 1990 and involved
total funding from AID of $1,765,000. The AID agreement included $236,174
in matching funds from the Center, bringing the total for the 3-year project
in Guatemala to more than $2 million. (6,9) The Center also received $250,000
from AID for election monitoring activities during the 1990 Nicaraguan elections.
(7) In 1989 the Center also received $75,000 from the NED for election monitoring
and observation of the Nicaraguan elections. (8)
Activities:
Within the United States, the Center attempts
to act as a "bridge" between the Democratic and Republican parties,
with top leaders of both parties serving on the Center's board. The Center
organized a bipartisan Commission on National Political Conventions to examine
presidential nominating procedures and recommend possible improvements. It
has organized a number of bipartisan debates and conferences to discuss issues
of national significance. The Center was also very active in organizing major
national events to celebrate the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution. The
Center is a high profile group that attracts numerous "big name"
advocates of democracy to its meetings including Elie Wiesel, President Oscar
Arias of Costa Rica, Ambassador Max Kampelman, President Corazon Aquino of
the Philippines, President Ronald Reagan, and United Nations Secretary General
Perez de Cuellar. (4)
The Center maintains what it terms a "liaison
presence" in Strasbourg, France to assist with the emerging processes
of democratization occurring in Eastern Europe. (4) The Center has also been
active in the electoral process in Namibia, primarily trying to facilitate
communication between SWAPO and other political parties. (4)
The Center's main activities have focused
on Central America. Prior to receiving its major contract for democracy development
in Guatemala, the Center administered an AID-funded legislative support program
that involved work with the national legislatures of Belize, Costa Rica, El
Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. This program arranged for travel and information
exchange between Central American legislators and those of the United States
and Western Europe. (15)
Costa Rica: The Center held a colloquy on
"Democracy and Development in Central
America" in San Jose, Costa Rica in February of 1989. Participants included
representatives from Costa Rica, France, the Council of Europe, and Guatemala.
Peter Kelly and Allen Weinstein represented the Center for Democracy. (4)
In May 1989 ten presidential candidates or their representatives from Costa
Rica, Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala met before the San Jose Colloquy
under Center auspices. (4)
Guatemala: The Center maintains an office
in Guatemala in conjunction with its $2 million AID-funded project to support
the institutional and logistical development of the National Congress of Guatemala.
The project is co-chaired by Allen Weinstein and the President of the Guatemalan
Congress. The project director is Caleb McCarry. (15) Over the course of this
3-year project, the Center's goal is to train members of the Guatemalan Congress
on democratic procedures through seminars and training programs. The program
brings procedural, legislative, and academic "experts" to train
members of the Guatemalan Congress, and members of the Congress travel to
observe the functioning of other western democracies. (15) There is some indication
that this project will be repeated in Honduras and El Salvador. (4)
Nicaragua: The Center awarded its annual "Sentinel
of Democracy" award to Violeta Chamorro in 1987. (12) The Center was
invited by both the Sandinista government and UNO to organize an international
observer mission for the 1990 national elections. Funded by NED and AID, the
Center opened an office in Managua in September 1989 to monitor election activities,
act as a clearinghouse for election information and materials, and promote
civic participation in the electoral process. (7) The Center reserved 10 percent
of the grant funds for registration of Nicaraguans living abroad (particularly
on the Costa Rican and Honduran borders--where there were concentrations of
contra supporters). (39) While most of the 3000-plus observers invited to
observe the elections sent individuals in for a short period of time around
the elections, the Center for Democracy established itself in a far more permanent
manner, opening an office in September 1989 and hiring staff. (16,39) The
mission was directed by Caleb McCarry and Diane Weinstein was listed on the
proposal as the attorney for the project. (39) Among those who participated
in the Center's pre-election observation mission were NED board members William
Brock, Frank Fahrenkopf, and Charles Manatt. (39) In December 1989 a Center
observer delegation witnessed a demonstration in the town of Masatepe in which
one person was killed and more than twenty people were injured. The Center
immediately issued a statement placing all of the blame for initiating the
violence on the Sandinistas. This assessment, however, was contradicted by
other observers, including those from the Organization of American States
(OAS). The OAS reported it was impossible to determine how the violence began,
but about 200 UNO supporters broke into and ransacked the Sandinista headquarters
and the adjacent Agriculture Ministry. UNO supporters also burned two vehicles.
While UNO vicepresidential candidate Virgilio Godoy and members of the Center
for Democracy delegation--including Allen Weinstein, representatives from
the National Democratic Institute, the National Republican Institute, and
the rightwing World Freedom Foundation--claimed the slain man was an UNO supporter,
his mother stated unequivocably that he was a staunch Sandinista supporter.
(10,11,12,17) However, reports in major U.S. media carried the "official"
Center for Democracy viewpoint on the incident. (10,11,12) Immediately following
the incident at Masatepe, the Center delegation led by Allen Weinstein went
to a summit meeting of Central American presidents where they denounced "Sandinista
violence" and questioned the Nicaraguan electoral process. (12)
Following this series of events, several representatives
from the Center for Democracy were denied entry visas to Nicaragua. The Nicaraguan
government denied entry stating that the Center for Democracy was not acting
responsibly. (13) The Center continues to be active in Nicaragua. In July
1990 plans were underway for establishment of an independent support institute
to help research and write legislation and generally facilitate the establishment
of new procedures for governing compatible with the UNO government. (14) The
Center continues to maintain a small office in Nicaragua which receives support
from the Center's office in Guatemala. (14,17)
Panama: At the encouragement of the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee's Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere Affairs,
in 1989 the Center undertook a study mission to Panama to observe election
procedures. In April 1989, the Center opened an Electoral Information Center
for journalists and election observers. It was promptly closed by the Panamanian
military. (4) In May 1989 Allen Weinstein wrote an editorial for the Wall
Street Journal calling for a firm U.S. policy that would solicit the support
of the American public and U.S. allies for the removal of Noriega by force
if necessary. (18)
Philippines: At the request of Senators Lugar
and Pell of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the Center organized a
bipartisan group of election lawyers to oversee the preparations for the February
1986 elections. (15) At President Reagan's request Center president Allen
Weinstein returned to the Philippines to continue to monitor the election
procedures to ensure a fair and democratic election. The Center drafted the
official report of the U.S. Observer Delegation. (15) The Center went on
to work with President Aquino's government on matters of electoral procedure.
(4)
Government Connections:
Allen Weinstein: Weinstein received the United
Nations Peace Medal in 1986 for his efforts to "promote peace, dialogue,
and free elections in several critical parts of the world."(15) He served
in 1983 on the U.S. delegation to the UNESCO-sponsored International Program
for the Development of Communication and in 1982 was a member of the U.S.
delegation to the UNESCO World Conference on Cultural Policies. (22) He was
a member of the U.S. observer delegation to the 1986 Philippines elections.
His wife, Diane Weinstein, is legal counsel to Vice President Dan Quayle.
(19)
Lee Atwater served as President Bush's campaign
chairman in the 1988 election. Before that he served as manager for stalwart
conservatives Strom Thurmond and the late Larry McDonald. McDonald went on
to become chairman of the John Birch Society. (23)
F. Clifton White worked with CIA director
William Casey on the Reagan Administration's pro-contra propaganda network.
According to a November 1986 memo from National Security Council staffer Walter
Raymond to National Security Adviser John Poindexter, White was to be in charge
of the formation of a group modeled after the bipartisan cold war champion,
Committee on the Present Danger, but focusing on Central America. The group
was to promote President Reagan's Central American policies. (19) White lunched
with the Soviet Central Election Commission to the U.S. during their November
1989 visit to the United States. (35)
William E. Brock III was U.S. Secretary of
Labor under the Reagan administration. (20)
Dante Fascell is a Democratic Representative
from Florida. He is chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and former
chair of the subcommittee with direct responsibility for NED oversight. Fascell
took the lead role in pushing the initial NED authorization through Congress.
(20) He has received campaign contributions from the rightwing, pro-contra
Cuban American National Foundation. (20)
Private Connections:
Allen Weinstein is a professor of history
at Boston University and formerly taught at Smith College and Georgetown University.
He was a member of the board of directors of the American Political Foundation
which received a $300,000 grant from AID for the project that developed the
conceptual design for NED as well as the Center for Democracy. Weinstein enlisted
the assistance of the George Weigel, head of the World
Without War Council. (19,33) Weinstein's co-directors
at the APF included Charles Manatt, William Brock, and Frank Fahrenkopf of
the NED board of directors; Lane Kirkland, president of the AFLCIO and on
the board of NED; Eugenia Kemble former executive director of the Free Trade
Union Institute--a core grantee of NED; and Peter Kelly. (19) Weinstein is
a member of the board of the U.S. Institute of Peace, another quasi-private,
governmentfunded organization. (19) He also serves as a dirctor of the Oscar
Arias Foundation of North America and is on the board of the Coalition for
a Democratic Majority (CDM), an anticommunist, Cold War group first formed
in the 1950s. (19) Weinstein was a director of the National Strategy Information
Center at the time that thegroup was involved in funding contra leader Arturo
Cruz. (19) From 1981 to 1983 Weinstein was executive director of the Washington
Quarterly, a publication of the Center for Strategic and International Studies,
a conservative think tank which was at that time connected to Georgetown University.
(20,22) From 1983-1984 he served as acting president of the NED. (20,22)
Lee Atwater was or is national chairman of
the Republican Party. During his tenure
at the head of the party, Atwater sent UNO a contribution of $25,000 and actively
participated in fundraising events for Violeta Chamorro. (21,25) Atwater helped
organize fundraising dinners held in support of Lt. Col. Oliver North of Iran-Contra
fame. (24) Atwater was implicated in the dirty work in the attempted smear
of presidential candidate Michael Dukakis. The story,"leaked" by
the LaRouche campaign, claimed that Dukakis had a history of psychiatric treatment.
(26) Atwater is a former partner of the firm of Black, Manafort, Stone and
Kelly. (27)
Peter Kelly and Paul Manafort are partners
in the highly political public relations/lobbying
firm of Black, Manafort, Stone and Kelly. The firm's revenues from foreign
governments and corporations in 1986 was $2. 1 million. (29) Among the clients
of this firm have been the government of Kenya; UNITA, (National Union for
the Total Independence of Angola),the U.S. -supported, Angolan anticommunist
resistance group led by Jonas Savimbi; and the government of Somalia, noted
for its abysmal human rights record. In 1988 the Somali government received
$42. 5 million in U.S. aid, including $6. 5 in military aid. In 1989, the
military aid request jumped to $18. 1 million. (27,28) More recently, the
Union for National Action (UNA), a Philippine party connected to vice president
Salvador Laurel, signed a $950,000 contract with the firm to represent its
interests in the United States. (29) Zaire's president, Mobutu Sese Seko,
signed a $1 million contract with Black, Manafort and company in July of 1989
for the purpose of obtaining more aid from the U.S. (32) Partners Black and
Stone were senior campaign managers for President Bush; Manafort ran the Republican
National Convention. He was a central figure in the congressional inquiry
into fees paid to Republican consultants to win approval of housing subsidies
from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). For his services,
Manafort earned $348,500 in consulting fees from HUD's Section 8 Moderate
Rehabilitation program. (30) Manafort admitted that his firm used its political
influence with HUD to obtain lucrative benefits for a project in which Manafort
had invested. (29) Manafort comes to the firm from a background of conservative
politics including the College Republicans and the Young Republicans, co-founders
of the National Conservative Political Action Committee (NCPAC). (29) Manafort
directed the 1980 presidential campaign of Ronald Reagan in the South. (31)
Kelly is former finance chairman of the Democratic National Committee where
he claimed to have raised more than $90 million. (29) The firm boasts that
clients pay $10,000 to $12,000 a month for their services--fees that are paid
because the partners are known to have access to the administration and Capitol
Hill. (29)
John Silber is president of Boston University
and recently defeated candidate (1990) for governor of Massachusetts. An ultraright
conservative, Silber recently published a book, Straight Shooting. Reviewer
Leland Miles wrote that "In the last analysis, Mr. Silber tolerates only
views from the right, often insulting those who hold different positions... ."(34)
Dante Fascell was a member of the American
Political Foundation. (20) He has been connected with the rightwing think
tank Center for Strategic and International Studies. (20)
Charles T. Manatt serves on the board of the
National Democratic Institute for International
Affairs, the Democratic Party's pass-through for NED funds; he is also on
the board of the NED. Manatt serves on the board of the NED-funded International
Foundation for Electoral Systems. (20)
F. Clifton White is a longtime rightwing Republican
strategist. In the 1950s he and William Rusher, publisher of the National
Review, helped to turn the Young Republican National Federation, the GOP youth
arm, from a moderate to a very conservative group. (36) White played an important
role in the pre-convention campaign of Barry Goldwater in 1964. (37) White
was or is a member of The Conservative Network, a small group founded in 1985
by Reagan administration presidential appointees to bring the administration's
conservative political philosophy into the private sector. (38) White is on
the board of the National Republican Institute for International Affairs,
the Republican Party's channel for NED funds for international political assistance.
(19,20) He is chairman of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems,
a NED-funded group which provides technical assistance for elections around
the world. He also serves on the board of the John M. Ashbrook Center for
Public Affairs. (19)
Misc:
Comments:
U.S. Address: 1155 15th Street, NW, Suite
1010, Washington, DC 20005 and 118 Bay State Road, Boston, MA 02215.
Principals:
Members of the board of directors in 1989
were: Peter G. Kelly, chairman, principal in Updike, Kelly & Spellacy
and Black, Manafort, Stone & Kelly; Frank J. Fahrenkopf, Jr. , vice chair,
partner in Hogan & Hartson; Allen Weinstein, president; James F. Keenan,
chair, development committee, chairman of the board of Pace Industries; Susan
Davis, co-chair development committee,
president of The Susan Davis Companies; Lee Atwater, chairman of the Republican
National Committee; Raymond C. Avansino, Jr. , partner in Avansino, Melarkey
& Knobel; William E. Brock III, president of The Brock Group; Ronald H.
Brown, chairman of the Democratic National Committee; Bruce Douglas; president
of The Douglas Company; Christopher J. Dodd, U.S. Senate; Dante B. Fascell,
U.S. House of Representatives; Harvey C. Fruehauf, Jr, president of HCF Enterprises;
Frederick P. Furth, senior partner in Furth, Fahmer, Bluemle & Mason;
Glen R. Greenberg, president of Turbine Controls, Inc. ; Robert Trent Jones,
Jr, president of Robert Trent Jones II Company; Elliott F. Kulick; Robert
J. Lagomarsino, U.S. House of Representatives; Richard G. Lugar; U.S. Senate;
Jane H. Macon, partner in Fulbright & Jaworski; Paul J. Manafort, Jr,
principal in Black, Manafort, Stone & Kelly; Charles T. Manatt, partner
in Manatt, Phelps, Rothenberg & Evans; Charles S. Robb, U.S. Senate;
Edward J. Rollins, cochairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee;
William D. Rollnick, president of Genstar Rental Electronics; John Ryan, president
of Ryan, Elliott & Company; Allan Schaefer, president of Allan Schaefer
Enterprises; John R. Silber, president of Boston University; Guy L. Smith,
IV, vice president corporate affairs, Philip Morris Companies, Inc. ; Rodolfo
Strauss, president of Strauss Plastic; Dennis E. Wheeler, president of Coeur
d'Alene Mines Corporation; Pete Wilson, Governor of California; Anthony Harrington,
counsel to the board, partner in Hogan & Hartson; David Norcross, co-counsel
to the board, partner in Myers, Matteo, Rabil, Norcross & Landgraf. (1)
Former board members include: Marshall Coyne,
proprietor of The Madison Hotels; Anthony Cutaia, president of The Butler
Realty Group; John F. Kerry, U.S. Senate; F. Clifton White, director of the
John H. Ashbrook Center; A. Robert Abboud, A. Robert Abboud & Company;
Frank Drozak (deceased), president of the Seafarers International Union; William
S. Edgerly, chairman of the board of the State Street Bank and Trust Company;
Thomas M. Gaubert, chairman of the board of The Independent American Group;
James F. Keenan, chief executive officer Pace Industries & Petro General;
Eva Roman, chair of the board of CCI, Inc. ; Thomas F. Stroock, president
of Alpha Exploration, Inc. ; and Richard S. Williamson, partner in Mayer,
Brown & Platt. (2,3)
Senior staff at the Center in 1989 included:
Program Directors Mary R. Donaldson, Caleb C. McCarry, and Paul Nathanson;
Controller Avis Worrell; and Assistant to the President Pamela R. Reeves.
(4)
