TV REVIEW : ‘Frontline’ Traces the Campaign Money Trail

In one sense, reporter Robert Krulwich’s “Frontline” study of presidential campaign funding, “The Best Campaign Money Can Buy” (at 9 tonight, KCET Channel 28 and KPBS Channel 15; 8 p.m., KVCR Channel 24), is the oldest of old news. Political party fund-raising has always been part and parcel of American governing, and the doling out of legislative favors to generous campaign contributors is linked to nearly every major political scandal since the early days of the Republic.

But never before have the interlocking arms of corporations, the media and the parties been so tight and inseparable, and Krulwich dredges up some delicious evidence to show the camaraderie of elites in action. My favorite is a fund-raising party during the GOP Houston convention hosted by the law firm of Patton, Boggs & Blow--of which Democratic Party Chairman Ron Brown is a partner. During the bash, it might be added, Marilyn Quayle, wife of the candidate most on the rampage against lawyers this year, is seen hobnobbing with Brown’s lawyer friends.

Or sample this doozy, which Krulwich serves up at the end of the report: the Sea View Hotel, in Bal Harbour, Fla., lists among its tenants Democrats Tip O’Neill and Robert Strauss, Republicans Robert and Elizabeth Dole and Howard Baker, Sunday chat show stars David Brinkley and Sam Donaldson, and, most important of all, money makers to both parties Jack Stephens and the capo di cappi of donors, Wayne Andreas, owner of agribusiness giant Archer Daniels Midland and the second largest giver to George Bush’s 1992 campaign (the largest, Michael Kojima, was arrested for owing $100,000 in child support).

As Strauss casually tells Krulwich, all of these odd bedfellows in Florida are in fact good friends, happy to aid each other. ADM is a sponsor of “This Week With David Brinkley,” although Krulwich should have noted that ADM advertises on most weekend pundit shows. Dole helped engineer a waiver this year in the Clean Air Act to ease the sale of ethanol--which is a product of corn processing, a key ADM project.

Just as critical as this party-corporate-media triad is the flaunting of Federal Election Commission rules with the “soft money” loophole, allowing wealthy donors (restricted to $1,000 per candidate) to give to the parties, which then siphon the money to the candidate. This, Fred Wertheimer of Commom Cause notes, makes a farce of public campaign funding, which had been designed to discourage the kinds of money pitches to the rich and powerful that both Bill Clinton and George Bush have been doing effectively all year.