[ftp://ftp.shell.portal.com/pub/chan/federal/feinstein-west-pac] Date: Tue, 16 Aug 1994 23:42:24 -0400 (EDT) From: James Love Subject: West Publishing and Political Contributions (fwd) Distributed to TAP-INFO, a free Internet Distribution List (subscription requests to listproc@essential.org) TAXPAYER ASSETS PROJECT - INFORMATION POLICY NOTE CROWN JEWELS CAMPAIGN - Juris, Legal Information August 16, 1994 From 1989 until the present (the last three election cycles), persons affiliated with West publishing have made political contributions of $738,728 to a wide range of office holders and hopefuls. These include $229,250 in contributions made to the Democratic Party, and more than one half million in contributions made directly to candidates. Contributions to members of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees are $148,572. The report follows: Campaign Contributions and West Publishing James Love (love@tap.org) and Michael Ward (mike@tap.org) Taxpayer Assets Project P.O. Box 19367, Washington, DC 20036; voice 202/387-8030 August 16, 1994 From 1989 until the present (the last three election cycles), persons affiliated with West publishing have made political contributions of $738,728 to a wide range of office holders and hopefuls. These include $229,250 in contributions made to the Democratic Party, and more than one half million in contributions made directly to candidates. These include contributions to more than 100 candidates for federal office. Members of key congressional committees and subcommittees, which have jurisdiction over antitrust law, copyright law, policies for the management of federal information resources. or the budgets of the federal judiciary and the Department of Justice, have received significant amounts of money. West Publishing has come under increasing attack because of its control of the text of federal judicial opinions and the system of citation to federal caselaw. (See Appendix). West Publishing also opposed efforts to allow public access to two federal information systems, the Department of Justice JURIS system and the Air Force FLITE system, which have databases of federal caselaw in electronic formats. Campaign finance laws allow elected officials to raise huge amounts of money from special interests. West is only one of many firms involved in efforts to raise funds to support candidates for federal office. This note provides a snapshot of who has received campaign contributions, and how contributions are often targeted to members on the basis of legislative jurisdiction, despite apparent differences in ideology. THE CONTRIBUTORS The report analyzes campaign contributions reported to the Federal Elections Commission (FEC). The period of analysis is 1989 to the second quarter of 1994 (the most recent three election cycles). We have included contributions from: i. The West Publishing Political Action Committee (PAC). The total of the West PAC contributions were $241,960. ii. Dwight Opperman (the former President and current Chairman of West), Vance Opperman (the current President of West), and other members of the Opperman Family. The Opperman family contributions to the Democratic Party and candidates for federal office were $284,100. (Not including contributions to law firm PAC or the West PAC). iii. The law firm in which Vance Opperman was the senior partner before becoming West's president in 1993. This firm has changed names several times since 1989 (Opperman & Paquin; Opperman, Heins and Paquin; Schatz, Paquin, Lockridge, Grindal & Holstein), continues to represent West on matters related to its claims of ownership of federal caselaw and citations. The law firm (and its PAC) made contributions of $158,843. iv. Two West lobbyists, former Minnesota Congressman Gerry Sikorski and lawyer Jonathan W. Cuneo. Sikorski and Cuneo made contributions of $28,750. This analysis understates the importance of West/Opperman political fundraising. We do NOT report individual contributions made by all members of the Opperman family, nor do we report individual contributions by other members of the law firm, individual contributions of other West employees or corporate officials, or funds raised by West officials on behalf of candidates. Contributions by Contributor 1989 through July 1994 FEC report West Publishing Company PAC $241,960 Vance Opperman 116,750 Dwight Opperman 126,350 Opperman & Paquin Political Fund 123,887 Opperman, Heins and Paquin 25,000 Schatz, Paquin, Lockridge, Grindal & Holstein PAC 34,931 Darin Beth Opperman 19,000 Darin Opperman 19,000 Fane W. Opperman 500 Janice Opperman 1,000 Jeanice Opperman 1,500 Jonathan W. Cuneo 26,350 Gerry Sikorski 2,500 ---------- $738,728 Contributions by funding cycle 89-90 $141,558 91-92 394,497 93-94* 202,691 *incomplete funding cycle. WHO RECEIVED THE MONEY The Democratic Party received the largest single share of the contributions. The $229,250 donated to the Democratic Party consisted mostly of contributions by Vance and Dwight Opperman. THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY - $229,250 INTERESTING FACTS After giving only $1,000 to the party in 1991, contributions increased to $147,000 in 1992. Dwight Opperman's contribution of $100,000 to the Democratic National Committee on October 13, 1992, came less than one month before the presidential election. In June 1993, Attorney General Janet Reno was asked by 295 citizens to provide public access to JURIS, a large federal database of legal information. In August 1993, Vance Opperman and his law firm contributed $50,000 to the Democratic National Committee. In October 1993, West Publishing told the Department of Justice that the government had 90 days to remove federal caselaw from the JURIS database. In January 1994, the JURIS program was shut down. (See Appendix). Within a few weeks, Vance Opperman was one of 17 CEO's appointed to the new National Information Infrastructure Advisory Council. On March 31, 1994, Vance Opperman made another $25,000 contribution to the Democratic National Committee. DNC SERVICES CORPORATION/DNC $18,000 Vance Opperman 500 4/06/90 Vance Opperman 500 8/31/90 Vance Opperman 500 9/04/90 Vance Opperman -500 9/04/90 Darin Opperman 6,000 8/19/92 Darin Opperman 6,000 8/19/92 Vance Opperman 5,000 8/10/93 DNC-NONFEDERAL-CORPORATE $25,000 Opperman Heins and Paquin 25,000 8/05/93 DNC-NON-FEDERAL INDIVIDUAL $165,000 Dwight Opperman 100,000 10/13/92 Vance Opperman 10,000 10/06/92 Vance Opperman 10,000 10/06/92 Vance Opperman 20,000 8/10/93 Vance Opperman 25,000 3/31/94 DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF ARKANSAS FEDERAL ACCOUNT - $5,000 Vance Opperman 5,000 10/21/92 DEMOCRATIC SENATORIAL CAMPAIGN - $16,750 Vance Opperman 750 7/24/90 Jonathan W. Cuneo 1,000 9/24/91 Darin Beth Opperman 10,000 4/27/92 Darin Beth Opperman 5,000 12/21/93 THE JUDICIARY COMMITTEES The next largest recipients of funds were members of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees, which have jurisdiction over the Department of Justice and the federal court system, as well as antitrust and copyright law. HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE - $91,212 INTERESTING FACTS Of the 14 highest ranking democrats (by seniority), 13 received contributions. The top four ranking republicans also received contributions. The top five largest recipients included three democrats and two republicans. Of the 15 members of the Subcommittee on Intellectual Property and Judicial Administration, 12 received contributions, including 4 of 6 republicans. (listed by party in order of seniority) JACK BROOKS (D-TX) $17,500 Chair, House Judiciary West Publishing Company PAC 2,500 89-90 Jonathan W. Cuneo 1,000 2/26/90 Jonathan W. Cuneo 1,000 5/01/91 Opperman & Paquin Political Fund 3,000 91-92 West Publish Company PAC 6,000 91-92 Dwight Opperman 1,000 6/16/92 Janice Opperman 1,000 6/16/92 Jonathan W. Cuneo 1,000 6/07/93 Jonathan W. Cuneo 1,000 6/14/94 DON EDWARDS (D-CA) - $2,500 West Publishing Company PAC 1,000 89-90 Vance Opperman 500 5/04/09 West Publishing Company PAC 1,000 91-92 JOHN CONYERS (D-MI) - $17,262 Chair of the House Committee on Government Operations, which has the Subcommittee on Government Information, and jurisdiction over federal policy on dissemination of federal government information. West Publishing Company PAC 3,500 89-90 Opperman & Paquin Political Fund 5,262 91-92 West Publishing Company PAC 5,000 91-92 West Publishing Company PAC 3,500 93-94 WILLIAM HUGHES (D-NJ) - $2,500 Became Chair of the Subcommittee on Intellectual Property and Judicial Administration in 1991. West Publishing Company PAC 500 89-90 West Publishing Company PAC 2,000 91-92 MIKE SYNAR (D-OK) - $3,250 Dwight Opperman 500 9/28/90 Dwight Opperman 500 5/15/91 Dwight Opperman 500 5/06/92 Schatz, Paquin, Lockridge, Grindal & Holstein PAC 500 93-94 Dwight Opperman 500 12/28/93 Gerry Sikorski 500 12/28/93 Jonathan W. Cuneo 250 6/17/94 PATRICIA SCHROEDER (D-CO) - $12,500 Member of Subcommittee on Economic and Commercial Law, which has jurisdiction over antitrust. West Publishing Company PAC 1,000 89-90 Vance Opperman 500 7/25/90 Opperman & Paquin Political Fund 4,500 91-92 West Publishing Company PAC 6,500 91-92 DAN GLICKMAN (D-KA) - $3,000 West Publishing Company PAC 1,000 89-90 Vance Opperman 500 5/15/90 West Publishing Company PAC 1,500 91-92 BARNEY FRANK (D-MA) - $1,000 Did not receive contributions after sponsoring legislation to prohibit copyright of statutory or judicial citations. West Publishing Company PAC 1,000 89-90 CHARLES SCHUMER (D-NY) - $1,500 West Publishing Company PAC 1,000 89-90 West Publishing Company PAC 500 91-92 HOWARD BERMAN (D-NY) - $1,000 West Publishing Company PAC 1,000 91-92 RICK BOUCHER (D-VA) - $3,500 West Publishing Company PAC 2,000 89-90 West Publishing Company PAC 1,000 91-92 West Publishing Company PAC 500 93-94 JOHN BRYANT (D-TX) - $3,250 West Publishing Company PAC 1,000 89-90 West Publishing Company PAC 2,000 91-92 West Publishing Company PAC 250 93-94 GEORGE SANGMEISTER (D-IL) - $2,600 West Publishing Company PAC 1,000 89-90 West Publishing Company PAC 1,600 91-92 JOHN REED (D-RI) - $1,000 West Publishing Company PAC 500 91-92 West Publishing Company PAC 500 93-94 DAVID MANN (D-OH) - $500 West Publishing Company PAC 500 93-94 XAVIER BECERRA (D-CA) - $500 West Publishing Company PAC 500 93-94 HAMILTON FISH JR. (R-NY) - $6,000 Ranking Republican West Publishing Company PAC 2,500 89-90 West Publishing Company PAC 2,500 91-92 West Publishing Company PAC 500 93-94 Schatz, Paquin, Lockridge, Grindal & Holstein PAC 500 93-94 CARLOS MOORHEAD (R-CA) - $3,000 West Publishing Company PAC 1,500 89-90 West Publishing Company PAC 1,000 91-92 West Publishing Company PAC 500 93-94 HENRY HYDE (R-IL) $1,000 West Publishing Company PAC 1,000 91-92 FRANK SENSENBRENNER (R-WI) - $1,000 West Publishing Company PAC 1,000 89-90 STEVEN SCHIFF (R-NM) $1,600 West Publishing Company PAC 1,000 89-90 West Publishing Company PAC 600 91-92 JIM RAMSTAD (R-MN) $5,250 Opperman & Paquin Political Fund 2,500 91-92 West Publishing Company PAC 2,500 91-92 Dwight Opperman 250 93-94 SENATE JUDICIARY - $57,360 INTERESTING FACTS Forty seven percent of all contributions to this committee was given to Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA). Senator Feinstein is a member of the Subcommittee on Patents, Copyrights and Trademarks, and the Subcommittee on Technology and the Law. West President Vance Opperman also served as Finance Committee Chairman for Senator Feinstein. Senator Heflin received $11,000 in the 1989-1990 funding cycle. Heflin serves as chair of the Subcommittee on Courts and Administrative Practices, and is a member of the Subcommittee on Antitrust, Monopolies and Business Rights and the Subcommittee on Patents, Copyrights and Trademarks. Five of eight republicans serving on the full committee received contributions. Five of seven members of the Subcommittee on Antitrust, Monopolies and Business Rights received contributions. Seven of nine members of the Subcommittee on Patents, Copyrights and Trademarks received contributions. JOE BIDEN (D-DE) - $3,000 Chair, Senate Judiciary Jonathan Cuneo 1,000 8/01/90 West Publishing Company PAC 2,000 89-90 TED KENNEDY (D-MA) - $500 Gerry Sikorski 500 10/04/93 DENNIS DECONCINI (D-AZ) $1,860 West Publishing Company PAC 1,000 89-90 West Publishing Company PAC 2,000 91-92 West Publishing Company PAC -1,140 93-94 HOWELL HEFLIN (D-AL) - $11,000 Chair, Senate Subcommittee on Courts and Administrative Practices Dwight Opperman 2,000 8/25/89 Jonathan W. Cuneo 1,000 6/30/89 Opperman & Paquin Political Fund 5,000 89-90 Vance Opperman 1,000 9/18/90 West Publishing Company PAC 2,000 89-90 PATRICK LEAHY (D-VT) - $1,000 West Publishing Company PAC 1,000 91-92 PAUL SIMON (D-IL) - $5,000 West Publishing Company PAC 5,000 89-90 DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D-CA) - $27,000 Member, Senate Subcommittee on Patents, Copyrights and Trademarks, Senate Subcommittee on Technology and the Law, and Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, which has jurisdiction over the Government Printing Office. Darin Opperman 1,000 5/11/92 Jonathan W. Cuneo 1,000 6/30/91 Darin Beth Opperman 1,000 5/13/93 Dwight Opperman 1,000 6/30/93 Jonathan W. Cuneo 1,000 11/15/93 Schatz, Paquin, Lockridge, Grindal & Holstein PAC 10,000 93-94 Vance Opperman 1,000 5/13/93 Vance Opperman 1,000 6/30/93 West Publishing Company PAC 10,000 93-94 STROM THURMOND (D-SC) - $1,000 West Publishing Company PAC 1,000 89-90 ALAN K. SIMPSON (R-WY) - $1,000 West Publishing Company PAC 1,000 89-90 CHARLES GRASSLEY - $1,000 Opperman & Paquin Political Fund 1,000 91-92 West Publishing Company PAC 1,000 91-92 West Publishing Company PAC -1,000 93-94 ARLEN SPECTER (R-PA) - $4,000 Ranking republican, Subcommittee on Technology and the Law, member of Subcommittee on Antitrust, Monopolies and Business Rights. Opperman & Paquin Political Fund 2,000 91-92 West Publishing Company PAC 2,000 91-92 WILLIAM COHEN (R-MA) $1,000 West Publishing Company PAC 1,000 89-90 THE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEES West Publishing has become increasingly concerned that the Department of Justice or some other federal agency will seek to create a federal repository of judicial opinions. If this is extended to historical opinions, the government will have to spend an estimated $6 million to replace historical records lost because of the 1982 - 1993 Department of Justice contracts that gave West Publishing ownership of more than 10 years of data collections for JURIS. If the government takes steps to place the historical records of federal caselaw into the public domain, it will increase competition among publishers, leading to lower prices for public and government purchasers of computer assisted legal research services (but may also lower revenues for West Publishing). SENATE APPROPRIATIONS, SUBCOMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, JUSTICE AND STATE, THE JUDICIARY, AND RELATED AGENCIES - $11,750 - INTERESTING FACT West made contributions to 5 of 6 Democrats on this Subcommittee. ERNEST HOLLINGS (D-SC) - $2,000 Chairman Opperman & Paquin Political Fund 500 91-92 Vance Opperman 500 7/11/91 West Publishing Company PAC 1,000 93-94 DANIEL INOUYE (D-HI) - $2,000 West Publishing Company PAC 2,000 91-92 DALE BUMPERS (D-AR) - $2,000 Opperman & Paquin Political Fund 2,000 91-92 JIM SASSER (D-TN) $1,000 Darin Beth Opperman 1,000 12/24/93 ROBERT KERREY (D-NE) $4,750 Opperman & Paquin Political Fund 1,500 91-92 Vance Opperman 250 1/13/92 West Publishing Company PAC 3,000 93-94 HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE - $20,470 INTERESTING FACTS West's contributions to the House Appropriations Committee are focused on Representative Martin Sabo, a Democrat from Minneapolis. In addition to his position on the Appropriations Committee, Sabo serves as Chair of the Budget Committee. Representative Sabo is also a member of the subcommittee which approves the budget for the White House, OMB, the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, the Administrative Office of the United States, and the National Records and Archives Administration (NARA). MARTIN SABO (D-MN) - $18,470 Opperman & Paquin Political Fund 600 89-90 West Publishing Company PAC 1,000 89-90 Opperman & Paquin Political Fund 4,899 91-92 West Publishing Company PAC 3,000 91-92 Gerry Sikorski 500 5/17/94 Gerry Sikorski 250 6/17/94 Schatz, Paquin, Lockridge, Grindal & Holstein PAC 2,221 93-94 Vance Opperman 1,000 8/10/93 West Publishing Company PAC 5,000 93-94 NEAL SMITH (D-IA) - $1,500 Chair, Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies. Dwight Opperman 1,000 3/04/92 West Publishing Company PAC 500 93-94 NANCY PELOSI (D-CA) - $500 West Publishing Company PAC 500 89-90 LARGEST INDIVIDUAL RECIPIENTS The following list gives the names of those persons who received more than $4,000 in contributions from the persons affiliated with West Publishing. Persons Receiving more than $4,000 (from 1989 through July 1994) Gerry Sikorski (D-Minn, defeated in 1992) 32,370 Dianne Feinstein (D-CA, Senate Judiciary) 27,000 Albert Gore Jr. (D-TN, currently Vice-President) 21,691 Martin Sabo (D-MN, House Appropriations) 18,470 Thomas Daschle (D-SD, Senator) 18,322 Jack Brooks (D-TX, Chair House Judiciary) 17,500 John Conyers (D-MI, Chair, House Committee on Government Operations) 17,262 Tom Harkin (D-IA, Senator) 16,755 Rudy Boschwitz (R-MN, Senator, defeated 1990) 15,999 Bob Wise (D-WV, former Chair, Subcommittee on Government Information) 13,350 Patricia Schroeder (D-CO, House Judiciary) 12,500 Howell Heflin (D-AL, Chair Subcommittee on Courts and Administrative Practice) 11,000 Donald Riegle (D-MI, Senator) 10,962 Byron Dorgan (D-ND, Senator) 9,999 Richard Gephardt (D-MO, House Majority Leader) 9,999 David Minge (D-MN, Representative) 9,500 Harris Wofford (D-PA, Senator) 9,500 Bruce Vento (D-MN, Representative) 8,113 Collin Peterson (D-MN, Representative) 7,700 Kent Conrad (D-ND, Senator) 7,250 Charles Robb (D-VA, Senator) 7,000 Timothy Wirth (D-CO, retired, currently Undersecretary of State) 7,000 Robert Abrams (D-NY, unsuccessful Senate Candidate) 6,750 John Glenn (D-OH, Chair, Senator Government Affairs) 6,611 Hamilton Fish Jr. (R-NY, Ranking Republican House Judiciary) 6,000 Jim Ramstad (R-MN, House Judiciary) 5,250 Paul Simon (D-IL, Senate Judiciary) 5,000 Rodney Grams (R-MN, Representative) 5,000 Robert Kerrey (D-NE, Senator) 4,750 Dave Durenberger (R-MN, Senator) 4,500 Harley Staggers (D, retired ) 4,250 Arlen Specter (R-PA, Senate Judiciary) 4,000 CONTRIBUTIONS TO RALPH NADER Ralph Nader founded the Taxpayer Assets Project. From 1991 to 1992, Vance Opperman, Darin Opperman and Jonathan Cuneo contributed a total of $2,300 to the Committee to Draft Ralph Nader for President. APPENDIX KEY DATES IN THE CONTROVERSY OVER WEST CONTROL OF FEDERAL CASELAW AND CITATION SYSTEM During the period of study, West has come under increasing attack for its control over federal caselaw and citations. The following are a few important dates. 1989 Joyce and Patterson publish "Monopolizing the Law: The Scope of Copyright Protection for Law Reports and Statutory Compilations," for the UCLA Law Review (Vol 36, page 719). The influential article is an attack on the West/Mead antitrust/copyright litigation settlement, where Mead obtained a license to use the West page numbers in return for dropping its antitrust against West and asserting its claim that West could not copyright the page numbers of its published judicial opinions. 1990 March. The federal Judicial Conference agreed to encourage courts to allow the use of parallel electronic citations to federal court opinions. 1991 February. The federal Administrative Office of the Courts circulated an early proposal for an electronic citations system (ECS), which included a proposal for a central repository of federal judicial opinions. April. TAP testifies before the Joint Committee on Printing, asking for public access to the DOJ JURIS system, which includes federal caselaw. June. Representative Charlie Rose (D-NC) introduces legislation (HR 2772) which would create one-stop-shopping for online access to federal government information through the Government Printing Office (GPO). 1992 May. Congress holds hearings on HR 4426, a bill which would specifically eliminate copyright protections for page numbers and names of statutes. The Register of Copyrights and the American Association of Law Libraries testify in favor of the legislation. September. The Judicial Conference rejected a proposal for a public domain citation system. Despite the Judicial Conference's actions, public interest in a public domain system of citations grows. October. Dwight and Vance Opperman give $120,000 to the Democratic National Committee ($100,000 from Dwight, $20,000 from Vance). 1993 June. TAP and 295 citizens write Attorney General Reno asking for public access to JURIS. August. Vance Opperman and his law firm contribute $50,000 to the Democratic National Committee. September. West sues On Point Solutions, alleging that the CD-ROM publisher cannot copy the text of federal judicial opinions published by West or use West page numbers. October, West tells DOJ to erase more than 10 years of federal caselaw collections from the JURIS database. 1994 January. Attorney General Reno shuts down the 23 year old JURIS program, and purchases of CALR services are shifted to WESTLAW and LEXIS. Tax Analysts Sues DOJ for access to JURIS records under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Matthew Bender files lawsuit against West in New York on issue of West claim of copyright to page numbers of judicial opinions. Vance Opperman is appointed to the National Information Infrastructure Advisory Committee. March. Vance Opperman gives $25,000 to the Democratic National Committee. May. OMB hosts closed meeting of federal agencies, selected publishers, and data users to discuss issue of public access to legal information. July. Coalition of public interest groups, law librarians, independent publishers, academics and the Government Printing Office urge Attorney General Janet Reno to structure DOJ CALR procurement to require caselaw and citations system in digital form be placed in the public domain. August. Senator Carl Levin and Representative Bernard Sanders write Attorney General Janet Reno asking for public comments on the proposed DOJ CALR procurement, on the issue of placing federal caselaw and citation system into the public domain. --------------------------------------------------------------------- TAP-INFO is an Internet Distribution List provided by the Taxpayer Assets Project (TAP). TAP was founded by Ralph Nader to monitor the management of government property, including information systems and data, government funded R&D, spectrum allocation and other government assets. TAP-INFO reports on TAP activities relating to federal information policy. tap-info is archived at ftp.cpsr.org; gopher.cpsr.org and wais.cpsr.org Subscription requests to tap-info to listproc@essential.org with the message: subscribe tap-info your name --------------------------------------------------------------------- Taxpayer Assets Project; P.O. 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