Q: Let me ask you about loopholes. One of the ones that I notice is the legal defense fund.
Lewis: The way they've done it is very interesting. They have taken in hundreds of thousands of dollars, and they have done it in a way in which the President does not make a personal appeal that you ever see. No video tape that the media is running or anything. And the trustees that are set up to make sure that everything is OK are very famous and respected folks from American society.
Q: Here's what I'm wondering. Imagine that you're running a toothpaste company, and you have some money to give to politicians. Why would you give to lawyers of a politician who is in trouble? That seems like an odd place to do it.
Lewis: Well, I obviously think that if you want to make an impression with the Clintons, the Democratic Party, what better way to show your loyalty and your belief in their cause and their candidacy, and of course, be able to get them to answer your phone calls next year, than if you give to them when they're in a jam?
Q: Are you surprised, though, that these things have become successful fund-raisers?
Lewis: I am surprised. What has happened is, Washington has become numb. What it seemed to me to have been audacious ten years ago, today is ho hum.
And it's permeated not just in the Beltway, which has always had a sort of certain smugness and aloofness from the rest of the country, but the rest of the American people are that way, too. They've seen so much scandal and so many problems, and so many strange relationships, that they basically have some time long ago concluded that Washington is a latter day Sodom and Gomorrah, and they've sort of thrown their hands up.
And they know that they should vote every quadrennial, and actually the largest voting group are the non-voters in this country who have decided, why bother? And so the cynicism and the apathy is only increasing in this country. And it's not that people don't suspect and think that there's something strange about this, but they already concluded some time ago, many of them, that it's one big corrupt mess anyway, so who needs it, and they tune it out.
Q: Let me run through a few more. Inaugurations are just parties to say, 'Here I am.' Now what have they become?
Lewis: Well, basically a big corporate sponsor fest. I mean, the irony of this inaugural is, you know, the slogan of the Clinton campaign was 'Putting People First.' Clinton and others referred to the inaugural as "the people's inaugural." This inaugural raised more money than any other inaugural in U.S. history, $42 million. And they had $9.7 million left over profit. And basically what they did is, they put price tags on everything. If you wanted to have a rock group sing at the Lincoln Memorial, you sell the exclusive rights to HBO, and they put a big platform riser in front of the Lincoln Memorial, and people can't see the Lincoln Memorial.
Q: What do you do with the surplus?
Lewis: Actually, it's terribly amusing. The Democratic Party in '94, at the end of the '94 elections was $5 million in debt, the largest debt that that party has since 1968. And they were desperate for money. And they go over, and they say we have $9.7 million sitting right here. And their lawyers talked to other lawyers, and they said that this is a non-profit foundation. You can't move that money to a partisan purpose. That would be illegal. So they can't touch the money. So as far as I know, it's still sitting there.
Q: Can you say that money is money received from businesses who expect to receive favors back in return?
Lewis: You absolutely can say that. Why would a business give $100,000 to some foundation for the inauguration?
Exposure on television for my rock group, for my magazine, for my MTV, for my products. Just another advertising platform. Nothing to do with politics.
Well, there might be people that really believe that. Every corporation that gave money had business before the federal government that could be influenced by the next President of the United States.
Q: But what business in America doesn't have, as you just put it, something before the public that could be influenced?
Lewis: Not could be, was -- in every instance. My point is, that's the first step. In Washington, access is the name of the game. You get in the door, that's the beginning of getting whatever you need. If you can't get through the door for these people, then you're out of luck. And if you give $100,000 for their golden moment, when they become President of the United States, believe me, they will remember. You don't even have to remind them when you call two months later.
