FBI papers portray how fund-raiser became a power player Robert M. Feldman was the go-to guy.

FBI papers portray how fund-raiser became a power playerRobert M. Feldman was the go-to guy. Not charged, neither is he forgotten.
By Carrie Budoff Inquirer Staff Writer

When Democrat Bob Casey Jr. needed money for his gubernatorial race, there was one man he couldn't do without: fund-raiser extraordinaire Robert M. Feldman.

Casey wasn't the only Feldman fan. Short and courtly, with a taste for expensive suits and power lunches at the Palm, Feldman also raised millions for other politicians, such as Gov. Rendell, Mayor Street, and former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey.

No longer. Ever since Feldman got entangled in an FBI investigation into Philadelphia corruption and another in Puerto Rico, he has lived in exile from the political world he once walked as a king.

Casey, for one, still calls Feldman "a very good friend," but takes pains to point out that Feldman is playing no role in his campaign for U.S. Senate.

Feldman has become an issue in the race anyway. Casey's opponent, Republican Sen. Rick Santorum, is airing a TV ad that, without naming Feldman, refers to him as Casey's "handpicked finance chairman" and notes he was under federal investigation.

Feldman has not been charged with any wrongdoing, and appears to remain under scrutiny only in Puerto Rico, where federal authorities are investigating his role in campaign contributions to the island's governor. Feldman has said he did nothing improper.

Although his days as a kingmaker are on hiatus, maybe permanently, a remarkably candid portrait of Feldman's dealings has emerged from a court case and FBI wiretaps of conversations with the late dealmaker Ronald White. The documents had not been previously made public.

Feldman could raise money at a fantastic clip, $25,000 to $50,000 at a time, the bulk of it from a small group of donors, reports show.

And lots of money flowed to Feldman, too, thanks to his ability to open doors. Some donors in his network paid Feldman more than $4 million in fees to get them "in front of decision makers," Feldman said in documents in a civil lawsuit.


Feldman also sought deals for himself.


In a Sept. 24, 2003, taped conversation, Feldman pressed White to cut him into a Penn's Landing redevelopment project, saying he had yet to reap rewards from his investment in Street.

"I've got nothing. I've raised a ton of money for the mayor. I'm raising right now for him," Feldman said. "Maybe I should make this my 'big ask.' "

Feldman, 59, of Gladwyne, declined be interviewed for this article. His attorney, Henry E. Hockeimer, declined to comment.

Casey says he has worked hard to make sure his campaign contributions are proper; he says he shouldn't be criticized for Feldman's legal problems. Republicans are trying to "smear me any way they can," he says.

Casey and Rendell say they had no clue Feldman was getting paid as a consultant by donors, and they were never personally lobbied by him.

"I was never aware of it," Casey said. "I don't know about, nor should I know about, his private business ventures."

A rapid rise


In a world where it can take years for a bit player to become a big player, Feldman seemed to come out of nowhere.

He was a high school dropout who pushed himself, earning a GED and spending almost two years at Trenton Junior College and the School of Industrial Arts (now Mercer County Community College) before leaving. He worked as an insurance broker, then in construction. Eventually, he began a managed-care dental company that sold plans to labor unions and corporations.


When it came to political fund-raising, Feldman rose quickly.


In a court statement, he identified himself as finance chair for Democrat Mark Singel's 1994 race for governor and then-Republican Barbara Hafer's 1996 state treasurer's bid.

Raising money for Democrat Marty Weinberg's Philadelphia 1999 mayoral campaign, Feldman went head to head against fund-raising powerhouses such as State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo (D., Phila.) - often beating them.

"I had never seen him before. I had never heard of him before," said Ken Smukler, a Philadelphia political strategist who met Feldman on Weinberg's campaign. "The guy goes gangbusters in raising money."

Political players spent a lot of time trying to figure out what made Feldman tick. The consensus: It wasn't really ideology, or even business.

"He likes to be perceived as being important and being in the inner circle of whatever candidate he picks," said consultant Howard Cain, a longtime political operative for Fumo. "He likes to be courted by candidates and acknowledged. It may be simple as that."

After Weinberg lost, Feldman moved seamlessly into Street's mayoral campaign, as finance cochairman.

Soon, Casey came calling for help in the governor's race.

"I knew he was a really good guy and a great fund-raiser, and I had a lot of work to do to raise money," Casey said. "It was pretty simple."


Feldman had built significant fund-raising muscle, and he began to exercise it. One example came in 2001, when Feldman served simultaneously as top fund-raiser for gubernatorial campaigns in two states - Casey's in Pennsylvania and McGreevey's in New Jersey.

As usual, Feldman's network of donors sent hundreds of thousands of dollars to assist both men, records show.

This time, $250,000 donated to Casey was sent across the Delaware River into New Jersey.

The donations came in two installments, in March and October 2001, and were distributed to four political committees supporting McGreevey, finance records show.

The money transfers are striking because of their size and timing; in 2001, Casey was struggling to raise money for a primary fight against the better-financed Rendell.

Casey aides said it was a strategy: They hoped to generate good will in New Jersey so money would flow back to Casey.

Through the May 2002 Democratic primary, New Jersey donors gave $1.2 million to Casey and $885,000 to Rendell, records show.

Casey says he's now fuzzy on the details.

"I do remember we contributed to him or committees that were supporting him," Casey said of McGreevey.

Casey matched Rendell's fund-raising, but still lost the primary. Soon after, Feldman became one of Rendell's four finance cochairmen.


Providing access


Feldman's ability to deliver $25,000, $50,000, and sometimes $100,000 donations, seemingly with ease, confounded his rivals. The beneficiaries marveled at it.

"He was one of those guys who didn't do a lot of posturing or a lot of talking. He just came in with checks," said Shawn Fordham, Street's campaign manager in the 2003 race.

Flashy - he and Ron White rode chaffeured Mercedeses with their initials imprinted on the license plates - but also intensely private, Feldman rarely talked about his consulting business, political associates say.

In newly filed court documents, Feldman gave some details about his life as a top political dealmaker.

At least five firms, whose principals formed the foundation of his fund-raising network, paid Feldman to "primarily help with meetings, access."

"Say I am having lunch with someone and I may have three consulting clients," Feldman said in a court statement. "If the person that I am meeting with would have some interest in any of my clients, I would mention them.


"It is not time-consuming."


The five firms that paid Feldman as a consultant put $636,000 into Casey's gubernatorial campaign, $546,000 into Street's campaigns between 1999 and 2003, and $230,000 into Rendell's campaign in 2002, records show.

The most detailed disclosures concern Investment Management Advisory Group, or Image, a politically active Chester County investment firm to governments and nonprofits.

Feldman began consulting for Image in May 2000, earning more than $1.2 million through 2003, court documents show.

His compensation spiked in the months after McGreevey took office, rising from $30,000 in January 2002 to $187,000 in August 2002, court documents show. At that time, Image's government portfolio expanded as the firm won more than $4 million in work from the McGreevey administration, according to news reports.

It was Feldman's business partnership with White, the Philadelphia lawyer indicted on corruption charges, that attracted FBI scrutiny.


Together they raised money for Street and McGreevey, and tried to generate deals for themselves and people in their fund-raising network.

It didn't always run smoothly.

In that September 2003 taped conversation, White told Feldman that there was no more room in the Penn's Landing deal. White went on to protest that he was delivering for their "whole network," mentioning Image and Hill International, a Marlton construction company.

"Whatever you needed, I went in and asked for. For you," White said. "We got a lot."


"Me?" Feldman said.


"Well, your people," White said.


Not good enough, Feldman replied.


"When I raise money, they got to help me, too... so that I can continue to raise money," Feldman said.

Executives from Image declined to comment; Hill executives failed to respond to interview requests.

For more than a year after the FBI probe went public, Casey stood by his man, keeping him on as chairman of his 2004 state treasurer's race. Casey says he didn't give Feldman a role in his U.S. Senate campaign.

Casey says Feldman's legal woes aren't the reason.


"When you run for federal office, it is a different process, a different system," Casey said.


Feldman has donated just $1,000 in the U.S. Senate race - to Santorum, in 2003. Santorum later gave the money to charity.

An ongoing FBI investigation into the campaign finances of Puerto Rico's governor, Anibal Acevedo Vila, has renewed the controversy around Feldman.


Authorities suspect that tens of thousands of dollars from Philadelphia-area donors in 2002 were "straw contributions" to avoid finance limits. Feldman has said he did only one Vila fund-raiser, and was not involved in any improper contributions.


Some of the checks under scrutiny were raised by Feldman and his business partner, Candido Negron, who was also generous to Casey ($192,000) and Rendell ($75,000) in the 2002 governor's race.


Feldman stopped fund-raising a year ago, and has turned his focus to real estate, among other ventures. He enjoyed being indispensable to candidates, but was wounded by news coverage of the City Hall bug probe, close friends say.

He no longer receives the adoration on display at a 2001 dinner, when a cast of heavyweights - Casey, Street, White, McGreevey, Hafer - paid tribute to him.


From the podium, Street described their close relationship, joking that anybody who could get his wife "to come to an event on a Saturday night - that's a special person."

Fordham, the mayor's aide, said recently that he couldn't recall the last time Street and Feldman had spoken.


Lucrative Consulting Work


Robert M. Feldman performed consulting work for at least five firms that paid him more than $4 million combined between 1999 and 2003, according to court documents. This is a partial list of clients and government work they have received, although in some cases it is unclear what role, if any, Feldman played in getting that work.

Investment Management Advisory Group (Image)

Fees: More than $1.2 million.

Work: Image, a Chester County investment firm, received more than $4 million in New Jersey and $2.8 million from the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission in the last five years for investment contracts and other work.

Hill International

Fees: $1 million.

Work: Hill, a Marlton construction company, won a $9.3 million contract in 2001 to tear down abandoned buildings under Mayor Street's Neighborhood Transformation Initiative; other clients include Philadelphia International Airport and the National Constitution Center.

Parkway Corp.

Fees: $100,000.

Work: After Street took office, Parkway received a $1.5 million annual contract, renewable for four years, to staff airport information booths.

The Goldenberg Group

Fees: Unknown.

Work:Feldman said he had assisted the Blue Bell development firm, which has been involved in a number of large Philadelphia projects, on "a variety of things from access to potential partnerships, bringing them acquisition sites."

Doral Dental

Fees:More than $1.8 million

Work:Doral had contracts with two of Philadelphia's managed-care plans: Keystone Mercy Health Plan and Health Partners of Philadelphia, as well as a Pittsburgh-based plan, UPMC For You Inc.