Excerpt:

<b?Who is Eberle?</b>

"The Eberle Communications Group began with the formation of Bruce W. Eberle & Associates in 1974," Eberle told ANIMAL PEOPLE by e-mail. "We have worked with nearly 200 national organizations," he said.

Eberle clients have reportedly included former U.S. president Ronald Reagan; Oliver North, who was a central figure in the Iran/Contra scandal of the latter Reagan years in the White House; and former Los Angeles police officers Stacey Koon and Laurence Powell, who were sentenced to serve 30 months apiece in jail for allegedly committing the videotaped beating of motorist Rodney King in 1992. Their appeals said they were "political scapegoats of black radicals and self-serving liberal politicians."

Eberle & Associates "works primarily with conservative groups," Eberle explained, while Fund Raising Strategies, formed later, "has worked with a wide variety of charitable organizations in wildlife welfare, historic preservation, veterans support, and poverty relief.

"Both organizations," according to Eberle, "endeavor to operate under values" which include the claim that, "There is no substitute for integrity."

"A few years back," Eberle admited, "we raised funds for a POW group. After a number of years we began to doubt their ability to fulfill their commitment to their donors. We terminated our relationship. That was several years before this same client engaged in activities that eventually came before a special committee of Congress. The truth," Eberle insists, "is that we were victimized by the political establishment," although Eberle also claims that Eberle & Associates helped to elect key members of the Republican majorities prevailing since 1990 in the U.S. Senate and since 1994 in the House of Representatives.

"We accurately reported to the donors precisely what was related to us by the client," Eberle maintains. "Unfounded charges of fraud were made against us by self-serving politicians, but when the dust cleared and the matter had been reviewed by the Federal Trade Commission, we could hold our heads high. Some still quote out-of-context from that hearing, but the fact is that we did nothing wrong."

Or at least nothing prosecutable: under court rulings which hold that the right of free speech prevails over accountability, nonprofit fundraisers enjoy much more leeway in what they can tell prospective donors than for-profit advertisers.

"Using third party sources," Eberle insisted, "we endeavor to check our clients out and establish that they are indeed doing what they claim to do or have made concrete plans that will turn into reality with the availability of funds.

Apparently he was involved in the Paula Jones thing too.