BRYAN MYERS, PRODUCER: When it comes to Washington, Fred Wertheimer has seen it all. He's been fighting half his adult life to reduce the power of money in politics — first as head of Common Cause, now as president of a reform group called Democracy 21. You would think nothing could surprise a guy like Wertheimer, but think again.

FRED WERTHEIMER, PRESIDENT, DEMOCRACY 21; These documents show the American people something they normally don't see. They show the public the insides of how this game is played.

BRYAN MYERS: Heres what Wertheimer's talking about — internal documents from the files of the Republican and Democratic parties. Some are personal letters, others e-mails. They come from deep inside the Washington world of money and influence.

WERTHEIMER: Everything that a citizen can imagine going on is going on.

BRYAN MYERS: Most likely, we would never have seen these documents if Congress hadn't passed the McCain/Feingold bill last March. One of the bill's most fought over features was a ban on soft money — those large, unregulated donations both parties were collecting from wealthy contributors.

SENATOR FEINGOLD (FROM TAPE): ...it really gives a person faith that the process can work...

BRYAN MYERS: No sooner had the bill passed than its opponents went to court to have it declared unconstitutional. They claim it violates the right of big donors to freely participate in politics. That case is headed to the Supreme Court.

BRYAN MYERS: These documents became public in the first round of court battles-submitted as evidence of how money opens doors. Journalists like Steve Coll, Managing Editor of THE WASHINGTON POST, never doubted that, but even he finds the new documents revealing.

STEVE COLL, MANAGING EDITOR OF THE WASHINGTON POST: There's clearly an expectation of gain, through legislation or political sponsorship, that the donors are expressing in some of the conversations that I've seen in those documents. And I regard that as a perversion and a corruption of the electoral system.

BRYAN MYERS: It's not that these documents prove bribery. That's a legal term. The real story is how money greases the skids of lawmaking in our nation's capital.

STEVEN COLL: The center of the story is the routine granular way in which the process of contributing and soliciting contributions in order to compete successfully on the national stage, in politics, shapes legislation and law in this country.

BRYAN MYERS: Let's take a look at the Dow Chemical Company. Dow wants to make sure someone's home when it needs to talk to a Congressmen about things like factory emissions, or Superfund costs, or liability for defective products. So Dow's a big political contributor.

BRYAN MYERS: Does Dow get it's money's worth? Well, consider this. It's a thank you note from Henry Barbour, then director of the Republican's "Team 100," a membership program for donors who give at least $100,000. Addressed to an official of Dow, Barbour offers thanks for, quote, "facilitating Dow's generous contribution." He goes on to say, "We can figure out when is a good time to bring your Dow leadership into town," to meet, among others, Senator Bob Dole and House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

Can it be presumed that perhaps those meetings simply were meet and greets?)

FRED WERTHEIMER, PRESIDENT, DEMOCRACY 21: Uh, I think you can presume that that's what those meetings were not about. I mean, that's not what large money is given for.

BRYAN MYERS: And it's not just the Republicans, Democrats do it too. You may remember President Clinton's infamous "coffee" fund raisers, and those Lincoln Bedroom sleepovers. Well, what you won't remember, because it was confidential at the time, is this 1994 memo. It's faxed from the office of Democratic Party Chairman David Wilhelm to his Deputy Chief of Staff. She's told to arrange a list of inducements to, quote, "reach our very aggressive goal of $40 million." Among the perks being offered donors:

"White House visits and overnights stays," "two seats on Air force One," and, "better coordination," with donors, "on appointments to boards and commissions."

Here again, Republican Henry Barbour, this time writing to a big donor named "Louis." That "Louis" appears to be Louis Bacon, one of America's biggest investors in foreign currencies. This note seems to be from early 1995. At the time, the government was deciding whether to prop up the value of the Mexican Peso. Bacon was interested in that deal.

Barbour, the fundraiser, tells Bacon, the donor, that the Chairman of the Republican Party, quote, "appreciated picking your brain on the Mexican Peso deal," and, "he literally passed on what he heard that day to Dole and Gingrich." Barbour ends by saying, "just holler whenever we can be of help."

Just to be make sure no one is tone deaf when Louis Bacon hollers, another senior Republican fundraiser, reminds a staff member of Bacon's status. He writes "as you know, Mr. Bacon has been very generous to the RNC." He then asks for help in establishing, quote, "a contact in Senator Dole's office for Mr. Bacon."

Another example: telecommunications company Global Crossing, now bankrupt and under investigation for accounting fraud, also had friends in high places. Before its fall, Global Crossing became the giant it was through a series of takeovers and mergers that often needed approval from government regulators.

In this letter, dated April of 2000, the Chairman of the Republican Finance Committee writes to the Chairman of Global Crossing. "I was delighted to hear the good news about the merger," he says. But he doesn't stop there "as you recall...you agreed to upgrade your team 100 membership to the regent program ($250,000) when the merger was approved. I am taking the liberty of enclosing an invoice." We don't know if that money bought Global Crossing any favors. We do know the dictionary defines an invoice as a list of charges for services performed.

FRED WERTHEIMER: There's never been a need for donors to specifically ask for votes on a particular matter or for recipients to say, if you give me the money, I'll vote this way. It's simply not necessary. You can have general discussions. You don't even have to say anything because the recipient of a $500,000 contribution understands that the donor has interests.

BRYAN MYERS: One of the organizations seeking to overturn the McCain/Feingold law is the Republican National Committee. Bobby Birchfield is their attorney. We requested interviews with some of the donors named in these documents, as well as several current & former party leaders. Birchfield is the only one who would speak with us.

BOBBY BIRCHFIELD, ATTORNEY, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: In this case, the Republican National Committee and its co-plaintiffs have produced half a million pages of documents. The reformers have seized upon a handful of those documents, taken them out of context, and tried to tell the story that you've just suggested that they're telling.

BRYAN MYERS: Birchfield's argument is simple: nobody's ever been able to demonstrate that any specific legislation was passed, or defeated, or a specific regulatory favor granted, either as a result of these meetings or donations.

BOBBY BIRCHFIELD, ATTORNEY, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: We've responded to each and every one of these allegations in the lawsuit. We've investigated the documents, in many instances we've gone back and talked to the authors and the recipients of these documents, an in the court record we have responded to all of these allegations. And there's been no rejoinder.

BRYAN MYERS: Here's another chance to make up your own mind. Over the last four years, the big drug companies have given over $24 million dollars in soft money to the political parties. Were they just being good citizens? In this letter from April 1999, Jim Nicholson, the Chairman of the Republican Party, writes to the Chairman of Bristol Myers Squibb. At the time, the drug companies were fighting the proposed Medicare prescription drug benefit, fearing it would cost them money. You may even remember the ad they ran, featuring a character named Flo.

FLO (COMMERCIAL): "I don't want big government in my medicine cabinet..."

BRYAN MYERS: In his letter, Chairman Nicholson talks about, quote "forming a pharmaceutical coalition in Washington." He goes on to say, "we must keep the lines of communication open if we want to continue passing legislation that will benefit your industry." He also asks Bristol-Myers for a donation of $250,000.

A subsequent document reveals that Republican Party leaders did, in fact, meet with the pharmaceutical coalition. A briefing note prepared for those party leaders instructs them to address the drug industry's "vehement opposition" to the Medicare prescription plan, and to, quote, "let them know how crucial it is we have their financial support this election cycle."

BIRCHFIELD: (We must keep the lines of communication open to continue passing legislation beneficial to your industry. A lot of people would point to that and say on its face that's indicating a certain level of horse trading.) Well, keep in mind what this document is, and what it isn't. The first document is addressed to...is from the Chairman of the Republican National Committee. He's not a federal office holder. The second document says…has a variety of attendees. I don't see any federal office holders on here.

FORMER SENATOR DALE BUMPERS: Anybody who thinks that a $100,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee or the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee doesn't get you some influence has — you know, they're taking some kind of pill.

BRYAN MYERS: Democrat Dale Bumpers served as Senator from Arkansas for 24 years. He says it's beyond dispute that donations to the party end up influencing politicians — members of Congress know who's giving and they know what they want.

FORMER SENATOR DALE BUMPERS: You don't stand in the back of the cloak room and say, 'I'm going vote for this because I want General Elexis (sic), I want General Electric to support me in the next election.' That's not the way, that's not the way it works. You don't have to draw a picture for a candidate, for example, or an incumbent to tell him who's giving the money and how important this vote is to him.

BRYAN MYERS: And how do they know what's important to donors? Because members of Congress are knee deep in the process. They're often recruited by the party to make fundraising calls for soft money.

FORMER SENATOR DALE BUMPERS: They can go to the headquarters of the Republican Party, the headquarters of the Democratic Party and, as they say, man the phones and start dialing for dollars. And it's not at all uncommon for a little 'poop sheet'-they'll give them a little bio or, you know, he gave so much money last time. And we think he is worth this for that. And he's interested in this or that or the other. That's not uncommon at all.

BRYAN MYERS: These are what are known as "call sheets" — what Senator Bumpers calls "poop sheets." This batch is from 1995 and was prepared for, among others, Democratic Senator Christopher Dodd. The intended targets: several oil companies — including Texaco and British Petroleum. Dodd and his counterparts are instructed to remind these companies, that, quote, "the president helped out the oil industry by supporting them on drilling issues in the Gulf of Mexico." What did President Clinton do? He signed a law that relieved oil companies from paying government fees on some of the oil they pumped out of the Gulf.

BRYAN MYERS: But here's where it gets even more interesting. These call sheets are dated November 10th, November 13th, and November 14th of 1995. Yet President Clinton didn't sign that legislation into law until November 28th. In other words, the Democrats are suggesting Texaco and the others give money in response to a bill that's still awaiting the president's signature.

CHARLES KOLB, PRESIDENT, COMMITTEE FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: That is outrageous.

BRYAN MYERS: Charles Kolb was a senior White House official in the first Bush administration. He's now president of the Committee for Economic Development, a prestigious group of business leaders. They support the McCain/Feingold law because of stories like the one you just heard.

Why wouldn't a large organization with a lot of financial wherewithal, like a company, be more than happy exercise it power?

CHARLES KOLB: Well, some do. But we had a number of trustees, business leaders on our board, who felt that the whole soft money system, as it had evolved, had gotten out of control."

BRYAN MYERS: Kolb says those business leaders — representing some of the biggest companies in America, like Boeing, Exxon Mobil, and Prudential Insurance — have come to regard the soft money system as nothing but a shake down.

CHARLES K0LB: We're competing in the political arena, in terms of how much or how little money we've given. How much access we buy, or don't buy, or how much retribution we avoid or don't avoid.

BRYAN MYERS: Kolb says that point was driven home three years ago when his organization issued a report calling for an end to soft money. At that time, Senator Mitch McConnell was Chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee — a party organization that raises money and spreads it around to candidates running for the Senate. Soft money has no bigger defender in Washington than Senator McConnell. Provoked by the efforts of Kolb's group, Senator McConnell lashed out.

CHARLES KOLB: We found out that Senator McConnell had written letters to a number of our trustees. It was on National Republican Senate Campaign Committee letterhead, and it began by saying how could you, of all people, let your name be one this CED report. It was really sort of a juvenile way to address a CEO.

BRYAN MYERS: To the business leaders who make up Kolb's group, McConnell writes, "I am certain that the CED has invoked your name in error."

Two months later, McConnell sent another letter to some of the companies. "If you disagree with the radical campaign finance agenda of the Committee for Economic Development and resent its abuse of your company's reputation, I would think that public withdrawal from this organization would be a reasonable response." In a final touch, Senator McConnell suggests that the business leaders resign from the CED.

CHARLES KOLB: I would point to that letter as exhibit A of what's wrong with the system. Because there is only one way to read that type of message. The only way to read that is, the Senator signalling, if you keep playing with those guys, then I may not play with you.

BRYAN MYERS: But Senator McConnell can cajole as well as threaten. Here's another letter. This one wasn't sent to Kolb's group, but to someone else. McConnell writes, "a special group of Americans are experiencing one of the greatest rewards programs ever," he offers special access to Senate leaders for those who become, "a life member of the inner circle." He adds, "there is no question that life membership will bring you closer and closer to them with each subsequent meeting."

Senator McConnell is now Senate Majority Whip, the number two man in the U.S. Senate — a position where there are plenty of opportunities to reward your friends and punish your enemies. Not only has he filed his own lawsuit seeking to overturn the McCain/Feingold law, in fact, he's listed as the lead plaintiff in the case headed to the Supreme Court we requested an interview with him; he refused.