WASHINGTON (CN) - A watchdog group demands records of Stephen Payne's visits to the White House and the vice president's residence. Payne, a top Bush donor and member of the U.S. Homeland Security Advisory Council, allegedly charged $600,000 to $750,000 to arrange meetings with top administration officials, with one-third of the money going to the Bush library.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington states in its Federal FOIA complaint: "the Times of London has reported that a Times investigator asked Mr. Payne to arrange meetings in Washington for an exiled former central Asian president, to which Mr. Payne responded that such meetings could be arrange for 'somewhere between $600,000 and $750,000, with a third of it going directly to the Bush Library.' Given the mounting pressure on President Bush to obtain funds for his library as his administration comes to a close, the public needs to know the true facts behind this conduct."
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