Sen. Alfonse M. D'Amato needs money, and he needs it now.
The New York Republican pleaded for cash to help the Republican Party retain control of the Senate in an Oct. 15 letter to potential donors.
"There is no one else I can turn to at this late hour for the financial help we need," wrote Sen. D'Amato. "You are one of the few people who fully understands what's at stake on Nov. 5th."
Sen. D'Amato said that if Democrats prevail in six tight races - Colorado, Minnesota, Illinois, Georgia, New Jersey, and Massachusetts - command of the Senate will return to "big-spending liberals."
"Our Republican majority is hanging by a thread," he wrote. "There is not a moment to waste."
Emphasizing the urgency, a pre-paid, pre-addressed Federal Express overnight envelope accompanied the letter.
Sen. D'Amato took some time off from fund-raising last week to assume his role as Senate Banking Committee chairman. But the committee's hearing didn't have a whole lot to do with banking.
In New York last Wednesday, Sen. D'Amato probed the Swiss government's use of Jewish assets to compensate its citizens for property confiscated during in World War II.
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James A. Bothwell has been named chief economist of the General Accounting Office. Mr. Bothwell has been in charge of all investigations and reports involving depository institutions. He authored a controversial 1994 GAO study calling for better regulatory control of derivatives transactions.
He will be replaced by Jean W. Gleason, formerly a partner with Fulbright & Jaworski law firm. She represented financial institutions on various securities and corporate law issues.
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Accounting maven Marti Sworobuk has been bitten by the entrepreneurial bug. She's left her job on the government relations staff of America's Community Bankers to run her own consulting business, Financial Standards Inc.
Ms. Sworobuk, who joined America's Community Bankers in 1993, will be a consultant to the thrift trade group. She has also worked for the Independent Bankers Association of America and the Federal Reserve.
