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Why does this sex-mad millionaire believe the Reform Party is the appropriate playmate for his presidential romp?

For its part, why would this party even consider getting into bed with the him?

After all, in case no one's noticed, Trump violates the first principle of the Reform Party.

In 1997, at its founding convention in Kansas City, the party passed a platform that began with eight "constitutional principles." The very first of these reads, "We shall seek to reform our electoral, lobbying and campaign practices to ensure that our elected government officials and our candidates owe their allegiance and remain accountable to the people whom they are elected to serve rather than other influence-seeking agencies." Now if there ever was an individual who qualified all by himself as an "influence seeking agency," it would have to be The Donald. He has bragged openly about his pay-to-play political activities: "I'm a very big contributor ... " he's said. "I'm maxed out every year."

By that he means he hands out as much as a fat cat is allowed to hand out directly to federal candidates in any given year: $25,000. According to federal election records, Trump has cut checks to House and Senate candidates of both parties -- including Republicans Trent Lott, Susan Molinari, John McCain, Al D'Amato and Orrin Hatch; and Democrats Edward Kennedy, Richard Gephardt and Daniel Patrick Moynihan -- a sure sign that his giving is motivated not by ideological conviction but by a desire to gain access to and influence within the legislative process.

In the last presidential election, he made a whopping gift of $251,000 in soft money to the Republican Party; then, to cover his bets, he tossed another $27,500 in chump change at the Democratic Party.

Sometimes, he goes too far. In 1993, he was found guilty of breaking federal election laws by exceeding the annual contributions limit by $47,050, and had to pay a fine of $15,000. Trump is not only a poster boy for the very campaign finance system so strongly opposed by the Reform Party, he also is out of sync with the party's first principle when it comes to lobbying. The casino lord has never been shy about using his financial resources to hire teams of lobbyists to advance his interests in Congress.

In 1998, the Trump Organization, according to disclosure statements compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics, paid lobbyist Roger Stone $162,250 to lobby on several gambling issues, such as the formation of a national committee to study the consequences of gambling, the transportation of gaming devices and the tax treatment of gaming losses. (Stone is now Trump's leading political consultant.)

Trump also hired two high-powered lobbyist law firms: Dyer, Ellis and Joseph; and Greenberg, Traurig, Hoffman, Lipoff, Rosen and Quentel.

Dyer, Ellis has massaged the Hill regarding oil, coal and shipping companies; Greenberg, Traurig has worked the hallways of Congress on behalf of drug manufacturers and health-care corporations. In other words, Trump is smack-dab in the middle of the institutionally corrupt contribution-and-influence system the Reform Party bemoans.

Next page | Trump prepares some major media buys