page_title: 2000 United States Senate election in New York
section_title: Hollywood fundraiser
hierarchical_section_title: 2000 United States Senate election in New York / Post-election charges / Hollywood fundraiser
caption_attribution_description: Hillary Clinton with Peter Paul the largest hidden donor to her 2000 Senate campaign=
context_page_description: In the United States Senate election held in the State of New York on November 7, 2000, Hillary Clinton, then First Lady of the United States and the first First Lady to run for political office, defeated U.S. Representative Rick Lazio. The general election coincided with the U.S. presidential election.
  The race began in November 1998 when four-term incumbent Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan announced his retirement. Both the Democratic Party and Republican Party sought high-profile candidates to compete for the open seat. By early 1999 Clinton and Mayor of New York City Rudy Giuliani were the likely respective nominees. Clinton and her husband, President Bill Clinton, purchased a house in Chappaqua, New York, in September 1999; she thereby became eligible for the election, although she faced characterizations of carpetbagging since she had never resided in the state before. The lead in statewide polls swung from Clinton to Giuliani and back to Clinton as the campaigns featured both successful strategies and mistakes as well as dealing with current events.
context_section_description: Hillary Clinton's former finance director, David Rosen, was indicted on January 7, 2005 on campaign finance charges related to a fund-raising event produced by Peter F. Paul.  Paul, a convicted drug dealer who would soon after be convicted on stock fraud charges after being extradited from Brazil, stated that he spent $1.2 million to produce the August 12, 2000 Hollywood Gala Salute to President William Jefferson Clinton event, which was both a tribute to honor President Clinton and a fundraiser for the First Lady's 2000 Senate campaign. The Justice Department indictment charged Rosen with filing false reports with the Federal Election Commission by reporting only $400,000 in contributions. On May 27, 2005, the jury acquitted Rosen on all counts.  On January 5, 2006 it was reported that Clinton's campaign group agreed to pay a $35,000 fine related to the underreporting of the fundraiser's expenses.
  Peter Paul also filed a civil suit in this matter, Paul v. Clinton.  On April 10, 2006, the judge in charge of the case removed Hillary Clinton as a defendant, citing a lack of evidence, but leaving open the possibility that she might still be called to testify as a witness in the case.  The removal was upheld by the California Second District Court of Appeal on October 16, 2007.
  Meanwhile, by the time of Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign, a 13-minute video produced by Paul and describing his various allegations against Hillary Clinton had become quite popular on the Internet, gaining 1.4 million hits on Google Video and about 350,000 on YouTube in a single week in October 2007.
caption: Hillary Clinton with her largest 2000 contributor, Peter Paul, at the Gala Hollywood Farewell Salute to President Clinton.
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