The following month, just as the credit card program began, it donated $50,000 to the Republican State Committee, according to disclosure records.

This exempts from mandatory disclosure records "related solely to the internal personnel rules and practices of an agency."

But Mr. Trie and members of his family have given more than $140,000 to Democratic campaign committees since 1994, according to financial disclosure records.

Exemption 7 - protects from mandatory disclosure records compiled for law enforcement proceedings.

The two political committees have taken in and spent nearly $1 million for the mayor's political operation since March 1998, according to disclosure records.

During that period, his income from his government job and part-time work at a law firm ranged from roughly $120,000 to $160,000, the disclosure records show.

The country's current lobbyist, the Gephardt Group, collects about $70,000 a month for lobbying services from the government in Ankara, according to federal disclosure records.

The Pataki campaign's disclosure records showed that he had received scores of donations of $5,000 or more, and several of $25,000.

It lumped those expenditures together on its mandatory disclosure records as "Election Day expenses," without providing details.

Such complaints remain in public disclosure records for two years, even if a broker is found by an adjudicator to have done nothing wrong.