As for financing, Farley said that it had raised $500 million last February through a junk bond sale arranged by Drexel Burnham Lambert, one of its main fund-raisers.

One of the e-mails disclosed by the House committee suggested that Mr. Clinton discussed the pardon with one of the main fund-raisers for the Democratic Party.

Those witnesses were described by committee officials today as minor figures in the inquiry who could be expected to provide evidence about some of the main Democratic fund-raisers in the last election campaign.

The tour began in 1980 as the main fund-raiser for the Stonington Garden Club, which uses the proceeds to finance community projects.

They heard that the former police chief of Helmand, a notorious drug dealer, was one of Karzai's main fund-raisers.

"Our main fund-raiser is obviously Bill," he said.

Race for the Cure is the main fund-raiser for the New York City affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

"It's just dinner; that's it," said Jane Smith, chairwoman of the first Buckaroo Ball two years ago, speaking of one of the opera's main fund-raisers.

"I think it's a black eye to the Irish-American community," said John R. McCarthy, a White Plains commercial real estate broker and one of the memorial project's main fund-raisers.