Club's membership prompts fundraiser move

NEW YORK, April 1 (UPI) -- Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., moved a New York fundraiser after learning the original site was a club criticized for having no minority members, an aide said.

But questions raised by Politico about the membership of the April 7 fundraiser's site, the Harmonie Club, prompted Dodd's office to find a new location.

"We are going to move the event to an alternative site," said Dodd campaign manager Jay Howser. "We were not aware of the background of the venue. It was not a location chosen by the campaign."

Dodd's fundraiser Tuesday was hosted by one of the wealthiest U.S. hedge-fund managers, John Paulson, after the Senate Banking Committee chairman's March 26 hearing on whether to impose new regulations on the hedge-fund industry.

Paulson is a supporter of hedge fund regulation, arguing that his industry needs it.

When Barack Obama was campaigning for the presidency, he rescheduled a 2007 event at the Harmonie Club after New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg expressed concern that the club had no minority members.

Harmonie Club Assistant General Manager David Ariyaratana told the Washington publication that, as far as he knows, the club has no African-American members, saying, "our policy does not discriminate."

"I don't think it's intentional that minorities are not admitted to the club," Ariyaratana said. "Anyone who wants to apply, if they meet the criteria and can afford it, absolutely they will be admitted."