What is the Lippo Group really after, besides thoughtful notes from the president? What every big-money political contributor wants: access and influence. The Riady family has both. Republicans sniff a potential scandal, and are calling for a special prosecutor to look into the Riady cash. (It’s illegal for foreign companies to give to U.S. campaigns.) But this isn’t just an international scandal, or a Democratic one: the country’s campaign-finance system is out of control. Though individuals are limited to giving $1,000 per election and corporate political-action groups to $5,000, both parties are amassing record amounts of ““soft’’ money–contributions to parties, not candidates, that aren’t subject to legal limits. Common Cause charged last week that both parties were engaged in violations of Watergate dimensions, illegally using soft money to promote Clinton and Dole.

This is a bipartisan habit, but the Clinton White House has been especially brazen. Clinton, who once railed against Washington’s money culture and promised reform in his 1992 campaign manifesto ““Putting People First’’ (““On streets where statesmen once strolled, a never-ending stream of money now changes hands. .. ‘’), has devoted an extraordinary amount of time to raising money, spending hours on the campaign trail schmoozing donors in private homes and hotel ballrooms. He does a lot of it without even leaving Washington. On at least 35 separate occasions, the DNC arranged for big donors from key states to join Clinton for 90-minute ““coffees’’ in the White House residence. One guest earlier this year was Arief Wiriandinata, Ning’s son-in-law, who along with his wife donated the now controversial $425,000.

Clinton will also slip out of the White House for cozy, $50,000-a-couple dinners at posh Washington hotels. Sherry Rowlands, the prostitute who claims to have had a year-long affair at the Jefferson with former presidential strategist Dick Morris, recalls watching Clinton roll up for an evening with donors.

The Riadys are a compelling example of Clinton’s longtime knack for raising cash. Clinton befriended the family when he was the attorney general of Arkansas in the late 1970s. Lippo patriarch Mochtar Riady and son James also became co-owners of a local bank with one of Clinton’s early political patrons, financier Jackson Stephens. For legal advice the Riadys turned to the Rose Law Firm and senior partner Webster Hubbell.

The Riadys seldom passed up an opportunity to be useful to Clinton and his friends, donating more than $175,000 to his 1992 campaign and 1993 Inaugural. When Hubbell resigned in disgrace from the Justice Department in 1994, the Riadys retained him for a few months before he pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges and began his prison sentence. NEWSWEEK has learned that Whitewater independent counsel Kenneth Starr investigated the relationship to determine if Hubbell’s fee–estimated by one knowledgeable source at about $150,000–was ““hush money’’ to ensure Hubbell’s silence about the Clintons, but nothing came of the inquiry. White House aides deny any impropriety.

The Riadys have enjoyed Clinton’s good will. Aides confirm that Clinton has had three White House meetings with James Riady and some of his business partners–most recently in September, when Riady dropped by the Oval Office. The vice chairman of Lippo’s California banking subsidiary, John Huang, got a top Commerce Department job in 1994. And when the president visited Jakarta for an economic summit in 1994, he attended a lavish reception laid on by the Riadys.

Beyond party-giving: According to a top administration official, the Riadys’ interest in Clinton may go well beyond party-giving. Maria Luisa Haley, a former Arkansas state official whom Clinton appointed to be a director of the U.S. Export-Import Bank, says she’s had meetings and phone conversations with Riady business associate and former Rose Law Firm senior partner Joseph Giroir to discuss government financing for export deals–including a $1 billion venture involving Lippo and Entergy, a New Orleans company, to build a power plant in northern China. That plan fell through, but the bank has issued letters of credit totaling $900,000 for other deals with the Riadys’ Lippo Bank. The Riadys declined repeated requests for comment, and the White House says that there is no evidence Clinton ever intervened to help them.

If there is an investigation, much of the focus will likely be on Huang, the former Lippo executive who went to work at Commerce. Now a vice finance chairman of the DNC, he has raised millions from Asian sources; he landed the $425,000 from the Wiriandinatas, who have since moved back to Jakarta. Though the law generally bars foreign contributions, they are permissible if the contributors are legally in the United States at the time they hand over the money. DNC officials say the Wiriandinatas check out. What doesn’t compute is a larger system in desperate need of reform.

The Democrats have collected a record-breaking $100 million in ““soft’’ money this year. The cash goes to fund ““party building,’’ and companies pool their employees’ donations for maximum impact. A sampling of some of the biggest donors:

Edgar Bronfman Jr. Seagram & Sons $620,000

His liquor company wants help opening new markets; also owns Hollywood giant MCA.

Steven Spielberg Dreamworks SKG $525,000

The filmmaker swaps Left Coast glitter for quality time schmoozing with the president.

William Lerach Lawyer $480,000

Clinton dined with securities-tort king Lerach days before vetoing a bill limiting lawsuits.

Bernard Schwartz Loral Corp. $455,500

He flew to China with Ron Brown and returned with a $1 billion communications deal.

Mochtar and James Riady Lippo Group $175,000

Their traceable gifts date to ‘92; this year an ex-Lippo exec has raised millions more.