Nation IN BRIEF : WASHINGTON, D.C. : Dole’s Think Tank to Return Donations

A conservative think tank founded two years ago by Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) will return what’s left of the more than $4.6 million it has collected, a senior officer of the organization said. Neal S. McCoy said that in addition to returning roughly $2.5 million from 86 corporate donors and wealthy individuals, the Better America Foundation will publicly release its donor list and give a full accounting of its spending. Dole, the GOP’s leading presidential candidate, shut down the tax-exempt organization two weeks ago after Democrats and others complained he was using it for activities promoting himself. Donors on the list ranged from Mesa Inc., whose chairman, T. Boone Pickens, is a finance vice chairman of Dole’s campaign, to New York billionaire Ronald O. Perelman, whose $250,000 contribution was the largest.