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InfoUSA president Vinod Gupta was overnight guest at White House

Nitish S Rele

Vinod Gupta, founder and president of InfoUSA, is the only Indian American name released by the Clinton administration among 361 friends, political supporters and family members who stayed overnight at the White House during the last 14 months.

The White House was compelled to release the names on September 22 in the face of accusations that several of the sleepovers were awarded to donors for First Lady Hillary Clinton's New York Senate bid.

"We have friends and supporters come and spend time with us and spend the night with us that we are getting to know and who like spending time with us," Clinton told reporters on September 14. "I don't see what's news about that."

Gupta hosted a fundraiser for Clinton in March that raised about $ 100,000. The InfoUSA chairman told an Associated Press reporter that he stayed in the Lincoln Bedroom last September or October while helping plan the millennium celebration. But it was for only one night, he pointed out, saying "I wouldn't want to stay there ever again. Everybody's watching you…"

Other names on the list are Haim Saban of Los Angeles, the chief executive of Fox Family Worldwide; Howard Tullamn of Chicago; film director Steven Spielberg; and Jill Iscol, who hosted a party for the Clintons at her Martha's Vineyard home last year. All of them have contributed to the Democratic Party.

Gupta's InfoUsa.com earns revenues of about $ 300 million a year and employs 2,000 people around the United States.

The Omaha, Nebraska-based firm, a business-to-business center for sales and marketing information on the Internet, offers visitors access to an exclusive database of 200 million consumers and 13 million businesses. It has partnership agreements with Internet companies such as Network Solutions and MyWay.com

Gupta was a guest at the dinner last Sunday Clinton hosted at the White House for Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

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