Posted on Wed, May. 14, 2008

The former President Bush calls him ''Zach,'' and the Bush currently in the White House calls him ``Zee Zee.''

He has been a repeat guest at the family's Crawford ranch, the White House and on Air Force One.

And when cardiologist Zachariah Zachariah had the Bushes over for dinner and served the green vegetable notoriously disliked by the former president, apparently no one flinched.

''Bush supporters flock to Zach's house like migratory birds,'' gushed former Gov. Jeb Bush at the dinner in 2004 for his brother's reelection campaign.

Zachariah's partisan zeal dating back to Ronald Reagan was the talk of Republican circles Tuesday, one day after he was charged with insider trading of IVAX stock, and in the stock of another company bought by a Boca Raton firm that employed Zachariah as a consultant. He pocketed at least $585,000 between the companies, the Securities and Exchange Commission alleges. Zachariah and his brother, Mammen Zachariah, who also faces SEC charges, were part of an elite circle of GOP fundraisers.

''He was at the top of the finance chart in Florida,'' said Fort Lauderdale lobbyist Justin Sayfie, a fellow Bush ''Ranger'' for collecting at least $200,000 in 2004. ``He was symbolic of the strong affinity that a lot of Florida Republicans felt toward the Bush family.''

No wonder former presidential candidate Fred Thompson's campaign was elated when Zachariah, 58, agreed to host a fundraiser in October at his waterfront home in Sea Ranch Lakes, just north of Fort Lauderdale. But Thompson's campaign collapsed, marking Zachariah's second bad political bet in as many years.

He served as finance co-chairman for Tom Gallagher in the 2006 governor's race, though he later hosted a $5,000-per-person fundraiser for Charlie Crist -- with former President Bush and then-Gov. Bush at his home.

''You try to make your choices based on friendships and knowledge and relationships and philosophy, and sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't,'' said Fort Lauderdale attorney William Scherer, who also backed Gallagher. ``When you're involved in the process, you learn that there's winners and losers in every race. Zach was a very formidable fundraiser and very influential.''

BIG MONEY

When he co-chaired the former President Bush's 1992 fundraising campaign in Florida, Zachariah helped raise $750,000 in individual contributions -- more than any other donor on record. He also helped raise millions of dollars for Bob Dole's failed presidential bid in 1996 and President Bush's reelection campaign in 2004. The president appointed him to the Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

Former Gov. Jeb Bush tapped him for the Board of Governors, which oversees the state's higher education system. Zachariah also serves on the board of directors for the former governor's think tank, the Foundation for Florida's Future, which advocates holding schools accountable for test scores and giving private-school scholarships to students at struggling public schools.

Not only is Zachariah one of the top political fundraisers in Florida, but an Indian-American leader once described him as ``the most influential, hardworking, Indian-American Republican recognized all over the United States of America.''

The dinner with the Bush family at Zachariah's home was described in India West, a California-based weekly newspaper that covers Indian Americans. The president of the Fort Lauderdale Heart Institute is widely credited with cultivating a network of wealthy Indian-American Republicans, mostly doctors like himself, in a community that leans Democratic.

''Some might consider it sheer audacity to invite George H.W. Bush to dinner and serve him broccoli -- even a political novice will tell you that the 41st president of the United States hates that much-misunderstood vegetable,'' reported the newspaper in 2004.

`DREADED VEGETABLE'

``Bush Sr. was more than tolerant with his host when he joked about the dreaded vegetable on his plate while addressing the 100-odd guests who had paid anywhere between $5,000 to $25,000 each for an indifferent menu consisting of shrimp salad, medium-rare steak and, of course, broccoli. There was a good reason why the patriarch of the American political dynasty was so gracious -- the evening netted over a $1 million for his son's presidential campaign.''