HELENA -- Republican Sen. Conrad Burns is hosting a fundraiser next month at the exclusive Yellowstone Club a high-end gated community near Big Sky which members must have at least $3 million in assets to join.

An invitation for the event called Burns Winterfest '06 lists the price for admission at $2,000 a person or $4,000 for a political action committee.

The Yellowstone Club is a private ski and golf club surrounded by a high-end subdivision. Lifetime admission to the club is $250,000, which also includes the right to build a home there, according to a Feb. 8 article in London's The Evening Standard. Homes, which cost between $2 million to $20 million, can be sold only to other club members, the article reported. The article further reported that prospective members must have at least $3 million in liquid assets to join.

The current edition of Fortune magazine, which also ran an article on the club, reports that the club's founder lumber baron Tim Blixseth and his wife personally approve all the club's admissions.

A marketing director for the Yellowstone Club did not return a phone call seeking to confirm the London paper's report.

Jason Klindt, a spokesman for the Burns campaign, could not offer details on the fundraiser or why Burns chose to have a fundraiser at the gated community.

"You can expect this campaign to continue to raise the funds necessary to compete with out of state money," Klindt said. "We have the obligation to defend the Senator's record of delivering for Montana."

Records show Blixseth has donated $5,475 to Burns or his political action committees since 2002. He also donated $10,000 to the Montana Republican Party last October, records show.

The club's Web site describes the gated community as the world's only private ski and golf club.

The political journal Roll Call reported last year that Burns distributed a solicitation last March encouraging donors to give $4,000 per person or $10,000 per political action committee to his 2006 campaign. In exchange, donors were invited to choose between several trips, including Burns Winterfest.

Burns' fundraiser comes just a month after Democrat Sen. Max Baucus hosted a fundraiser at Big Sky Ski Resort, a public ski mountain and resort, which includes some luxury homes. Baucus' event, called the Ski and Snowmobile Weekend, asked attendees to pay $2,000 a person or $5,000 for a political action committee to Baucus' political action committee, Glacier PAC.

Baucus spokesman Barrett Kaiser said attendees were responsible for their own transportation, lodging and all meals except for the two dinners organized with Baucus, who skied at Big Sky that weekend. The only organized events were the dinners, Kaiser said.

Baucus' event was held Feb. 3-5.

Dinners were held at Buck's T-4 Lodge, a restaurant at the Best Western near Big Sky, and the Cabin Bar & Grill, a restaurant at the resort.

"This is a great opportunity to showcase Montana," he said of Baucus' recent Big Sky fundraiser. "Raising money is a reality in modern day politics."

Baucus has never held a fundraiser at the Yellowstone Club, Kaiser said.

Burns' Democratic front-runner challengers, State Auditor John Morrison and state Senate President Jon Tester, of Big Sandy, both said they'd never had a fundraiser at the at the Yellowstone Club.

Tester said he'd never been there or to any gated community.

"Does that apply to livestock?" he said. "I've been in lots of those."

Morrison spokesman Tom Bowen said the Morrison has held a fundraiser at the Iron Horse, an exclusive gated community near Whitefish.

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