From:
salon.com
June 24, 2000
A Gore scandal guide for dummies
>From the Buddhist nuns to the "iced tea defense"
By Anthony York June 24, 2000 |
The biggest challenge for Vice President Al Gore this campaign
season will not be stepping out of Bill Clinton's shadow, but
shedding the image of scandal that surrounds the Clinton-Gore
administration. Those efforts were hampered again this week,
when Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Penn., revealed that top officials
within the Justice Department are urging Attorney General Janet
Reno again to appoint an independent counsel to investigate the
possibility that Gore misled DOJ officials about his fundraising
activities in 1996.
Now, the investigation would not be about the fundraising, only
about the possible coverup of his fundraising. Gore released the
entire transcript of his April Q-and-A session with investigators
Friday, which included a denial about the infamous Buddhist
temple fundraiser in 1996.
"I sure as hell don't recall having -- I sure as hell did not
have any conversations with anyone saying this is a fundraising
event," Gore testified.
Gore was confident that the transcript would ultimately exonerate
him. "I think the truth is my friend in this," Gore told
reporters Friday. "I have full confidence in the judgment of the
American people ... I want people to judge for themselves."
In the meantime, all eyes are on Janet Reno. Congress allowed
the independent counsel law to expire last year, leaving the
decision to appoint squarely in Reno's lap. So once again, in
the closing months of her tenure, it falls to the attorney
general to make a key decision that could affect the political
career of people in the White House who appointed her.
But who can keep track of all these scandals? From the Buddhist
temple to Johnny Huang to Charlie Trie and "no controlling legal
authority," the last four years are a tangled mess of alleged
wrongdoings that hover over this administration. What follows
below is a guideline to the scandals that have most directly
affected Gore over the last four years, a Gore scandal guide for
dummies:
*April 1996 Gore attends an event at the Hsi Lai Buddhist Temple
in Los Angeles that nets the Democratic National Committee close
to $65,000 from donors. In September 1997, a trio of Buddhist
nuns from the temple admit in Senate testimony that the temple
illegally reimbursed guests for their donations. Gore later
denies knowing the gathering at the temple was a fundraiser,
describing the event as "community outreach."
*March 1997 Gore is criticized for making fundraising calls from
his White House office, and passing the bill on to taxpayers.
Gore said he was advised before making the White House calls that
there was nothing wrong with making the calls and that there was
"no controlling legal authority" governing his actions.
*September 1997 DOJ announces inquiry into fundraising practices
of the Clinton-Gore reelection campaign, including charges that
Gore aides illegally diverted soft money into the Clinton-Gore
reelection effort and that Gore made illegal fundraising calls
from the White House. This time, the focus on Gore's phone calls
centers on the fact that money raised from his office went into
hard-money accounts, which would be illegal, as opposed to
soft-money contributions to the DNC.
*November 1997 Gore is interviewed by FBI investigators about a
1995 fundraising meeting at the White House.
*December 1997 Reno declines to name an independent counsel to
investigate whether Gore knew he was raising hard money while
making the calls from the White House.
*June 1998 Gore meets with the FBI again.
*July 1998 Charles LaBella, the outgoing chief prosecutor of the
Justice Department's campaign finance task force, delivers a
report to Reno urging her to appoint an independent counsel.
*August 1998 Gore again meets with FBI investigators about the
1995 fundraising meeting. When presented with documents that
appear to contradict his earlier assertion that he was not a part
of any fundraising discussions at that meeting, Gore offers what
comes to be known as the "iced tea defense": "The Vice President
also observed that he drank a lot of iced tea during the
meetings, which could have necessitated a restroom break," which
would have caused him to miss the discussions about fundraising,
according to the FBI report.
Meanwhile, FBI director Louis Freeh warns Reno that she faces an
"irrevocable political conflict of interest" in investigating the
administration's fundraising improprieties, and urges the
attorney general to appoint an independent counsel. Two weeks
later Reno reopens her inquiry into possible campaign finance law
violations by the vice president to look into evidence that some
Gore aides knowingly and illegally planned to divert Democratic
Party donations -- soft money -- to the Clinton-Gore reelection
effort.
*November 1998 Reno says she would not seek a special prosecutor
to investigate Gore on charges he deliberately misled FBI
investigators when questioned about possible campaign finance
abuses during the 1996 campaign.
"I notified this Court of the initiation of a preliminary
investigation of Vice President of the United States Albert Gore,
Jr. The preliminary investigation has now been concluded, and I
have determined that there are no reasonable grounds to believe
that further investigation is warranted of the matters that were
under investigation. Therefore, appointment of an independent
counsel is not being sought," Reno wrote in a statement March
2000 Maria Hsia, a prodigious Democratic fundraiser and associate
of the vice president, is convicted of illegally funneling more
than $100,000 in contributions to Democratic candidates in 1996.
*April 2000 Agents from the FBI and Department of Justice grill
Gore for four hours on the issue of fundraising, focusing on the
notorious Buddhist temple fundraiser.
*May 2000 Documents subpoenaed by the Senate reveal a memo by
Freeh suggesting that Reno's decision not to name an independent
counsel was motivated in part by pressure from the White House.
*June 2000 Specter, head of the Senate's Justice Department task
force, announces that Robert Conrad, the head of the Justice
Department's campaign finance task force is urging Reno to
appoint an independent counsel to determine whether Al Gore told
the truth when investigators questioned him about his 1996
fundraising.
salon.com | June 24, 2000
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