Lawmakers Turn Up Heat on Reno, Push for Prosecutor

Pressure to scrutinize Democratic Party campaign finance practices intensified Sunday as Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) said Atty. Gen. Janet Reno has “no choice” but to initiate the process that could lead to the appointment of an independent counsel.

Lott criticized Reno for failing to launch a preliminary investigation of alleged illegal fund-raising activities, characterizing her inaction as “totally indefensible.”

Reno so far has declined repeated calls to appoint an independent counsel, saying she has not seen enough evidence to justify that step. The matter remains under review by Justice Department attorneys.

“I don’t see how she could avoid it, starting the preliminary investigation. But our calls to the Justice Department this past week indicated that they have not done that,” Lott said on CBS-TV’s “Face the Nation.”

“I’m not calling for her to step down,” he added. “I’m calling for her to exercise the law and put it in the hands of independent counsel.”

The Senate leader’s criticism was echoed by other key members of Congress.

Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, expressed concern that alleged campaign fund-raising improprieties involving foreign interests might have compromised U.S. national security. He noted, however, that he would defer to the judgment of the Senate Judiciary Committee on the issue of pursuing an investigation.

“The public needs to be reassured that an independent look will be taken at what has been happening, and if there have been infractions, if there have been wrongdoings, there will be consequences,” Moynihan said on NBC-TV’s “Meet the Press.”

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Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), speaking on the same program, agreed that Reno should begin the process that could produce an independent-counsel inquiry.

“There seems to be enough credible evidence that probably she should go forward,” Hatch said.

There was also long-distance debate over reports that Vice President Al Gore played a central role in raising millions of dollars for the 1996 campaign, including making direct solicitations that some Democratic donors found heavy-handed.

Gore’s fund-raising network raised $40 million of the $180 million collected by the Democratic National Committee for the 1996 campaign, the Washington Post reported. The Times earlier reported aspects of Gore’s fund-raising role, including presiding over 23 of the White House “coffees” that were staged for big donors and other supporters.

Dick Morris, a primary advisor to President Clinton before a sex scandal forced him to resign, said he pushed Clinton and Gore to raise big money in 1995, when polling was unfavorable to the president.

Asked on “Fox News Sunday” about Gore’s activities, Morris said: “I was tickled to death that he did it. Unless he got on the phone and actually asked people for money, we never would have had the money to be able to win the election.”

Clinton would not make direct solicitations, Morris said. Gore’s approaches violated no law, as long as he used no government facilities to make the calls.

Many of those contacted operated businesses that relied on government contracts or assistance. Such calls, said White House Special Counsel Lanny Davis, are “appropriate so long as there’s no promise of a quid pro quo.”

“Vice President Gore was part of an effort to compete against the Republicans,” Davis said on CNN’s “Late Edition.” “He did nothing wrong and nothing illegal. The suggestion of any coercion is completely baseless.”

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Sens. Paul Wellstone (D-Minn.) and Robert Torricelli (D-N.J.) criticized Gore for making the calls but denied Republican claims that the fund-raising activities of Clinton administration officials violated the law. Wellstone appeared on “Late Edition,” and Torricelli was a guest on “Fox News Sunday.”

“I’m not going to be in the business of defending the undefendable, and what is more, I do not personally believe it is appropriate for the president or the vice president of the United States to directly solicit contributions,” Torricelli said. “It’s inappropriate, but it is not a legal issue.”

The sharp comments came as partisan infighting has Capitol Hill lawmakers deeply at odds over whether and how to proceed to investigate the unfolding allegations of wrongdoing.

Some Senate Republicans are seeking to exclude congressional campaign practices from the Government Affairs Committee inquiry into the matter, thus limiting the probe to the 1996 presidential race.

And many Democrats and a few Republicans are opposing the proposed $6.5-million investigatory budget sought by Sen. Fred Thompson, the Tennessee Republican who chairs the government affairs panel.

But Hatch argued that the money is not excessive when compared with the amount spent probing previous claims of political wrongdoing, such as the Watergate and Iran-Contra scandals.

“That’s not too much money if you look at past really major, major problems,” Hatch said. “They’re in that neighborhood, and Fred Thompson’s as good a man to handle this issue as anybody I know in the Congress.”

GOP leaders were less charitable about Clinton’s ability to manage an even bigger pool of money: the federal budget.

Lott attacked the president’s budget, saying it would fall substantially short of Clinton’s goal of balancing the budget by 2002. The Senate leader also said the Clinton budget would sharply hike taxes.

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Citing a report by Congress’ Joint Committee on Taxation, Lott and other key Republican lawmakers said in a letter to Clinton that the White House’s proposed budget, which administration officials claim would yield a net tax cut of $22 billion through 2002, would actually impose a $13-billion tax increase in 2001 and a $23-billion tax hike over 10 years.

In their letter, the Republican leaders said they are “disappointed to learn from independent analyses this week that your proposed balanced budget, rather than providing tax relief, would impose a significant tax increase on the American people.”

The Republican projections of a net tax increase are based on caveats in Clinton’s budget that caution that some of the $98 billion the White House has proposed in tax relief could expire Dec. 31, 2000, if it appears the administration’s fiscal goals will not be met.

White House officials have said they expect they will be on target financially and that the tax cuts, therefore, will be extended.

“The president’s confident that that the budget that he’s presented will balance by the year 2000 and also achieve the tax relief that he has proposed,” White House spokesman Mike McCurry has said.

Lott cited the uncertainty about Clinton’s budget in renewing his call for Congress to pass a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution. And he offered to alter the Republican-crafted measure in a last-ditch effort to entice one additional Democratic vote needed for passage.

“If we could make a change or two in a minor way that would get us another vote or two, we would consider doing that,” he said.

A Senate vote on the measure is set for Tuesday. Lott acknowledged that with just 66 senators supporting the measure, he is still one vote short of the two-thirds majority needed for approval.

In other matters, Lott offered to mediate the congressional dispute over designated CIA Director Anthony Lake’s FBI files in order to move stalled confirmation hearings ahead.

Lott proposed that he, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and the committee’s ranking Democrat review Lake’s files and recommend action.

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Lake’s troubled nomination ran into more problems last week, when Republicans, notably Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.), said they wanted to see raw data from his FBI files rather than an FBI-prepared summary.

Committee Vice Chairman Bob Kerrey (D-Neb.) has accused Republicans of trying for “ideological reasons” to delay the hearings. He has said he plans to seek a showdown vote in the panel to guarantee that the hearing take place as scheduled March 11.

Republicans have questioned some of the investments held by Lake while he was national security advisor during Clinton’s first term and have criticized his failure to notify Congress of the administration’s tacit recognition of the shipping of Iranian arms to the Bosnian government.

Times wire services contributed to this story.