Gore Proposes Social Security Numbers Shield

Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore said Friday he wants to make it a federal crime to sell Social Security numbers.

“I strongly believe that we have way too casual use of Social Security numbers,” Gore said. “We need to protect them.”

Gore disclosed his intentions while hosting an open meeting with parents, teachers and students at Cordova School outside of Memphis, Tenn.

After two adults voiced concerns about the safety of Social Security numbers, Gore said to applause, “I’m going to propose legislation to make it illegal to sell Social Security numbers . . . to make it a violation of the Privacy Act.”

Gore said he planned to formally unveil his proposal in about two weeks.

The Social Security Administration said Social Security fraud increased by 175% from 1998 to 1999, and that fraud is expected to continue to rise because of the increasing use and sale of electronic data.

For most of the day Friday, Gore basked in the adoration of hundreds of elementary and middle school children who mobbed him wherever he went.

If only they could vote.

Politics was far from the minds of the children as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee spent the sixth of his campaign “school days” on familiar and friendly soil in his home state.

Shouts of “me! me!” rang out when Gore asked who wanted to throw bean bags--all part of “field day” games and athletics with kindergartners.

Casually dressed--brown slacks and a sage-colored, short-sleeved shirt--Gore also joined a class of second-graders on a trek through some nearby woods.

Surrounded by the youngsters, holding hands with two of them, Gore looked and listened as their science teacher pointed out different leaves, including allergy-inducing ragweed.

At one point, he got down on his knees on a grassy, dusty field to speak with his subjects at eye level.

Gore said he wanted to learn what makes this 7-year-old, 1,120-student magnet school work, part of an effort to “learn the secret of success that great schools have to teach.”

“I want you to know that after this day I’m going to be bragging about this school and telling people about the excellent performance here,” he told parents, teachers and administrators.

He also had a picnic lunch, visited a film class, met cafeteria workers and addressed a student assembly.

As always on his school visits, he spent the previous night at the home of one of the teachers--in this case math teacher Sylvestre Spann, who described his guest as “down to earth . . . just like the guy that lives around the corner.”