Election briefs

By Compiled from Times wires

© St. Petersburg Times, published September 23, 2000

Reconstructed e-mail raises Gore fundraising questions

WASHINGTON -- The White House on Friday sent congressional investigators copies of hundreds of e-mail messages from Vice President Al Gore's office that dealt with campaign fundraising but that previously had been lost because of a computer breakdown.

As reconstructed from computer backup tapes, some messages suggested that Gore's staff considered a controversial Buddhist temple event in 1996 to be a Democratic fundraiser. Gore has contended he was not told that was the purpose.

"Currently, we are committed in San Jose and L.A. for fundraising events," one staff e-mail said of an April 1996 trip that included a luncheon at the Hsi Lai Temple.

Gore's appearance at the temple became symbolic of the Democratic fundraising scandal that was the subject of Senate hearings and criminal prosecutions by the government.

When it was disclosed that the temple gathering had raised more than $100,000, much of it in foreign-tainted donations, Gore first said he believed it had been a "community outreach" event. Later, however, he acknowledged that he knew it was "finance related."

Jim Kennedy, the vice president's spokesman, said Friday that there is "nothing significant" in the reconstructed e-mails, many of which dealt with material in memos that were previously turned over to investigators.

But Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, said the White House had repeatedly "obstructed" his investigation of Democratic fundraising abuses.

One e-mail dealt with a Taiwanese-American businessman in Virginia who offered to contribute $250,000 if he could visit President Clinton. But Kennedy said a memo disclosing it was given to Senate investigators three years ago. The donation was never made.

Hearings earlier this year by the House Government Reform Committee showed that many e-mails from 1996, the period when Democrats were collecting millions of dollars from suspicious sources, had not been properly archived and were not turned over to Congress. The White House has been reconstructing them.

Gore says Union Label lullaby line was a joke

VANPORT, Pa. -- Vice President Al Gore held a rare press conference Friday and appeared relaxed as he defended recent addresses on the campaign trail that have increased his reputation for exaggerating.

Several of these have contributed to assertions that he stretches the truth. Speaking to the International Brotherhood of Teamsters several days ago, Gore said he remembered being sung to sleep with the song, "Look for the Union Label," but it turned out the song was written when he was 27.

Gore said Friday that he had been joking, using humor to describe his pro-union upbringing. "If somebody didn't get the joke, maybe I'd better tell better jokes then," he said. "Nobody sings a lullaby to a little baby about union labels, okay?"

At the time, Gore did not appear to be telling a joke as he hummed a line from the song.

Lieberman defends record on gun control

WASHINGTON -- Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Lieberman defended his record on gun legislation Friday, saying he supported "common sense" gun controls but believed that gunmakers should not have any fewer rights in court than other manufacturers.

The comments on gun control came in response to a Washington Post story Friday that the senator has supported the interests of firearms companies in Connecticut while backing gun control legislation.

He said he had a "consistent record of support for common sense gun control and in particular keeping guns out of the hands of children and of criminals," the Associated Press reported.

The Post said Lieberman helped keep a controversial gun from being included in an assault weapons ban, voted to repeal a District of Columbia law allowing victims of assault weapons violence to sue the guns' manufacturers and defended the industry against a Democratic effort to bar gunmakers from declaring bankruptcy to escape liability in lawsuits.

"In the cases that were cited," Lieberman said on ABC's Good Morning America, "I thought these were really very unfair attempts to deprive manufacturers, in my state and elsewhere, of due process in the courts. . . . Let's not sort of step in and try to deprive the manufacturers of rights that every other manufacturer would have if they were sued in court."

Clinton, Lazio haven't made deal on soft money

CAYUGA HEIGHTS, N.Y. -- No agreement was reached Friday between New York's Senate candidates on soft money, although earlier in the day Rep. Rick Lazio believed first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton had agreed to a ban.

Lazio said he thought from remarks Clinton made on Friday morning that she had agreed to his proposal to ban all groups from spending soft money. But Clinton had only offered a deal that pertained to political parties, and not unions and other organizations.

After Lazio announced the pact during a campaign stop outside a defense contractor's plant in Kirkwood, calling it a "historic" agreement, Clinton's campaign immediately rejected the contention.

Her campaign released a letter from Lazio campaign manager Bill Dal Col, dated Thursday, that said, "We have dropped our precondition that you attain the signatures of the outside interest groups supporting your campaign." On Friday, however, the Lazio campaign said the "agreement" covered such groups, and Dal Col sent a letter to Clinton aides saying he expected all soft-money ads to be pulled by Monday.

Clinton's offer said soft money ads already paid for would run into next week.

Hard money contributions are limited to $2,000 per donor. There is no limit on soft money contributions; they can be used to advocate an issue, boost one candidate or attack an opposing candidate, but cannot conclude by asking voters to choose a particular candidate.

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