When they carry out the political corpse of Bill Clinton, they need to make sure to take out the other garbage. Hillary directed the financial scandals and the campaign financing scandals in Arkansas and National.
Friday September 4 4:19 PM EDT
FEC Recommends Clinton Repay Funds
KEVIN GALVIN Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - A preliminary Federal Election Commission report has recommended that President Clinton's
re-election campaign be required to repay $13.4 million in federal matching funds received during the 1996 primaries for
violating rules governing so-called issues advocacy ads.
Information in the report by FEC auditors set in motion a 30-day review by Attorney General Janet Reno, who must decide
whether to seek an independent counsel to probe the Democrat's fund-raising activities in 1996.
According to Democrats and legal sources familiar with the report, it is a preliminary assessment of the campaign's spending
that offers no new evidence regarding the use of issues ads, but a new interpretation of their intent.
''These ads were an entirely legal and perfectly appropriate way to communicate with the American people and there is
absolutely no reason to appoint an independent counsel to review them,'' the DNC said in a statement.
With midterm elections two months away, Democrats face the possibility of an independent counsel investigation into their
1996 campaign on three fronts: their television ads and allegations that Vice President Al Gore and former White House aide
Harold Ickes misled authorities about fund raising.
The same firm that developed the ad campaign for Clinton-Gore '96, Squier, Knapp & Ochs, also developed ads on political
issues for the Democratic National Committee - ads that Clinton had a hand in crafting.
The Justice Department has tended to hold that the issues ads fall outside campaign law limits so long as they don't advocate
the election or defeat of any candidate or party.
But the 30-day inquiry was launched based on the FEC report's interpretation of how the ads might have crossed that line so
as to constitute ''electioneering.''
To receive matching funds, presidential campaigns in 1996 had to agree to limit spending during the primary campaign to $37
million. If the ads paid for by the party were used to improperly boost the president's re-election, then the campaign could be
held to have violated the spending limit.
''The FEC has long presumed that political parties' issue ads are coordinated with their federal candidates and are intended, in
part, to promote those candidates' elections,'' the DNC statement said. ''A political party ad that mentions a federal candidate
does not count as a contribution to that candidate unless it contains an 'electioneering' message.''
Both the Republican National Committee and Bob Dole's 1996 presidential campaign relied on the same company, New
Century Media, to produce campaign ads. The Washington Post reported Friday that the FEC auditors had reached a
''similar'' conclusion about that effort. Dole received $13.5 million in matching funds.
Additionally, FEC investigation of issues ads has looked at the Republicans and spots run by the AFL-CIO.
Asked at her Thursday news conference whether an issues advocacy investigation would focus on Republicans as well as
Democrats, Reno said ''We are following every lead.'' |
