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To: Paul Engel who wrote (94334)	12/20/1999 2:51:00 PM
From: Jim McMannis	Respond to of 186894

OT, Paul, Don't forget to pay your taxes now! <G> dailynews.yahoo.com Monday December 20 1:18 PM ET Clinton Hasn't Ruled Out Public Paying His Fees WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House did not rule out on Monday that President Clinton will try to get American taxpayers to pay his $5 million in unpaid legal fees stemming from the Monica Lewinsky and Whitewater scandals. White House spokesman Joe Lockhart said Clinton had made no decision on whether to seek reimbursement from the government for legal fees incurred by lawyers who represented him and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. Lockhart said it was ''premature'' to answer the question because independent counsel Robert Ray, who took over after the resignation of Kenneth Starr, had yet to wrap up his work. Is Clinton considering asking for reimbursement? ''I don't know,'' said Lockhart. ''You know, there are a lot of decisions he's got to make right now, and decisions that are down the road he'll make when he gets down the road.'' A request for taxpayer reimbursement of his legal fees would likely generate a firestorm of controversy. A lawyer in the independent counsel's office was quoted by the Washington Post on Saturday as saying the office was preparing to challenge such a move. Lockhart had a response to that report. ''I will leave it to you all to try to figure out why the independent counsel now is spending time preparing objections to something that hasn't been raised. You know, there's an element of mischief here. But they can describe for themselves why they get up to mischief and the reasons,'' he said. While both former Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush were reimbursed for legal fees stemming from the Iran-Contra investigation, other targets of independent counsel probes have not met legal requirements for reimbursement. Those include showing that the cases would not have been pursued by a regular prosecutor. Clinton has portrayed himself as a victim in both the investigation into the sex-and-lies scandal involving Lewinsky and the Whitewater land investment controversy. The Lewinsky investigation led to his impeachment by the House of Representatives on perjury and obstruction of justice charges a year ago. He was subsequently acquitted by the Senate on Feb. 12. Clinton's legal expense trust reported in August that it had paid about $5 million in legal bills but said donations have dwindled since the impeachment battle ended. That left him with the strong possibility of leaving office in 13 months deep in debt. Taxpayer payment of the president's outstanding fees would add to the $47 million the public has paid thus far for the independent counsel's five-year investigation. During a televised debate on Sunday with Democratic presidential candidate Bill Bradley (news - web sites), Vice President Al Gore (news - web sites) said the Clintons had a right to make a payment request. ''Under the law they have the right to do it,'' he said. ''Would I do it in that position? No, I would not.'' Bradley said it would be wrong. ''While I don't think that what the president did reached the level of impeachment ... any time the president lies to the people, he squanders the people's trust and undermines his own authority,'' Bradley said. ''I don't think the taxpayers should pay for the consequences of that act.''