Ehrlich on Washington column, September 28, 1997

с 1407 York Road, Suite 304 Lutherville, Maryland 21093 NEWS FROM Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. Second Congressional District of Maryland 315 Cannon House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515 EHRLICH ON WASHINGTON By Congressman Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. Week of September 28, 1997 JANET RENO, CALL YOUR OFFICE For months, Republicans in Congress have lobbied Attorney General Janet Reno to appoint an independent counsel to investigate allegations that President Clinton and Vice President Gore made illegal fundraising calls from their White House offices during the 1 996 presidential elections. Yet the attorney general steadfastly refused to do so on the grounds that “no credible evidence” of wrongdoing by the President and Vice President could be found. Now, however, Ms. Reno seems to be changing her mind, thanks in part to an abrupt wake-up call she received from the Washington Post. Why Ms. Reno’s sudden change in perspective? Before we answer that, we need to remind ourselves why she refused to appoint a special prosecutor in the first place. First, she argued that, even if these fundraising calls did occur, their purpose was to raise soft money (donations made to political parties for party-building activities) rather than hard money contributions (money given to a specific federal candidate for use in his or her own campaign). According to Ms. Reno, the federal law which prohibits government officials from raising campaign money on federal property pertains only to hard money solicitations. Second, Ms. Reno refused to appoint an independent counsel because she said it simply ( was not necessary. In other words, she assured that American people that her Justice Department had the willingness and the ability to carry out a thorough, impartial investigation of these