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From The AP Reno 'Mad' at White House Over Tapes (Oct. 9) Finance Reform Bill Stalls Again (Oct. 9) From The Post Firm to Pay $8 Million Fine for Illegal Campaign Gifts (Oct. 9) Story of a Foreign Donor's Deal with '92 Clinton Camp Outlined (Oct. 9) Teamsters Contributions to Clinton Effort Probed (Oct. 9) Clinton Rejects Allegations Over Tapes By Thomas B. Edsall Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, October 9, 1997; Page A11 NEWARK, Oct. 8—President Clinton said today that Republicans are trying to divert attention from their role in preventing campaign finance reform and rejected GOP charges that he failed to take responsibility for what happened in the White House. Before departing Washington for a day of fund-raising and campaigning, Clinton insisted that videotapes of White House political events, sought for months by the Senate committee investigating campaign finance allegations and turned over only in recent days, "will reinforce the fact that no one has done anything wrong here." "What's going on here is that under the smoke screen of the films, which everybody can now freely watch, there was yet one more attempt . . . to deal the death knell to campaign finance reform," he told reporters. On Tuesday, Senate Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Fred D. Thompson (R-Tenn.) demanded that Clinton "step up to the plate and take responsibility" for the long delays producing tapes showing him with campaign contributors at White House events and for the lack of cooperation shown to the committee by some key party fund-raisers. Clinton shot back that Thompson was motivated by sour grapes over the committee's failure to produce major evidence of illegality. "I think he may be disappointed in the results of the hearings," he said. Clinton sought to deflect charges that his staff deliberately delayed delivery of the videos until after Attorney General Janet Reno rejected a GOP request to immediately seek an independent counsel to investigate a variety of campaign finance allegations made by Republicans and Thompson's specific accusation that the White House has engaged in a "clear pattern of delay . . . trying to run out the clock on the committee," which has a Dec. 31 deadline to complete its work. "I was surprised that these films had been subpoenaed and not turned over," Clinton said, adding that he has been "frustrated whenever there has not been absolutely full compliance." He said the tapes "will reinforce . . . that no one has done anything wrong here . . . everybody ought to watch them and see what they show. That's what they're for." He said Republicans are engaging in what he described as an unrelenting effort to kill campaign finance reform: "They've done it every year in the Senate, they've done it every year with a filibuster. This year, they're prepared to use a filibuster and two or three other tactics because they raised more money, more big money and more money from other sources, than the Democrats." Later at a fund-raiser in Philadelphia, Clinton insisted that the fight for campaign finance legislation is not over. "The opponents thought they had it killed yesterday, but we've got a little life left in us," he said. That is not the view of Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.), who told reporters earlier in Washington that he regards campaign finance legislation as dead for this year and moved to block its advocates from trying to revive it as an amendment to popular legislation reauthorizing highway and other transportation programs. "Campaign finance reform is not going to pass this year," he said. "So why do they want to drag it out and block other legislation that's needed . . . and nominations we can get approved? I don't think it makes any sense." Lott said he does not intend to schedule votes on nominations by Clinton so long as the bill's backers tie up legislation with efforts to attach campaign finance proposals. "As long as they are fiddling with campaign finance, there won't be any nominations" voted on. Lott's comments came shortly before the Senate voted for the second day in a row to block action on campaign finance legislation sponsored by Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Russell Feingold (D-Wis.). The bill's backers fell seven votes short of the 60 needed to break a GOP filibuster in an initial vote Tuesday. In today's vote, they were eight short, having lost the support of Sen. Tim Hutchinson (R-Ark.), who objected to what he described as "partisan guerrilla warfare" that was threatening other legislation. For most of his trip, Clinton stayed away from Washington controversies. He used one of his two appearances on behalf of New Jersey state Sen. James McGreevey (D), who is challenging Gov. Christine Todd Whitman (R), to announce that "last month another 250,000 people went from welfare to work. That's a stunning number. Now, in four years and eight months, 3.6 million people who were living in families on welfare now live in families at work, drawing a paycheck." He said it was "yet another piece of evidence that welfare reform is working far better than anyone had predicted it would." But some critics say there is little evidence that all the recipients who have left the rolls have gotten jobs. In Washington, Vice President Gore also announced that the federal government has hired nearly 2,000 welfare recipients – 20 percent of Clinton's goal of hiring 10,000 people by the year 2000. During today's swing through Newark and Philadelphia, Clinton was expected to raise at least $1.5 million, with half going to the Democratic National Committee and half to the New Jersey Democratic Party to support McGreevey. Introducing Clinton, McGreevey attacked Whitman for allowing New Jersey to have the highest automobile insurance rates and property taxes in the nation and for borrowing large amounts of money through state bonds, placing the burden of "a crushing debt" on the state. "I was listening to Senator McGreevey talk," Clinton told the audience of about 400 at the Metropolitan Baptist Church here, "and . . . I thought, `That man knows what he wants to do and that's the beginning of wisdom and the prospect of success.' " McGreevey continues to trail Whitman by about 10 percentage points in polls, and Clinton aides acknowledge he has an uphill fight. Staff writer Helen Dewar in Washington contributed to this report. © Copyright 1997 The Washington Post Company Back to the top Go to Campaign Finance Report | Go to Politics Section