Watchdog Group Alleges Campaign Finance Violations

By Brooks Jackson/CNN

WASHINGTON (Oct. 9) -- A government watchdog group today accused the Republican and Democratic parties of gross campaign finance violations, calling it the worst campaign scandal since Richard Nixon's.

"Common Cause believes that the violations that occurred in the 1996 presidential elections are the most massive violations since the Watergate scandal," declared Ann McBride, president of Common Cause, at a news conference.

The group has called on Attorney General Janet Reno to start the process of appointing an independent counsel to investigate what it called clear criminal violations by the Clinton and Dole campaigns.

Said McBride: "These are not technical violations of the law. These are not pushing the envelope to take advantage of loopholes in the law. What is at issue here are massive illegal schemes to violate the presidential primary spending limits and to violate the prohibitions on corporate and union contributions and the restrictions on large individual contributions."

Common Cause traced $34 million spent by the Democratic party, and $14 million by the Republican party -- money spent for advertisements. The parties claim the ads in question are just issue ads, because they stop just short of expressly advocating a vote for their candidate. Both campaigns denied wrongdoing, saying they complied with the letter of election rules.

"I would say that the Democratic National Committee as well as the Clinton-Gore '96 Committee have highly competent legal counsel to make sure we live fully within the letter of the law," White House spokesman Mike McCurry told reporters today.

But Common Cause said in its letter to Reno that the ads were presidential spots, pure and simple.

Their evidence? Democratic consultants Robert Squier and Dick Morris crafted both Clinton's campaign ads and the Democratic party ads. Also, Republican consultants Don Sipple and Tony Fabrizio worked on both Dole and Republican ads as well. Journalist Bob Woodward's book "The Choice" said President Bill Clinton himself approved and sometimes even edited the Democratic Party ads.

And a CNN camera taped Dole consulting personally with adman Sipple while he was making ads for the party.

Sometimes the campaign and party ads used identical video. Money to pay for the ads was raised with the help of Clinton and Dole's top fund-raising aides, Common Cause said.

Of the $48 million both parties spent for the disputed ads, nearly $27 million was from corporations, labor unions, and oversize donations from rich donors -- so-called "soft money" that is illegal for direct use by candidates.

Common Cause wants a criminal investigation because it says the Federal Election Commission has failed to use its civil powers to investigate. Nothing is likely to happen until after the election, and Reno has 30 days to determine whether a preliminary investigation is needed.

This story originally appeared on CNN's "Inside Politics."

Related Stories:

• Government Workers Help Bankroll Clinton's Campaign -- July 31, 1996
• Big Gaps In Dole's Campaign Finance Records -- July 30, 1996

Related Profiles:

• Bill Clinton -- Center for Public Integrity's Campaign Finance Profile
• Bob Dole -- Center for Public Integrity's Campaign Finance Profile

Related Sites:

• Center for Public Integrity

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