ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, April 14, 1997 TAG: 9704140156
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: THE LOS ANGELES TIMES and THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The attorney general appears ready to say the Justice Department has yet to find evidence of Democratic fund-raising violations requiring an outside investigator.
In a decision likely to anger congressional Republicans, Attorney General Janet Reno has approved the draft of a letter rejecting their call for appointment of an independent counsel to investigate Democratic fund raising for last year's presidential campaign.
Sources close to Reno said Sunday that the letter was scheduled to be sent today to the chairmen of the Senate and House Judiciary committees, who asked for a Whitewater-type outside counsel to look into alleged political fund-raising abuses.
``Unless the attorney general has a last-minute change of mind, she's planning to turn them down,'' a Justice Department official said. ``She is relying on the advice of her career prosecutors and on provisions of the Ethics in Government Act,'' which spells out when an independent counsel is appropriate.
Reno, who has rejected three previous requests to seek an outside investigator to look into the controversy, has repeatedly said that evidence of improper fund raising is being thoroughly investigated by career Justice Department lawyers from the public-integrity section of the criminal division, assisted by up to 30 FBI agents.
``I've directed that they pursue every lead, that they follow those leads where the evidence and the law takes them,'' she has said. If they find specific allegations of wrongdoing that involve high federal officials covered by the government-ethics act, these lawyers are under instructions to notify her immediately, she has said.
Assurances such as these were expected to be included in her letter to Congress, but they were unlikely to satisfy her critics.
House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., said on ``Fox News Sunday'' that he hoped Reno would ask a panel of federal judges to appoint an independent counsel. If she does not, Gingrich said, Congress might launch an investigation to determine whether Reno herself had a role in the fund-raising affair.
``If she can look at this mound of evidence, look at the day-after-day revelations, and not conclude it is time for an independent counsel, how can any serious citizen have any faith in her?'' Gingrich said.
If she decides not to seek an independent counsel, Gingrich said, Reno needs to explain her decision. ``She needs to answer in public, she needs to answer, I think, under oath,'' he said.
One step would be to ask her why she didn't tell President Clinton about FBI evidence that China was trying to pour money into last year's presidential election, Gingrich said.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said Sunday on ABC's ``This Week'' that Reno, as a leading member of the Clinton administration, has a ``conflict of interest, both apparent and real,'' if her own department investigated the case.
If Reno once again rejects appointing an outside counsel, Hatch said, ``then I think there's going to be a swirl of criticism that's going to be, I think, very much justified.''
The ranking Democrat on the House Government Reform Committee, Rep. Henry Waxman of California, said on CNN's ``Late Edition'' that Gingrich and the Republicans are seeking to cover up ``a partisan witch hunt.''
Committees in both houses of Congress are already looking into campaign fund raising in the last election cycle. The Senate panel has broadened its agenda to include some Republican activities, while the House committee plans to focus almost exclusively on Democratic practices.
Hearings are not expected to begin for another month or two.
LENGTH: Medium: 74 linesby CNB