Congressman: Tape Shows Gore Illegal Fundraising

— -- A Republican congressman is claiming that a 1995 videotape showing Vice President Al Gore talking politics with an Indonesian man who made illegal contributions isevidence of improper fund-raising activities.

ABCNEWS.comJuly 19— Rep. Dan Burton is calling on the Justice Department to review a videotape of a 1995 White House coffee gathering that he claims is evidence of improper fund-raising practices by Vice President Al Gore.

Burton, the chairman of the House Committee on Government Reform, sent a letter to Attorney General Janet Reno on Tuesday urging Justice Department officials to review the tape.

The Indiana Republican claims it shows Gore discussing political ads with Arief Wiriadinata, an Indonesian citizen who was found to have made more than $400,000 in illegal donations to the Democratic Party.

Burton told The New York Times the vice president can be heard off-camera in the videotape telling Wiriadinata, “We ought to show Mr. Riady the tapes, some of the ad tapes.”

James T. Riady is an Indonesian businessman whose contributions to the Democrats are still under investigation.

“It would indeed be extraordinary for the vice president to suggest showing political issue advertisements to an Indonesian billionaire who lives in Jakarta, Indonesia,” Burton wrote to Reno.

So-called soft-money contributions of the kind made by Riady were used to fund a Democratic National Committee “issue ad” blitz aimed at bolstering Gore and President Clinton’s bid for re-election in 1996. Soft-money donations are to be used for general party purposes, not for any one candidate.

Riady is alleged to have donated money originating from overseas, a violation of U.S. campaign finance law.

“Did Mr. Gore know anything about Mr. Riady’s campaign contributions and how they related to the issue advertisement campaign?” Burton asked in the letter.

‘Impossible to Tell,’ Says Gore Aide

But members of Gore’s staff are shrugging off Burton’s accusations, portraying it as a partisan maneuver made in the heat of a presidential campaign One aide even questioned whether Gore even made the remarks in question.

“It’s impossible to tell anything from the tapes,” the aide insisted. “Who concluded it was his voice? Burton did.”

Burton, a persistent critic of the Clinton administration’s alleged fund-raising improprieties, plans to raise the issue at a Government Reform Committee hearing Thursday, where he will ask why the Justice Department has not investigated videotaped incident.

Burton also plans to ask why the matter was not raised during the April 19 interview of Gore conducted by Justice Department campaign finance investigators.

Committee spokesman Jim Wilson told ABCNEWS the Justice Department has had a copy of the tape since 1997, but has never formally investigated the incident in question. Wilson conceded, however, that the meaning of the remarks captured on the tape is subject to interpretation.

Allegations of illegal campaign finance activities involving Riady, Wiriadinata and others surfaced during the late stages of the 1996 campaign. The Democratic Party ultimately returned Wiriadinata’s contributions.