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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Gore Confident Fund Raising Legal

Compiled From Wire Services

While Republicans attacked his credibility at a Senate hearing, Vice President Al Gore predicted Friday that a new Justice Department review would find his fund-raising calls from the White House “legal and proper.”

Gore’s comments were his first since the Justice Department’s announcement this week that it would look into the possible need for an independent counsel investigation of his actions.

Responding to questions by reporters, Gore said he was “confident that when all the reviews are complete, they will find what I did is legal and appropriate. We’re cooperating fully with the review and we went the extra step of making it all public. What this shows is the need for campaign finance reform.”

Republicans, meanwhile, assailed the assertion of a former top Gore aide that the vice president did not know an event at which he appeared at a California Buddhist temple was a fund-raiser. Gore also has said he did not believe the event was a fund-raiser, although the Democratic National Committee collected $100,000 in donations linked to the April 29, 1996, luncheon. As a tax-exempt institution, the temple is not supposed to be involved in partisan politics.