IP: White House Accused of Data Theft

["Vladimir Z. Nuri" <vznuri@netcom.com>]

From: believer@telepath.com
Subject: IP: White House Accused of Data Theft
Date: Thu, 08 Oct 1998 10:12:25 -0500
To: believer@telepath.com

Source:  Washington Post
http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WAPO/19981007/V000584-100798-idx.html

White House Accused of Data Theft 

By John Solomon
Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, October 7, 1998; 7:42 p.m. EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A Republican-led House subcommittee
accused President Clinton and the White House of ``theft of government
property'' Wednesday in transferring data to the Democratic Party for
fund-raising purposes. 

Seeking to gain the attention of impeachment investigators, a stinging
report written by Republican congressional staffers detailed evidence they
contend conflicts with some of the White House's earlier assertions about
the use of a $1.7 million taxpayer-financed database created inside the
executive mansion. 

``The committee issues this report to expose the evidence of the
president's possible involvement in the theft of government property and
his abuse of power,'' said the report by the investigative subcommittee of
the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee. 

The report cites testimony from top Democratic fund-raisers who
acknowledged they got names and addresses from the White House
database on a regular basis and used them to solicit donations or plan
White House events for donors. 

``Richard Sullivan, the DNC finance director, himself testified that he
obtained lists of attendance at White House CEO lunches and the White
House Economic Conference and that he used those lists to raise money,''
the report states. 

Originally, presidential aides insisted White House staff and the database
were used only for official purposes and none of it was misused for fund
raising. Federal law prohibits the use of government resources for fund
raising or other political or private purposes. Those who misuse such
resources can be charged with stealing government resources. 

White House officials said Wednesday the DNC was only authorized to
use its data for invitation lists, and if information was used for anything
else
that was inappropriate. 

``This White House, like the Bush and Reagan White House, keeps
names and addresses of our supporters, and tries to ensure that they are
included in White House events,'' spokesman Barry Toiv said. 

Toiv charged the subcommittee report was ``irresponsible and deceptive
and highly partisan'' and excluded ``information that contradicts'' its
allegations. 

The report directly accused Clinton of knowing about and instigating the
misuse of federal resources for political purposes. 

Among the examples it cited were internal White House documents
indicating that the president instructed that information he obtained from
official White House e-mail or other sources be sent to his political
campaign. 

``Quite frequently the president will ask that certain names and addresses
be added to the supporter file. ... Attached is a list of supporter file
information,'' a 1994 White House memo said, asking that the information
be forwarded to a separate campaign database Clinton instructed be built
in Arkansas. 

White House officials said there was nothing wrong with Clinton
forwarding to his campaign, for example, business cards he had received
at the White House and said there was no evidence he sent wholesale
portions of government data. 

The report also cites a document showing Clinton authorized a job
description for a top aide, Marsha Scott, that included a responsibility for
``insuring ... supporters were involved in fund-raising activities'' such
as the
controversial White House coffees. 

Presidential aides defended Scott's job description, noting political
appointees aren't forbidden by law from doing political work provided
they don't solicit donations. 

The subcommittee also referred White House deputy counsel Cheryl Mills
to the Justice Department for criminal investigation, alleging that in 1996
she located two subpoenaed documents suggesting that Clinton and his
wife, Hillary, sanctioned the use of the White House database for political
purposes but withheld them from the committee for months -- until after
the 1996 election. It also accused her of lying about aspects of the
database to the committee. 

Ms. Mills has said she did not believe the documents were responsive to
the subpoena when she first reviewed them and sought the advice of her
superiors who agreed. She denies any effort to mislead investigators. And
the top Democrat on the Government Reform committee wrote the Justice
Department saying he disagreed with the GOP referral, saying Ms. Mills
may have made a mistake but there was no evidence of willful obstruction.

The release of the report is part of a broader effort by Republicans in
Congress to make public information that they think should be considered
in the impeachment inquiry the House is set to approve Thursday. 

Rep. David McIntosh, R-Ind., said Wednesday it was ``premature'' to
predict whether his findings would be incorporated into the House
Judiciary Committee's impeachment investigation on the president's
relationship with Monica Lewinsky. 

``This isn't about sex. This is about abusing his official privilege for
personal and political gain,'' McIntosh said. 

The inquiry into the database, which contained the names of individuals
who have contact with the White House or president, has been conducted
over the last two years without the same fanfare of higher profile
investigations of Ms. Lewinsky, Whitewater, FBI files and the White
House travel office firings. 

Nonetheless, the investigators said they found White House documents
with official government data -- including holiday card lists -- at the DNC
and the Clinton campaign. White House officials said some of the list were
accidentally sent by vendors. 

 � Copyright 1998 The Associated Press
-----------------------
NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is
distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior
interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and
educational purposes only. For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
-----------------------




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