Al Gore, scofflaw
HARRINGTON, MATTHEW P.
Al Gore, Scofflaw by Matthew P. Harrington "There is no controlling legal authority that says this was any violation of law." —Albert A. Gore, March 3,1997 Al Gore's lawyers and I must have had...
...607...
...To do so is illegal...
...Thus, in soliciting contributions from his office, Vice President Gore is guilty of a violation of 18 U.S.C...
...Albert A. Gore, March 3,1997 Al Gore's lawyers and I must have had wildly different experiences in law school...
...Vice President Gore and his lawyers attempt to make much of the fact that the statute does not specifically mention the office of vice president and so suggest that it not applicable to him...
...Indeed, this was exactly the opinion held by the Carter administration in 1979, when the Department of Justice concluded that the president would be covered by the statute...
...At last report, Vice President Gore was an "officer of the United States," and he is apparently not working for free...
...607 simply because the White House is occupied by federal employees in the performance of their official duties...
...Period...
...Matthew P. Harrington is assistant professor of law at Roger Williams University, Bristol, R.I...
...It is not necessary that he be named in the statute...
...It is, therefore, not necessary that the "solicitor" himself be covered by the statute in question...
...More to the point, however, the vice president's feigned confusion is simply a red herring...
...They prevent federal resources from being diverted to personal or political gain...
...And this makes sense when one thinks a moment about the purposes of the law...
...Vice President Gore's solicitation of funds from his White House office is governed by 18 U.S.C...
...Admittedly this is no model of clarity, but it is clear about one thing: You do not solicit funds for political purposes from government offices...
...The statute says: It shall be unlawful for any person to solicit or receive any contribution...
...in any room or building occupied in the discharge of official duties by any person mentioned in section 603...
...I must have cut class the day we learned that one is not bound by a criminal statute unless it has one's name in it...
...Vice President Gore broke the law...
...In other words, the statute ensures safe haven from partisan political activity: Government buildings should be devoted exclusively to government business...
...Yet, the statute clearly applies to any "officer of the United States" and any person "receiving any salary or compensation for services from money derived from the Treasury of the United States...
...Such statutes are designed to ensure that the people's business is done on the people's premises...
...A glance at the statute makes it quite plain that there is ample "controlling legal authority" to say that Vice President Gore violated the law when soliciting funds from his office...
...For I have long labored under the misconception that the statutes of the United States are "controlling legal authority...
...Section 603 prohibits any "officer or employee of the United States" or "a person receiving any salary or compensation from money derived from the Treasury of the United States" from making contributions to their employer if the employer is himself an "officer or employee of the United States" or a member of Congress...
...That is to say, the occupation of a building by government employees makes those premises off limits to political fund-raising...
...Moreover, the statute ensures that federal employees are not pressured or threatened by solicitations from others in government...
...What the statute forbids is the solicitation of political contributions by anyone on federal premises...
...His office and receipt of a salary from the public fisc place him within the class of persons covered by the statute...
...No one may solicit funds in or from a White House office...
...A close reading of the statute demonstrates that the crime occurs whether or not the "solicitor" is a federal employee...
Vol. 2 • April 1997 • No. 29
