Ghost Of LaBella Haunts Gore

A report calling for an investigation into fund-raising during the Clinton administration was put to rest years ago, but as CBS News Correspondent Mark Knoller reports, the Bush campaign is eager to keep it alive.

The previously secret report was written two years ago by Charles LaBella, who at the time was the Justice Department's chief campaign finance investigator.

In the document, which was obtained by the Los Angeles Times, LaBella says Gore "may have provided 'false testimony'" about fund-raising matters and called for the appointment of an Independent Counsel to investigate fund-raising by the president, Gore and even the First Lady.

Attorney General Janet Reno suppressed LaBella's report, claiming there wasn't enough evidence to justify his recommendations.

The White House dismissed LaBella's report as old news. White House Spokesman Joe Lockhart said on Friday, "I would go back to the first, second and third time you did this story two years ago. I don't have anything new on it.

But the Bush campaign had plenty to say. In a written statement Bush said a story that ran in the Los Angeles Times Friday "raises troubling questions" and called on Gore to "clear up" the role he played in raising political money from the White House.

A key House Republican quickly issued a subpoena to the Justice Department to release the leaked document. Republicans deny there is any political motivation to the request, but clearly view the LaBella document as new ammunition with which to deny Gore the high ground on campaign finance.

While LaBella's report did not accuse the president, the vice president, or the First Lady of any specific criminal violations, it cited questionable actions by them and a "pattern of conduct worthy of investigation" by an independent counsel, according to an edited version of the 94-page report obtained by The New York Times.

The document noted administration dealings with Asian-American fund-raisers and wealthy foreign nationals, and the "calculated use of access" to the White House and high-level officials, the Times reported.