Lazio To Reimburse GOP
On the eve of their second debate, Senate rivals Hillary Rodham Clinton and Rick Lazio were still sparring over a major issue from their first encounter — campaign finance reform.
Lazio insisted Saturday that under the terms of the “soft money ban” the two sides agreed to last month there was an understanding that both campaigns could spend money from the respective Republican and Democratic national parties.
He even said his aides who attended a negotiating session with the Clinton campaign were willing to sign affidavits attesting that there had been an agreement.
But Clinton said at a news conference that she was “shocked” by the revelation that Lazio's campaign had paid for a television commercial last week with some funds from the Republican National Committee. Her aides have maintained that no such agreement had been reached.
“Clearly what he's done and what the Republican National Committee has done is cynical and really inexplicable, and clearly violative of the agreement,” she said after attending a gathering of Irish-Americans in Manhattan.
“I would like very much to abide by the agreement but now I'm asking questions,” Clinton added.
Despite his claim of an agreement, Lazio said the funds received from the RNC — which total about $1.4 million — would be returned and that his campaign would only pay for TV commercials out of its own treasury.
“Even though they agreed to this, I am willing to take the further step of refunding this money to the Republican National Committee and ensuring that, if they're willing to do the same thing, that we run our ads only with the hard dollars from our committee,” Lazio said after a rally at Hofstra University, where he was joined by Gov. George Pataki and Arizona Sen. John McCain.
McCain, whose unsuccessful bid for the Republican Party's nomination for president was centered around campaign finance reform, noted that there were some “ambiguities” surrounding Lazio's use of RNC funds, but applauded him for returning the money.
“I think that Rick Lazio did the right thing because that would remove any ambiguities and there were ambiguities associated with this,” said McCain, who taped a TV commercial in support of Lazio earlier in the campaign.
McCain also took a shot at the Clintons for the more than 400 White House sleepovers since July 1999.
“I also think that Mrs. Clinton and President Clinton ought to stop renting out the Lincoln bedroom, stop selling tickets to state dinners and stop debasing the institutions of government,” he said.
The Clintons have been assailed by their political opponents, who speculate that guests were invited to the White House or Camp David in exchange for donations to her Senate campaign. Clinton has said that there was nothing improper abot the sleepovers.
The issue of campaign finance reform — in a race where the candidates are likely to shatter all records for spending in a Senate contest — came to the forefront last month at the candidates' first debate in Buffalo. Lazio walked over to Clinton's podium and displayed a contract proposing a ban on soft money in the campaign.
The move appeared to backfire on the Long Island Congressman, who was perceived as bullying the first lady. His poll numbers since the first debate have dropped, despite the fact that an agreement was eventually reached.
The candidates meet in their second debate in New York on Sunday morning on WCBS-TV from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. It is available to CBS affiliates and will be shown on CNN.