Under fire for refusing to file a pre-election financial report, the Democratic National Committee reversed itself Tuesday, saying it would provide the full report within "a few days."
Committee spokeswoman Amy Weiss Tobe said the "raw data" would be provided Tuesday to the Federal Election Commission and the news media, and that the FEC would be asked to consider it legally binding.The DNC then will need a few days to put that same information into the proper format for a normal FEC report, she said. Tobe could not say whether that work would be completed before Election Day.
"We are certainly trying," she said.
The Democrats contend that the pre-election report, routinely filed by both parties for two decades, wasn't legally required from them this year because they didn't spend any money on President Clinton's re-election during the 15 days the report would cover.
Republicans said it appeared the Democrats were trying to hide embarrassing information. The DNC has come under in-tense criticism over the past few weeks for contributions linked to foreign nations.
Tobe called the suggestion the party was hiding information "ridiculous." But she said, "In hindsight, we should have filed the report even though it wasn't required by law, because we believe in full disclosure."
Republicans, who contend the report is required, were not mollified. Pre-electionreports were due last Thursday, covering the first 15 days of October.
"It's already past due. When are they going to file it?" Republican National Committee Chairman Haley Barbour asked. He called on Clinton to denounce party leaders for trying to avoid filing.
"To me the real question is, is Bill Clinton going to force them to immediately file this, or is he just going to be complicit in keeping from the public what the law plainly states?" Barbour said. "What are they hiding?"
Don Simon, executive vice president of Common Cause, said that releasing a list of contributors and expenditures would not substitute for a formal federal filing, where any omissions could carry legal penalties.
A check of Federal Election Commission records dating back to 1984 showed that each party's national committee has filed pre-election reports each election year.
The GOP complaints come amid accusations the Democratic committee stonewalled by not producing its former fund-raiser to testify in a lawsuit against the Commerce Department (story below).