Mullings by Rich Galen | Issue for November 3, 1999

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Alpha-Beta-Gamma-Delta ... um, I Forget the Rest

November 3, 1999

The big flap about Naomi Wolf being involved in Al-fa Gore's campaign misses the point. It is the God-given right of a candidate to hire pretty smart people with wacky ideas and pay them too much to hang around. That, now that I think of it, more-or-less sums up my career.

The Naomi Wolf flap shouldn't be so much about whether Al-fa Gore is under a Svengali-like spell of this woman. The real flap, as Bill Kristol pointed out last night on Hardball, is why the Al-fa Gore campaign tried so hard to hide the fact they were paying her whatever they were paying her by laundering her pay through third parties.

Here's the scam: If I'm running for a federal office and I pay you to give me advice, I have to disclose that on my FEC report. We all understand that. But if I tell my media consultant to hire you and I "gross up" the fee I'm paying my media consultant so he or she can pay you, that never shows up. You're still giving me advice but, because there is no requirement that vendors to federal campaigns disclose whom THEY hire, it is invisible to the system.

First, Al-fa Gore, the Prince of Piety, goes to great lengths to bury Ms. Wolf's involvement. Then, when asked about her $15,000-per-month fee, he falls back on the discredited Clintonian tense-defense. On Sunday Sam Donaldson asked Gore "Are you paying [her] $15,000 per month?" Gore said "No, it's about a third of that."

His campaign HAD been paying Wolf $15,000 per month, hiding it by paying her through other vendors. By the time Sam had asked about it, her fee had been reduced to $5,000 per month. It depends on what the definition of "are" is.

That wasn't the only example of Al-fa Gore being Candidate Sneakyman. Gore met with Al Sharpton off the schedule this week. Like the Wolf deal, its not that Gore met with Sharpton - although an argument could be made that Sharpton is a dangerous demagogue - but that he tried to do it, literally, in the dark.

Legacy watch: The Virginia Governor, House of Delegates, and State Senate will all be under Republican control next year after yesterday's astounding election results. This is the first time the Tories have controlled the Virginia House of Delegates since some English Duke owned it.

Senator Bob Smith of New Hampshire has returned to the Republican party. This is the same Bob Smith who, in a brutal speech on the Senate floor several months ago, vowed to run for President as an independent. After about seven people in the country said they would vote for him, he came back.

Smith was not exactly sent to the penalty box for a couple of months to atone for his sins. In fact, he was given the chairmanship of the Senate Environmental and Public Works Committee. Maybe he'll hire back those members of his staff who resigned rather than give up THEIR membership in the Republican party as Smith had demanded.

OK, so the Internet still has some bugs. At the Time Magazine web site there is a place to vote on the question: "At this stage in the race for the GOP presidential nomination, who do you think would make the best nominee?" The [edited] results: George W, 7.27%. John McCain, 2.32%. Steve Forbes, 9.47%. Orrin Hatch, 61.02%. Who's sitting at their desk pressing the Refresh button? Bob Smith?

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