To: AllPolitics Subject: White House confirms internal DNC, campaign White House mail system
From: Jill Dougherty/CNN
In: Washington
Posted: 3-7-97
White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry confirms there was a "routine inner campaign, DNC, White House mail system" in operation at the White House but, he says, he has no information that it was used for collecting any political contributions.
The Washington Times quotes DNC General Chairman Roy Romer as saying the White House maintained a special "bin" in which checks for the DNC, including one accepted by Maggie Williams, were deposited.
McCurry said the White House is trying to gather information on how many political contributors may have flown on Air Force One. He says so far they do not have details on "who and when." He says he "knows it happened on occasion" -- but claims it was "always at the expense of the people who were flying." There also were occasions, he says, when contributors were included in delegations.
As for the president's mood during all of this questioning about fund-raising, McCurry says Clinton is working hard on things he was elected to do and "has a proper level of concern about some of these allegations but he has absolutely no pre-occupation with these matters."
McCurry denied the White House is "engulfed" in questions, but said the president is aware that every time he appears before the media he faces questions on the subject. He said he wouldn't go so far as to say the president is "relaxed" because "he [the president] understands that there are questions here that have to be addressed and changes that have to be made in the law and practices that we've had here. So he doesn't treat the matter lightly but at the same time I think he's not going to allow himself to be pre-occupied by it."