According to Mr. Farah, Gore attended a Houston dinner in November, 1995, to curry favor with some hotshot trial lawyers. It seems the “...lawyers were deeply troubled by a bill passed by the Republican-led Congress which would have drastically restricted the amount of money that people injured by faulty products could win in lawsuits. Two days after the dinner, Democratic national officials asked Gore to call several lawyers who attended the dinner to ask each of them to donate $100,000 to the Democrats.”

Donald L. Fowler, then chairman of the Democratic National Committe was asked two weeks later to call Walter Umphrey, prominent plaintiff’s lawyer in Beaumont. On the briefing memorandum for the Fowler call, a Democratic Party official wrote these words for Fowler to use as a ‘script’ when talking with Umphrey: “Sorry you missed the vice president. “I know” you “will give $100K when the president vetoes tort reform, but we really need it now. Please send ASAP if possible.”

Still according to Mr Farah, such call sheets (scripts) would at least try to avoid mentioning specific executive brand actions or donors’ legislative wishes. It’s against the law as it is solicitation of a bribe. Soliciting contributions and explicitly linking campaign donation to official actions is illegal.

Having written many articles concerning soft money contributions, I feel quite strongly that if impeachment is the proper action to take against Gore (I am not in favor of Gore for president or any other public office), then this should be extended to nearly every politician in Washington, every State capitol, and quite possibly every political subdivision in every state.

Why? Well, being as I am, I looked up “Bribe” to make sure the meaning hadn’t changed since my last piece on funding reform. According to American Heritage Dictionary, 4th Edition (2000), the word “bribe” means:

“1. Something, such as money or a favor, offered or given to a person in a position of trust to influence that person’s views or conduct. 2. Something serving to influence or persuade.”

The dictionary in my computer lists these synonyms: buy, grease, corrupt, buy off, fix, and entice.

What I have not been able to find is any source that states an inducement must be written down in order to classify as a “bribe”. As a matter of fact and logic (which seemingly is extremely neglected in the nation’s capitol), one would have to be a fool to write down a bribe.

So, maybe those involved with the memo soliciting funds are fools. That doesn’t surprise me. But, then again, there is ‘plausible deniability’, including Gore denying any knowledge of the memo or the phone call since it wasn’t written by him and since he apparently did not make phone calls using the script.

So, let’s be practical about this. Companies and other high dollar contributors do not contribute the huge funds they do with any other purpose in mind EXCEPT to influence those in power.

Contributions are meant to induce, to entice, and serve to influence or persuade. Those giving the huge contributions expect to and do ‘buy off’ the politicians or party donated to.

Get real. Why would any person or organization contribute millions if not to influence? They expect the party or person targeted by the contribution to pass legislation negatively affecting their business or interest? I don’t think so.

You may pick around it all you want but every campaign funding function is a means of conducting a mass bribe. The functions’ only goal is to convince potential contributors the person or party holding the function will propose and/or pass legislation meant to favor the participants. That is the fact.

Therefore, if Gore should be impeached, all who have contributed huge sums of money and perks should also be convicted for offering a bribe, 'attempting to bribe a public official. And, the party accepting the contribution (bribe) should be prosecuted for accepting the bribe.

It does not matter if the act is written down or not. The fact is a bribe is a bribe whether spoken or written.

If Washington and the government is to reform campaign funding, then let us begin with impeaching every public official who has accepted financial help in campaigning through the use of ‘soft’ (and hard, come to think of it) money contributions.

I will wager there are dozens, maybe hundreds, of bills that have been passed and made into law that favor, for example, major industries or other special interest groups over the welfare of the people in this nation. For example, have any favored the petroleum industry? Of course. How about the tobacco industry? Of course.

Thus, if the system is to be cleaned up with graft and corruption prevented from occurring. then let us begin with Gore - and, end with the rest of those who have been influenced legislatively by huge money contributors or perks.