GORE SAYS HE DIDN'T BREAK FUND-RAISING LAW.

Byline: Robert A. Rankin Knight-Ridder Tribune News Wire

In an extraordinary appearance in the White House press room Monday, Vice President Al Gore defended his deep involvement in raising money for 1996 Democratic campaigns, but said he would never again make telephone calls soliciting donations himself.

Gore acknowledged that he had made such phone calls from his White House office ``on a few occasions.'' He emphasized that the president and vice president are specifically exempted from a federal law that prohibit solicitation of campaign donations from the White House or other government buildings.

``I never did anything that I felt was wrong, much less illegal,'' Gore stressed several times.

The federal law in question - the Hatch Act - does include the exemption that Gore based his defense upon.

However, Gore's personal solicitation of campaign contributions appears unprecedented, and has been denounced even by Democrats as unseemly.

``Undefendable,'' Sen. Robert Torricelli, D-N.J., termed it Sunday.

Gore was asked to respond to one unnamed contributor who told The Washington Post he felt like a victim of a ``shakedown'' by Gore after his telephone solicitation.

``I never, ever said or did anything that would have given rise to a feeling like that on the part of someone who was asked to support our campaign. I never did that and I never would do that,'' Gore said, repeatedly stressing how proud he is to have helped President Clinton win re-election.

Nevertheless, Gore said in the future that he would not make any calls soliciting campaign donations ``because it's aroused a great deal of concern and comment and it's not - it's not something that I want to continue if it's going to raise this kind of concern.''

Even though Gore has been highly visible as vice president, his news conference Monday was highly unusual because it focused on Gore's reputation rather than an administration initiative. The appearance clearly was intended as political damage control. The Tennessee Democrat, who has enjoyed a reputation for integrity during his eight years in the House, eight in the Senate and four as vice president, does not want to see his prospects of winning the presidency in 2000 jeopardized by the spreading controversy over Democratic fund raising.

As the spotlight shifted to Gore, pressure grew for Attorney General Janet Reno to request an independent counsel to investigate the affair.

Reno has said that a preliminary Justice Department inquiry has failed to find sufficient evidence that any senior officials covered by the independent-counsel statute may be implicated in any crime.

Jack Kemp, the Republican vice presidential candidate last year, joined the list Monday of prominent politicians calling for the appointment of an independent counsel.

``In my opinion, only an independent counsel and the Thompson committee can fully explore the - I'm going to use the word - corruption of political fund raising in America,'' Kemp told CNN, referring to the Senate investigation being led by Tennessee Republican Fred Thompson.

Joseph diGenova, a former special counsel and a Republican, said that the admitted deep involvement in the controversy of both Clinton and Gore warrants an independent counsel even if neither of them did anything illegal.

``She (Reno) keeps saying she needs specific credible evidence of crime by a covered person. That's not true. That's only one basis. The other basis is when the attorney general has personal, financial, or political conflict of interest'' compromising her ability to oversee the investigation, diGenova said.