ice President Al Gore is suffering a drip torture largely - but not completely - of his own making.
In 1995 and 1996, it is clear, Gore on several occasions played fast and loose with the campaign finance laws. He made fund-raising calls from the White House, helped plan strategy for expenditures that were supposed to be independent of the Clinton-Gore campaign, and participated in the notorious Buddhist temple fund-raiser he described as ''community outreach.''
Whether any of this amounted to a serious violation of the law is an open question - one that should not be decided by the Clinton-Gore administration's own appointed attorney general.
Janet Reno should accede to the renewed request for an independent counsel in this case.
The timing is now exceptionally awkward, with the presidential election just over four months away. It is unlikely that a new counsel could be appointed, mount an investigation, and reach conclusions within that period. But the questions demand answers that can be trusted.
Reno has herself to blame for the timing. Had she appointed an independent counsel when it was first recommended by FBI Director Louis Freeh in late 1997 or even when Charles LaBella, another Justice official, renewed the advice in July 1998, the entire matter might be a closed book by now. It is ironic that the independent counsel finishing a long probe into Hillary Clinton's role in the firing of White House travel office employees announced there would be no indictment in that case just when the new call to Reno in Gore's case was revealed.
Political impact was instantaneous. Texas Governor George W. Bush jumped on the story, saying, ''People are sick and tired of all this stuff, and the best way to start anew is with a new administration.'' But Bush would be wise to proceed carefully. The unprecedented scope and manner of his own fund-raising and his weak position on campaign finance reform make him a poor poster boy on the issue.
Clinton-Gore's frenzied fund-raising helped buy a landslide in 1996. But it is mucking up Gore's effort to muddle through 2000.
