ASHINGTON - Al Gore praised the chairman of his presidential campaign yesterday, saying that Tony Coelho was doing ''a terrific job'' and would continue to do so despite a criminal investigation of some of his financial dealings.
Coelho, a former Democratic congressman from California who was tapped to bring discipline to the vice president's foundering campaign last year, is the subject of a State Department investigation for financial transactions he made in 1998 as head of the US exhibition at the World's Fair in Portugal.
Stanley Brand, Coelho's lawyer, confirmed the inquiry and said his client was cooperating with the State Department's Office of Inspector General, which is conducting the investigation under the auspices of the Justice Department's Office of Public Integrity.
''This is old news,'' Brand said. ''This has been going on continuously since March last year. No one's been called to testify before a grand jury as far as I know.''
The allegations surfaced in October when the findings of an audit by the State Department's inspector general were reported. The audit allegedly found that Coelho had spent lavishly, approved ''questionable payments'' to contractors, and mixed government and private business dealings.
Brand said there was nothing new in the allegations that went beyond what emerged in that audit and in a report by the Center for Public Integrity.
Gore, at a campaign stop in Macomb, Mich., defended Coelho. ''Tony Coelho is doing a terrific job day after day. He will continue to do a terrific job,'' the vice president said.
The Washington Post reported yesterday that one transaction under investigation was a $300,000 loan from a Portuguese bank that was guaranteed by Coelho and used to build an 80-by-60-foot stainless steel wall sculpture near the American pavilion, the Post said.
The loan at one point had been carried on the books of the US pavilion as a liability, according to last year's audit report. Coelho ultimately repaid much of the loan.
