It benefited the gubernatorial campaign of Virginia Lt. Gov. Don Beyer. The Justice Department declined to say what prompted Reno to direct her campaign task force to begin the review. Federal candidates are restricted in how much they can raise in hard money - funds solicited from individuals and political action committees for specific federal election campaigns. In the case of soft money, however, political parties can raise vast sums of money for party building and other general campaign activities. Indeed, the Democratic Party's use of the White House to raise soft money has been a central focus of the fund-raising scandal.
Federal law prohibits soliciting campaign funds on federal property.
However, while holding off demands for a special prosecutor from Republicans and election law reformers, Reno has maintained that soft money is not regulated by the Federal Election Campaign Act. Over the years, the Justice Department has concluded that the law does not apply to soft money donations. In telephone calls from his office, Gore solicited funds from at least 46 donors in 1995 and 1996. Both the White House and the DNC said Gore did not ask for any hard money contributions and was not aware that any of the funds he solicited had ended up in the hard money account. The DNC said it had shifted the funds into its hard money account without informing the vice president or the donors.