Spokesman denies illegality.
The Clinton administration, acting at the direction of the president and first lady, created a massive computer data system with federal funds in 1994 to keep tabs on as many as 350,000 people, including large political donors, Democratic campaign workers and visitors to the White House. Internal documents reveal that the White House issued guidelines and legal opinions advising that the system could be used only for official government purposes. But the White House staff frequently retrieved data on large political contributors and turned it over to the Democratic National Committee to help raise money for the president's reelection, interviews show. But federal laws prohibit the administration from providing such data to a nongovernment organization, particularly a political committee such as the Democratic Party, for partisan purposes. White House spokesman Barry Toiv said that the computer system serves as an electronic social calendar by storing lists of people who have been invited to presidential events or received holiday cards from the first family.