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FEC Clears Gore Camp Over Web Address Buy

Posted on: Tuesday, 15 April 2003, 06:00 CDT

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A complaint alleging that the sale of a Gore-Lieberman Web address to Democrat Al Gore's 2000 presidential campaign for $100 amounted to an illegal campaign contribution has been dismissed by election officials.

The campaign paid the holder of the gorelieberman.com domain name, then-University of Maryland student David Jackson, fair market value for it, the Federal Election Commission said in a 6-0 decision released Tuesday.

A citizen filed a complaint with the FEC against the Gore campaign and Jackson in August 2000 alleging that the campaign paid far less than the Web address' value. The complainant argued that the Web site likely was worth thousands of dollars, more than the $1,000 individual contribution limit at that time.

The complaint said news reports have found political domain names for presidential candidates selling for thousands of dollars, suggesting the Gore site name was worth much more than $100. The commission declined to release any details about the complainant.

The Gore campaign paid Jackson $70 to cover the original domain registration fee, plus $30 as compensation for the time he spent registering the name, FEC attorneys found. That can be considered fair market value, the commission concluded.

Jackson originally offered the Gore campaign the Web address for free, but the campaign told him it had to pay for it.

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