PAPER FINDS NO EVIDENCE GORE OFTEN SMOKED POT

CAMPAIGN 2000

Editors At The Tennessean Found Themselves In A Ticklish Situation

Late last week: what to do about unproven allegations of widespread
marijuana use by Vice President Al Gore when he worked at the Nashville
newspaper in the early 1970s.

Their decision: Talk to everybody they could find who worked at the
newspaper with Gore and then write about it. The Tennessean interviewed 36
journalists and then published three stories Tuesday, one of them on Page
1A. The four-day investigation concluded there's no evidence of rampant
drug use by Gore.

Even a longtime critic said the newspaper succeeded in showing it can be
fair to native son Gore while not appearing to show him any favoritism.

"They did a great job," said Bruce Dobie, editor of the Nashville Scene
alternative weekly.

Reader reaction was mixed Tuesday, said David Green, the newspaper's
managing editor. Some of the dozen people who contacted The Tennessean said
they agreed with the paper's approach. Others questioned the timing of the
story, which was published the day after Gore won the Iowa caucuses. Still,
others thought the story should have run last week, when the drug
allegations first surfaced on the Internet.

The allegations, revealed on a Web site devoted to the reform of drug laws,
concern John C. Warnecke Jr., a newsroom employee at The Tennessean from
1968 to '71. Gore worked there in 1971-74 and 1975-76, leaving to run for
Congress.

Warnecke said he and Gore were good friends until 1976, during which time
they smoked marijuana more than 200 times. He also claims Gore pressured
him to "stonewall the press" about it when he ran for president in 1988.

Gore has admitted since 1987, when the issue first surfaced, to "infrequent
and rare" marijuana use that ended in 1972. When asked by a reporter last
week whether he smoked marijuana on a daily basis after his return from
Vietnam in May 1971, as Warnecke claims, Gore answered, "No. When I came
back from Vietnam, yes, but not to that extent."

Gore campaign officials say they will have no further comment.

The Tennessean's probe found only one journalist of the 36 interviewed who
said he saw Gore smoke marijuana. Several others, including Tennessean
Editor Frank Sutherland, declined to comment.

Ken Jost, who worked at the newspaper in 1970-76 and then as a Gore aide
from 1977 to '80 and in Gore's 1988 presidential bid, said he witnessed
occasional marijuana use, all before 1974.

"It was not regularly," Jost said Tuesday from Washington, where he works
for Congressional Quarterly.

Sutherland, a Gore friend for more than 30 years, came under some criticism
for declining to comment in his own newspaper's investigation.

"If Al Gore wants to talk about his private life, that's fine," Sutherland
told the newspaper. "But I'm not going to talk about my private life.
That's nobody's business."

The Nashville Scene's Dobie questioned Sutherland's continuing friendship
with Gore.

"Frank Sutherland has to decide whether he's a friend of the vice president
or a professional journalist honest with his craft," Dobie said. "It's
difficult to maintain both of these positions at once, which is what he's
trying to do."

Sutherland acknowledged Tuesday it is difficult to balance both interests.
But he maintains he's done a good job.

"I challenge you to compare our coverage with any other newspaper in
Tennessee," Sutherland said.

Warnecke has an unlisted number in northern California and could not be
reached for comment.

But some of his former colleagues questioned Warnecke's account.

"Warnecke is not credible," said Wendell "Sonny" Rawls, a former Atlanta
Journal-Constitution news executive who worked at The Tennessean from 1967
to '71.

Warnecke told The Tennessean he came forth to clear his conscience for
lying about the matter in 1987. According to The Tennessean, Warnecke is
now living on disability payments for depression. He said his therapist
urged him to come clean.

"I lied as a former reporter and I want to straighten it out," Warnecke was
quoted as saying.