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Gore comes under fire for his position on Elian

WASHINGTON: Vice President Al Gore found himself in a political firestorm on Friday for backing efforts to give 6-year-old Cuban shipwreck survivor Elian Gonzalez permanent U.S. resident status.

While the White House said that President Bill Clinton was not angry with Gore for breaking with him on Elian's legal case, Democrats as well as Republicans charged that Gore was motivated more by his own interests than those of the boy.

"I'm disappointed," Representative Charles Rangel, a New York Democrat, said. "In my opinion, it is purely political."

Representative Maxine Waters, a California Democrat who wants Gore to back off, had a private conservation with him a day after threatening to drop her endorsement of his White House bid.

Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush challenged Gore to push further on behalf of efforts to let Elian stay in the United States and out of the hands of Cuban President Fidel Castro.

"I hope the vice president has enough influence to sway the president," said Bush, the Texas governor. "It will be an interesting test."

Gore on Thursday endorsed pending legislation on Capitol Hill that would give permanent U.S. resident status to the boy, who was plucked from the Atlantic Ocean last November, triggering a tug of war between competing interests in the United States and Cuba.

The bill would also give permanent resident status to the boy's father and other family members now living in Cuba.

In addition, the measure would transfer the youngster's legal case from the Immigration and Naturalisation Service, which favours returning him to his father in Cuba, to a Florida family court. If the father won custody in family court, he could return Elian to Cuba.

Gore spokesman Doug Hattaway said the vice president, in backing the bill, was driven not by politics but by a desire to see the case decided in court, based on "what is in the best interest of the boy."

Noting that Gore first staked out this position last January, Hattaway said, "He has held these goals from the beginning, and supporting this legislation is a means of reaching those goals."

On Capitol Hill, Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle said it was unclear if Gore's support of legislation would help the now-stalled measure win congressional approval.

Daschle said it was also uncertain if the vice president's surprise move would help him win the White House this November.

"Time will tell if it was shrewd or not," Daschle told reporters. "I think the question is what was the right thing to do in public policy."

"There are two competing positions," Daschle said. "He has chosen one. Many of us have chosen another. But I respect his position, even though I disagree with it."

In a letter to Gore, Representative Jose Serrano, a New York Democrat, wrote, "If you believe Elian and his family deserve special treatment, do you also advocate giving the same status to the nearly 7 million undocumented aliens in this country?"

The fate of the boy has been a highly charged issue in Miami's 800,000-member Cuban-American community since he was rescued from sea after the boat he and his mother were in sank. His mother died, and Elian was taken in by relatives in Miami."Gore's statement (of endorsement) was definitely aimed at preserving his electoral viability in Florida," said Susan MacManus, a political scientist at the University of South Florida.

Gore backed the legislation a day after Clinton pleaded for the case to be kept out of the political arena.

Regardless, White House spokesman Jake Siewert said on Friday, "I don't think that president was angry at all" with the vice president.

"We've said for some time that the president and the vice president would occasionally differ on issues, particularly as the vice president makes his views known as he begins to run for the presidency," Siewert said.

Sens. Bob Smith, a New Hampshire Republican, and Bob Graham, a Florida Democrat, chief sponsors of the Elian legislation, sent an open letter to Gore on Friday asking him to help rally support for the measure on Capitol Hill. Graham has been mentioned as Gore's possible vice-presidential running mate.

So far the bill has not attracted much support. Republicans are split on it. Most Democrats oppose it.-Reuters