Largent critical of administration's work against porn

Wednesday, May 3rd 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

TULSA, Okla. (AP) -- U.S. Rep. Steve Largent is hinting that a drop in the number of illegal pornography prosecutions during the Clinton administration may be because of campaign donations coming from the adult entertainment industry.

"Perhaps we need to go through some (Federal Election Commission) reports and just find out where the adult entertainment industry is contributing their campaign money," Largent, R-Okla., said Tuesday.

Largent made his comments at a news conference in Washington, D.C., with several private groups hoping to raise public awareness about pornography, sexual exploitation and violence.

He said the number of prosecutions of illegal porn had decreased by 75 percent in the past six years. Largent also pointed to the May issue of Playboy, which, he said, features a photo of President Clinton and Hugh Hefner, the magazine's founder.

"We have a Justice Department, frankly, that is very hard on Microsoft and very soft on hard-core pornography," he said, referring to the recent court case against what the government sees as Microsoft's monopolistic business practices.

Largent said 4 million males visit pornography Web sites each day in the United States, and the industry generates $7 billion per year on the Internet alone, making it the third-most- profitable industry in cyberspace.

He said two House committees are expected to hold hearings on the lack of enforcement, but he doesn't believe additional laws are needed. Instead, he said he hoped the hearings will help build pressure on the Department of Justice to enforce current laws.

"What we are asking the Justice Department to step up to the plate and do is to enforce laws in areas where this is clearly not protected speech," he said. "We are not talking about censoring anything."