case study in how not to do a congressional investigation and as a prime example of investigation as farce." In a May 5, 1998, letter to other Republicans on the committee, Burton admitted that "mistakes and omissions were made" in tape transcripts released to the public of phone calls made by Webster Hubbell. A committee investigator who was an advocate of releasing the tapes resigned at Burton's request. Calls for an independent counsel President Clinton's FBI Director Louis Freeh wrote in a 22-page memorandum to then Clinton's critics called of the scandal, nicknamed "Chinagate." Attorney General Janet Reno in November 1997 that "It is difficult to imagine a more compelling situation for appointing an independent counsel." In July 1998, the Justice Department's campaign finance task force head, Charles La Bella, sent a report to Janet Reno also recommending she seek an independent counsel to investigate alleged fundraising abuses by Democratic party officials. The media reported that La Bella believed there was clearly an appearance of a conflict of interest by Reno. Robert Conrad, Jr., who later became head of the task force, called on Reno in Spring 2000 to appoint an independent counsel to look into the fundraising practices of Vice President Gore. Janet Reno declined all requests: A CNN/Time poll taken in May 1998 found 58 percent of Americans felt an independent counsel should have been appointed to investigate the controversy. Thirty-three percent were opposed. The same poll found that 47 percent of Americans believed a quid pro quo existed between the Clinton administration and the PRC government. Calls for impeachment In 1997 Bob Barr and eighteen other republicans signed a resolution to impeach Bill Clinton for alleged campaign finance law violations and obstruction of congressional investigations. Anti Clinton activists collected 100,000 signatures supporting his impeachment. Criticism of investigation In addition to partisan complaints from Republicans, columnists Charles Krauthammer, William Safire, and Morton Kondracke, as well as a number of FBI agents, suggested the investigations into the fundraising controversies were willfully impeded. FBI agent Ivian Smith wrote a letter to FBI Director Freeh that expressed "a lack of confidence" in the Justice Department's attorneys regarding the fundraising investigation. He wrote: "I am convinced the team at... [the Department of Justice] leading this investigation is, at best, simply not up to the task... The impression left is the emphasis on how not to prosecute matters, not how to aggressively conduct