Salon | Newsreal: Starr chamber

T A B L E+T A L K
Should prostitution be legalized? Join the debate in the Social Issues area of Table Talk

D A I L Y+Q U O T E
Book 'em, Kenneth -- we'll find a crime later

A L S O+T O D A Y
Prosecuting -- or persecuting? -- the prosecutors
By Jonathan Broder
Fierce opponents of Kenneth Starr are now taking the fight right into the independent counsel's own office

R E C E N T L Y
Finish the job? Not in our lifetime
By Jonathan Broder
The U.S. can't "go all the way" in Iraq because, beyond Saddam Hussein, there's nowhere to go. Besides, his neighbors need to keep him around
(02/23/98)
Uncle Sam regrets ...
By Dennis Bernstein
When U.S. officials warn of "regrettable civilian casualties" resulting from a renewed bombing of Iraq, they should talk to Rema al-Attar
(02/23/98)
Salon exclusive: The terror at home
By Jeff Stein
The arrest of two men in Las Vegas on charges of carrying stocks of the anthrax bacteria highlights how easy it is to make weapons of mass destruction
(02/20/98)
Bigger than the pope
By Andrew Jennings
When the Olympics president says, "Come unto me," the local Catholic priests say, "How fast?"
(02/19/98)
Not over the hill
By Eve Pell
While the TV cameras at Nagano focus on the young, athletes 40 and over -- including some in their 90s -- are a growing presence on tracks and fields everywhere
(02/18/98)
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STARR CHAMBER | PAGE 3 OF 3
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On Aug. 5, 1994, in a move that would bury the charges against Lewis, a Republican-dominated three-judge panel removed independent counsel Fiske and replaced him with highly partisan former Bush Solicitor General Kenneth Starr. The panel had been picked by Chief Justice William Rehnquist, a Nixon appointee to the Supreme Court who was raised to its top post by Ronald Reagan.
On Aug. 12, the RTC put Lewis and Iorio on administrative leave. But the agency had moved too late to investigate the pair's participation in the political smearing of the Clintons. On Aug. 22, in his first official act, Starr subpoenaed the RTC's records on Lewis. On Sept. 27, he ordered the RTC to suspend its investigation of her and instead impaneled a grand jury to investigate those at the RTC who were investigating Lewis. Lewis and Iorio were reinstated at the RTC, and testified against the Clintons in November l995 Senate hearings.
In Lewis' 1995 appearance before the Senate Whitewater committee, she was confronted with her "lying bastard" letter, and then was exposed as having lied about surreptitiously tape recording the RTC lawyer. Lewis collapsed into tears, was briefly hospitalized and has since dropped from sight. Starr continues to protect her and the Bush administration by keeping under wraps the RTC investigation into her activities.
Both L. Jean Lewis' and Paula Jones' legal fees have been paid by, among others, the Landmark Legal Foundation, an ultra-conservative organization for which Starr has worked even while serving as independent counsel and which is just one of the many groups funded by a Starr benefactor, far-right millionaire Richard Mellon Scaife. The arch conservative's largesse has funded most of the purveyors of anti-Clinton propaganda, including the huge "Vincent Foster was murdered" PR blitz. (Scaife also created the position at Pepperdine University for Starr that he announced a year ago he would take.)
And, to close the triangle, Linda Tripp's lawyer also has close ties to Landmark Legal Foundation. Landmark Legal's president is Mark Levin, former chief of staff to Reagan Attorney General Edwin Meese III, who is now with the conservative Heritage Foundation in Washington.
Starr's office maintains, after three and a half years, that the Lewis case is still under investigation. But the evidence suggests that Starr has sat on the case in order to keep the Bush White House's knowledge and encouragement of Lewis' original Madison referral under wraps. Now he has done the same with Tripp. By taking over the Jones case, he has put Tripp's story and motivations and the extent of her connections to his own inquiry beyond the reach of the American people. It is all-important that Tripp's story be known.
It is equally vital to understand that Lewis' unfounded and politically inspired first criminal referral is the original basis for all the subsequent accusations, Whitewater charges, innuendoes of sleaze, hearings, subpoenas, bestselling books -- and new referrals -- that have dogged the Clinton administration ever since. That bogus referral is the foundation on which rests the now towering edifice of the Starr inquisition.
Starr's inquisition would not have been possible, however, without the misleading and selective reporting of the news media that have written the most about Whitewater. These reporters, working primarily for the Washington Post, New York Times and the New Yorker, have been thoroughly spun by Starr and his cohorts. Starr has cultivated close relationships with the press corps that cover him -- they address him reverentially as Judge Starr -- but none more so than with the Washington Post. The Post's legendary former executive editor, Benjamin Bradlee, remarked on C-SPAN last year, "In my book, Ken Starr can do no wrong; he dismissed a $2 million libel suit that had hung over the Post for seven years." In his 1995 memoir, Bradlee gratefully quotes Starr's opinion in the libel case.
The cozy relationship between Starr and the Post has been demonstrated throughout the paper's four-year coverage of Whitewater, during which the Post has been filled with grand jury and sealed document leaks from Starr's office, and has been devoid of criticism of Starr and his investigation. While Starr stands sanctimoniously at the front door of the courthouse and tells the press about the "appropriateness" and "propriety" of his investigation and dismisses Hillary Clinton's charge of his bias as "nonsense," he shovels piles of self-serving and Clinton-damaging materials out the back door to the Post and the other news organizations.
When Starr inserted himself into the Jones lawsuit with his Lewinsky investigation, the Post did not mention Starr's 1994 (and, now we know, ongoing) involvement with the Jones case until Jan. 30, nine days after the Post broke the Lewinsky story, and only then in the face of the public's criticism of Starr and its overwhelming support for Clinton.
Until 1992, Republicans had held the White House for 20 of the previous 24 years. When Clinton came to Washington, he probably didn't fully appreciate that a large, hostile and very sophisticated Nixon-Reagan-Bush government-in-exile had resentfully decamped to join their brethren in Washington law firms, PR firms, wealthy think tanks and the news media and had burrowed into the bureaucracy. They are positioned to protect their past errors and outrages from discovery and primed to do Clinton as much damage as possible. They remain in place -- waiting to take over the White House and federal bureaucracy again.
And former Bush White House Counsel C. Boyden Gray, who has "no memory" of phoning the RTC in the 11th hour of the 1992 presidential election about a criminal referral that accused Bill and Hillary Clinton of criminal wrongdoing? These days Gray is making the talk-show circuit, defending Starr's ever-expanding investigation. "I do not at all think his office is out of control," Gray wants us to know.
Feb. 24, 1998
Washington, D.C., author-journalist Mollie Dickenson is writing a book on Whitewater. Her articles have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Miami Herald and other publications. She is the author of "Thumbs Up," the biography of Reagan press secretary James Brady.

T A B L E+T A L K Should prostitution be legalized? Join the debate in the Social Issues area of Table Talk D A I L Y+Q U O T E Book 'em, Kenneth -- we'll find a crime later A L S O+T O D A Y Prosecuting -- or persecuting? -- the prosecutors By Jonathan Broder Fierce opponents of Kenneth Starr are now taking the fight right into the independent counsel's own office R E C E N T L Y Finish the job? Not in our lifetime By Jonathan Broder The U.S. can't "go all the way" in Iraq because, beyond Saddam Hussein, there's nowhere to go. Besides, his neighbors need to keep him around (02/23/98) Uncle Sam regrets ... By Dennis Bernstein When U.S. officials warn of "regrettable civilian casualties" resulting from a renewed bombing of Iraq, they should talk to Rema al-Attar (02/23/98) Salon exclusive: The terror at home By Jeff Stein The arrest of two men in Las Vegas on charges of carrying stocks of the anthrax bacteria highlights how easy it is to make weapons of mass destruction (02/20/98) Bigger than the pope By Andrew Jennings When the Olympics president says, "Come unto me," the local Catholic priests say, "How fast?" (02/19/98) Not over the hill By Eve Pell While the TV cameras at Nagano focus on the young, athletes 40 and over -- including some in their 90s -- are a growing presence on tracks and fields everywhere (02/18/98) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Browse the Newsreal Archives - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
		STARR CHAMBER \| PAGE 3 OF 3 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - On Aug. 5, 1994, in a move that would bury the charges against Lewis, a Republican-dominated three-judge panel removed independent counsel Fiske and replaced him with highly partisan former Bush Solicitor General Kenneth Starr. The panel had been picked by Chief Justice William Rehnquist, a Nixon appointee to the Supreme Court who was raised to its top post by Ronald Reagan. On Aug. 12, the RTC put Lewis and Iorio on administrative leave. But the agency had moved too late to investigate the pair's participation in the political smearing of the Clintons. On Aug. 22, in his first official act, Starr subpoenaed the RTC's records on Lewis. On Sept. 27, he ordered the RTC to suspend its investigation of her and instead impaneled a grand jury to investigate those at the RTC who were investigating Lewis. Lewis and Iorio were reinstated at the RTC, and testified against the Clintons in November l995 Senate hearings. In Lewis' 1995 appearance before the Senate Whitewater committee, she was confronted with her "lying bastard" letter, and then was exposed as having lied about surreptitiously tape recording the RTC lawyer. Lewis collapsed into tears, was briefly hospitalized and has since dropped from sight. Starr continues to protect her and the Bush administration by keeping under wraps the RTC investigation into her activities. Both L. Jean Lewis' and Paula Jones' legal fees have been paid by, among others, the Landmark Legal Foundation, an ultra-conservative organization for which Starr has worked even while serving as independent counsel and which is just one of the many groups funded by a Starr benefactor, far-right millionaire Richard Mellon Scaife. The arch conservative's largesse has funded most of the purveyors of anti-Clinton propaganda, including the huge "Vincent Foster was murdered" PR blitz. (Scaife also created the position at Pepperdine University for Starr that he announced a year ago he would take.) And, to close the triangle, Linda Tripp's lawyer also has close ties to Landmark Legal Foundation. Landmark Legal's president is Mark Levin, former chief of staff to Reagan Attorney General Edwin Meese III, who is now with the conservative Heritage Foundation in Washington. Starr's office maintains, after three and a half years, that the Lewis case is still under investigation. But the evidence suggests that Starr has sat on the case in order to keep the Bush White House's knowledge and encouragement of Lewis' original Madison referral under wraps. Now he has done the same with Tripp. By taking over the Jones case, he has put Tripp's story and motivations and the extent of her connections to his own inquiry beyond the reach of the American people. It is all-important that Tripp's story be known. It is equally vital to understand that Lewis' unfounded and politically inspired first criminal referral is the original basis for all the subsequent accusations, Whitewater charges, innuendoes of sleaze, hearings, subpoenas, bestselling books -- and new referrals -- that have dogged the Clinton administration ever since. That bogus referral is the foundation on which rests the now towering edifice of the Starr inquisition. Starr's inquisition would not have been possible, however, without the misleading and selective reporting of the news media that have written the most about Whitewater. These reporters, working primarily for the Washington Post, New York Times and the New Yorker, have been thoroughly spun by Starr and his cohorts. Starr has cultivated close relationships with the press corps that cover him -- they address him reverentially as Judge Starr -- but none more so than with the Washington Post. The Post's legendary former executive editor, Benjamin Bradlee, remarked on C-SPAN last year, "In my book, Ken Starr can do no wrong; he dismissed a $2 million libel suit that had hung over the Post for seven years." In his 1995 memoir, Bradlee gratefully quotes Starr's opinion in the libel case. The cozy relationship between Starr and the Post has been demonstrated throughout the paper's four-year coverage of Whitewater, during which the Post has been filled with grand jury and sealed document leaks from Starr's office, and has been devoid of criticism of Starr and his investigation. While Starr stands sanctimoniously at the front door of the courthouse and tells the press about the "appropriateness" and "propriety" of his investigation and dismisses Hillary Clinton's charge of his bias as "nonsense," he shovels piles of self-serving and Clinton-damaging materials out the back door to the Post and the other news organizations. When Starr inserted himself into the Jones lawsuit with his Lewinsky investigation, the Post did not mention Starr's 1994 (and, now we know, ongoing) involvement with the Jones case until Jan. 30, nine days after the Post broke the Lewinsky story, and only then in the face of the public's criticism of Starr and its overwhelming support for Clinton. Until 1992, Republicans had held the White House for 20 of the previous 24 years. When Clinton came to Washington, he probably didn't fully appreciate that a large, hostile and very sophisticated Nixon-Reagan-Bush government-in-exile had resentfully decamped to join their brethren in Washington law firms, PR firms, wealthy think tanks and the news media and had burrowed into the bureaucracy. They are positioned to protect their past errors and outrages from discovery and primed to do Clinton as much damage as possible. They remain in place -- waiting to take over the White House and federal bureaucracy again. And former Bush White House Counsel C. Boyden Gray, who has "no memory" of phoning the RTC in the 11th hour of the 1992 presidential election about a criminal referral that accused Bill and Hillary Clinton of criminal wrongdoing? These days Gray is making the talk-show circuit, defending Starr's ever-expanding investigation. "I do not at all think his office is out of control," Gray wants us to know. Feb. 24, 1998 Washington, D.C., author-journalist Mollie Dickenson is writing a book on Whitewater. Her articles have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Miami Herald and other publications. She is the author of "Thumbs Up," the biography of Reagan press secretary James Brady.