ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, December 2, 1995 TAG: 9512040044
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-2 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
A federal independent counsel has exonerated Bush administration officials investigated in the 1992 campaign-season search of Bill Clinton's passport files, and issued an extraordinary apology to them.
``The State Department mishandled the Clinton passport matter at virtually every step,'' said independent counsel Joseph diGenova, capping a three-year, $2.2 million investigation.
DiGenova said while some of the actions investigated were ``stupid, dumb and partisan,'' they were not criminal. He said the case should never have been referred for prosecution and lashed out at Sherman Funk, former State Department inspector general, for the sloppiness of his staff.
Those caught up in the investigation lived under a legal cloud for three years, suffered emotional stress because of the threat of criminal action, incurred huge legal bills and had trouble finding work.
DiGenova said the independent counsel law under which he was appointed - which has led to four investigations of the Clinton administration - is vastly overused and should be reserved for cases where there is ``a threat to the structure of government.''
Janet Mullins, the probe's primary target, was White House political director in 1992 when unfounded rumors surfaced that Clinton while in college had sought information on how to renounce his U.S. citizenship.
DiGenova found that administration officials who expedited news media requests for information - including President Bush's chief of staff, James Baker - knew such information could help Bush's re-election campaign. They rushed to pull Clinton's file from a federal record center, but it contained nothing to back up the rumors.
Funk has said he had ``no choice'' about whether to refer the matter to the Justice Department.
Also involved in the passport search were Smyth County, Va., native Steven Berry, the State Department's liaison with Congress; Elizabeth Tamposi, assistant secretary for consular affairs; Margaret Tutwiler, Baker's deputy at the White House; and several lower-level State Department officials.
Also pending is a $3 million civil lawsuit filed by Berry, now an aide to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Berry alleges that State Department officials illegally monitored his telephone calls and damaged his reputation.
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