ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, November 26, 1996 TAG: 9611260084
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A6 EDITION: METRO
"I THINK we should answer whatever questions are asked. I've told everybody else to do the same thing."
If you give this statement by President Clinton much credibility, we've got a bridge to sell you.
The news the other day - that the administration for a time covered up facts relating to campaign donations from Asians - comes less as a revelation than as a confirmation: Business as usual continues in the White House.
The New York Times reports that, as the election approached, deputy White House counsel Bruce Lindsey insisted that something other than the truth be told to the American people about Clinton's conversations with Indonesian billionaire James Riady.
The public has an interest in those conversations, which took place in the Oval Office, because Riady's family and business interests raised huge sums of money for the Democratic Party's election efforts. Riady's protege, John Huang, gathered $2.5 million for the Democratic National Committee, after a stint at the Commerce Department during which he kept in touch with the Riady family's Lippo Group.
Now it's revealed that two administration lawyers urged the truth be told: that Clinton had, in his private meetings with Riady, discussed trade policy toward Indonesia and China. Yet, from Oct. 10 until the day before the election, the White House allowed to stand Lindsey's characterization of the talks as a "social visit."
The absurdity underlying this story is, of course, the system of campaign finance itself, and the delicate legal distinctions it requires. Are we to assume that special interests ever give big sums to the parties and candidates without expecting anything in return?
There is no evidence of any quid-pro-quo deals for special favors between the administration and Riady - or anyone else, for that matter. But Clinton's impulse to change stories and obfuscate, evident here as in other controversies touching on the White House, only increases public suspicion.
LENGTH: Short : 42 linesby CNB