ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, February 24, 1997 TAG: 9702240124
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
Whitewater independent counsel Kenneth Starr has completed a report that sources say refutes claims by right-wing organizations that presidential aide Vincent Foster was murdered and that President Clinton and his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, tried to cover it up.
Running to more than 100 pages, the report rests on an exhaustive inquiry into the events surrounding Foster's July 1993 death by handgun, and was completed only recently, sources said.
``It is accurate and fulsome, and I believe it will be released shortly,'' one source said. ``It puts the lie to that bunch of nuts out there spinning conspiracy theories and talking about murder and cover-ups.''
Starr's probe marks the third examination of Foster's death. Earlier findings of suicide were returned by a coroner and by Robert Fiske, Starr's predecessor as independent counsel, but right-wing political groups have continued to allege that the president and first lady were implicated in Foster's death.
Foster, who served as deputy White House counsel, was a close friend of both Clintons and a former law partner of Hillary Clinton. Among his other duties, he had helped prepare the tax returns of the Whitewater Development Corp., the Arkansas real estate venture involving the Clintons.
Starr has not indicated when he might release the report.
How to deal with the Foster report is one of the first decisions facing Starr as he addresses the larger challenge of restoring confidence in his investigation after the furor that erupted last week when he announced he would step down as Whitewater counsel to take an academic post, then abruptly reversed his decision when it provoked a torrent of criticism.
His handling of the probe into Foster's death is especially sensitive because it is shadowed by questions of appearances of the sort that continually have dogged Starr, a former federal appeals court judge and solicitor general in the Bush administration, since he accepted the Whitewater assignment 21/2 years ago.
The idea that Foster's death involved foul play and that the Clintons were involved in such a crime has been promoted by right-wing groups that receive financial assistance from a foundation headed by Richard Mellon Scaife, a longtime member of the Board of Regents of Pepperdine University. It was in order to become dean of Pepperdine's law school that Starr originally decided to quit the Whitewater probe.
In addition to leading the law school, Starr was named dean of a newly created School of Public Policy that Scaife helped finance. Scaife's foundation contributed $1.1million of the $2.75million in start-up funds raised to launch the public-policy institution.
Starr said Friday that he was aware the Scaife Foundation had provided the money, but he indicated he saw no conflict of interest even though the foundation has financed organizations that have used mass media to promote theories about criminal conspiracies allegedly involving the Clintons.
LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Foster. color.by CNB