ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, February 26, 1997 TAG: 9702260041
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-9 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Cal Thomas
SOURCE: CAL THOMAS
IT TAKES a big man to admit he made a mistake, and Whitewater independent counsel Kenneth Starr showed how big he is by doing something rare in the highly charged atmosphere in which he works.
Just four days after announcing he was going to head Pepperdine University's law school, Starr called a news conference to say he had changed his mind and admit he made a mistake in misreading his responsibility to see the Whitewater and related cases through to the end.
``My commitment is to the American people and to the pursuit of the truth, and I will seek to fulfill that commitment to the best of my ability and for as long as it takes,'' Starr said. ``I deeply regret any action on my part that may have called that commitment into question.''
Contrast this with President Clinton's explanation for the Chinese who contributed a fortune to his campaign. The president says unspecified ``mistakes'' were made by unspecified people, and now that he sees the unspecified light (having achieved the desired ends to which all of that money provided the means), he now virtuously desires ``campaign reform'' and he intends to deliver the Republicans along with his own party from the political equivalent of ``Mr. Booze.''
Starr's decision to stay is bad news for the White House and for James Carville, who may try to fire up his pack of attack dogs, but will now have a more difficult time in the face of Starr's blatant honesty. When it comes to defending Clinton, Carville has only half of Starr's qualities. He is blatant.
While the public may have found it difficult to follow the many facets of Whitewater, they are sure to get the picture as more revelations emerge about the alleged influence-buying of foreign nationals. In the past few days, Rep. Dan Burton, chairman of the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee, has threatened to bring contempt-of-Congress charges against former administration officials John Huang and Webster Hubbell if they continue to ignore subpoenas for documents relating to foreign campaign donations. Energy Secretary Hazel ``frequent flier'' O'Leary is reported by the New York Post to have met privately with the head of China's state-run petrochemical company through the efforts of a Democratic Party donor described by White House aides as a ``hustler.''
Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau has given federal prosecutors evidence that a Venezuelan banking family might have illegally funneled campaign contributions to the Democratic Party during the 1992 election.
A sign that things are heating up for the Clintons is their interest in joint photo-ops with schoolchildren, the money being returned by the Democratic National Committee to ``improper'' or ``unverifiable sources,'' and the first call by a leading Democrat, New York Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, for a special counsel to probe the Orient express of DNC cash.
Meanwhile, publisher and former presidential candidate Steve Forbes is borrowing from the Democrats' 1995 playbook when they ran off-year ads attacking Republicans. Forbes is buying radio ads in Washington this week attacking the president for allowing his campaign to receive foreign contributions.
The Republican strategy of largely lying low since the election is paying off. The mainstream press is being forced to investigate and publicize the campaign-donor story. The New York Times reported last Saturday the latest player to become public. He is California entrepreneur Johnny Chien Chuen Chung, who donated $391,000 to the Democratic Party since mid-1994 and has visited the White House 50 times, often with foreigners like a Chinese beer executive whose picture with the Clintons is being used to sell his brand of suds back home.
Ken Starr has turned out to be the biggest man not on campus. His confession was good for every soul, except those guilty of wrongdoing. Now it's time to get on with the investigation and possible indictments of the suspects, and expose the entire cast of unsavory characters who have besmirched the office of the president and are unworthy to lead this great nation.
- Los Angeles Times Syndicate
LENGTH: Medium: 77 linesby CNB