THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 17, 1995 TAG: 9503170023
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A20 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 52 lines
According to the White House, Henry Cisneros called the president and offered to resign. ``I don't want to do anything that would hurt you,'' the Housing and Urban Development secretary said to Clinton. But he's too late to avoid that.
Foolishly, the resignation was not accepted. So Cisneros will stay on to defend himself and lead HUD. But he can't do both effectively. He ill-serves the president and his country by staying. He ought to go.
The issue is an FBI interview in which Cisneros apparently misrepresented his dealings with Linda Medlar. She was his mistress when he was a star mayor of San Antonio. When the relationship was revealed, it cost him the mayor's job and ruined a bright political future.
Now it seems Cisneros misled the FBI in a screening interview for the HUD job about how much he paid Medlar after their liaison ended. He told the investigators no more than $10,000 a year. The actual figure may have been as high as $60,000.
It can be argued that this is a private matter that doesn't affect Cisneros' job performance and ought to be nobody's business. Some might even say that if Cisneros understated the embarrassing facts to the FBI, that is understandable and ought not to be a firing offense.
Cisneros isn't arguing he's blameless, but relies on the legalistic quibble that his failure to fully inform the FBI does not constitute ``criminal wrongdoing.'' Maybe so, maybe not. But in the real world, Cisneros is damaged goods.
The matter is no longer private. His continuation in office will hurt the president. The ongoing investigation by a special counsel will distract attention from substance and constitute yet another ring in the Clinton administration's multi-ring ethics circus.
When presidential appointees become a liability, they owe it to the boss to resign quickly and quietly. It's what Ed Meese should have done. It's what Bert Lance should have done. It's what Cisneros should do.
Instead, appointees try to cling to power. They merely muddy their names further and give the opposition an easy target. They turn their service into disservice. Their fights to clear themselves ought to take place where they won't be a daily negative for an administration. It may not be fair, but that's the way life works in the big city. Hang it up, Henry. ILLUSTRATION: HENRY CISNEROS
by CNB