THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, November 30, 1995 TAG: 9511300014
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 34 lines
Let me get this straight. President Clinton's Secretary of Energy Hazel O'Leary spent $46,500 of taxpayers' money on a consulting firm to evaluate news coverage of her agency and rank reporters. She was rebuked by the White House but allowed to keep her job.
President Clinton's military head of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, Adm. Richard C. Macke, makes a factual remark to a group of reporters over breakfast concerning the rape of a 12-year-old Japanese girl by three servicemen on Okinawa, to wit: The men could have hired a prostitute for the money they spent to rent a car used in abducting their victim. Admiral Macke's statement is considered inappropriate and insensitive. His apology is unacceptable, and in a sense he is fired.
Should we consider the actions taken by the White House in these two incidents to be equal and just? Does the treatment of the individuals involved indicate the president's disdain for those who wear a military uniform? Does it indicate the president's inability to discern the difference between a factual statement made by Admiral Macke and the actions of Secretary O'Leary in flagrantly wasting $46,500 of taxpayers' money? Make your own judgment. I have.
D. T. SNYDER
Chesapeake, Nov. 21, 1995 by CNB