Time: Fri Aug 22 14:02:49 1997 by usr03.primenet.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id LAA12346; Fri, 22 Aug 1997 11:10:49 -0700 (MST) Date: Fri, 22 Aug 1997 11:09:21 -0700 To: (Recipient list suppressed) From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar] Subject: SLS: Trouble for Clintonites, for Real <snip> > >New York Daily News >August 22, 1997 > >Trouble For Clintonites, For Real > >WASHINGTON > >California businessman Johnny Chung has a $25,000 check >and a story that could put members of the Clinton >administration in jail. > >Chung wrote the check, he says, to obtain a meeting >with former Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary. An Energy >Department official collected it. Chung met O'Leary. > >Instantly we have moved beyond the hazy charges and >righteous denials about whether the Clinton administration >unethically raised campaign contributions. > >This is not even a campaign finance issue, with its >hairsplitting distinctions that allow politicians to >argue they have broken no laws as they pocket checks >without limit. > >"You don't need to know anything about 'soft money' >and why it's different from 'hard money,' " says a >Republican congressional staffer. "This is very simple. >It's bribery to get access." > >Chung told NBC's Tom Brockaw he made out the check to >Africare, one of O'Leary's favorite charities, at the >suggestion of a lobbyist and an Energy Department >official. > >In addition, he said, the official who picked up the >check also collected an official fax that had been >improperly sent. > >"That's possible obstruction of justice," says Rep. >Gerald Solomon (R-N.Y.), who demanded yesterday >that an independent counsel investigate O'Leary - >and by extension all the Clinton administration's >fund-raising practices. > >Solomon is so sure the Republicans at last have a >solid case against the Clinton administration that >he is willing to make a stunning deal. > >"I would go so far as to close down the House and >Senate investigations [headed by Republican Rep. >Dan Burton of Indiana and Republican Sen. Fred >Thompson of Tennessee] if Janet Reno agrees to >an independent counsel," he said. > >"The two congressional committees are tainted by >partisan politics. An independent counsel would be >least partisan of all." > >Not necessarily. Kenneth Starr, the bumbling Whitewater >investigator, has given independent counsels a bad name. > >Just last month, Federal Judge Thomas Eisele, a Republican >appointee, wrote in a scathing analysis of Starr's intention >to work for a school funded by right-wing financier Richard >Mellon Scaife: "It is difficult to argue that Mr. Starr is >not laboring under at least an appearance of conflict." > >But what Solomon wants is another counsel named by the >same three-judge panel that selected Starr. > >That panel is headed by Judge David Sentelle, a Republican >appointee with a weird definition of independent: "Independence . . . >has always been universally understood as independence from >the administration under investigation, not independence >from the entire American political system." > >Under Sentelle's definition, an "independent" counsel could be >a Republican hatchet man, so long as he was independent of the >Democrats he investigated. > >But Starr's plight shows the dangers of the partisan approach. >Anything he does against the Clintons can be dismissed as >partisanship; any failure to mprosecute is magnified into a >cleaner bill of health than they deserve. > >The Clinton administration has managed to elude its pursuers >for so long because its opponents have constantly overplayed >their hand. They have tried to make major-league cases out >of the bush-league transgressions of Whitewater, the White >House travel office, personnel files - even the Lincoln >Bedroom. > >Now Johnny Chung has handed them evidence they can take to >court. > >All the Republicans have to do is play this one perfectly >straight. Let the Justice Department prosecute. > <snip> ======================================================================== Paul Andrew Mitchell : Counselor at Law, federal witness B.A., Political Science, UCLA; M.S., Public Administration, U.C. Irvine tel: (520) 320-1514: machine; fax: (520) 320-1256: 24-hour/day-night email: [address in tool bar] : using Eudora Pro 3.0.3 on 586 CPU website: http://www.supremelaw.com : visit the Supreme Law Library now ship to: c/o 2509 N. Campbell, #1776 : this is free speech, at its best Tucson, Arizona state : state zone, not the federal zone Postal Zone 85719/tdc : USPS delays first class w/o this As agents of the Most High, we came here to establish justice. We shall not leave, until our mission is accomplished and justice reigns eternal. ======================================================================== [This text formatted on-screen in Courier 11, non-proportional spacing.]
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