Barbour's Chair
USA
Today leads with black--Andrew Cunanan. The Washington Post leads with white--William Brennan. The
New York Times
and Los
Angeles Times opt for gray--Haley Barbour.
Within 48 hours after the Versace murder, reports USAT , Cunanan
called someone he knew for help getting a passport. That person did not notify
the authorities at the time, but did offer the information sometime later when
the FBI contacted him. The cops are still trying to determine if any associates
of Cunanan helped hide him while he was a fugitive. Adds USAT : At the
time of the suicide, the trail was turning cold, and case investigators had
never even considered suicide as a possibility. The LAT runs its
front-page Cunanan story under a big FBI "Wanted" flier with a slash marked
"Found Dead" running across the suspected murderer's face.
The WP goes six columns across at the top, all under a banner
headline, in its coverage of the death of retired Justice Brennan, yesterday at
age 91. Brennan left his greatest mark, says the Post , as "the architect
of rulings that expanded rights of racial minorities and women; led to
reapportionment of voting districts guaranteeing the ideal of "one person, one
vote;" and enhanced First Amendment freedom for newspapers and other media."
The NYT notes that during his tenure, Brennan had signed his name to
1,360 opinions.
According to the two Times , former Republican Party chairman Barbour
was in the witness chair at the fundraising hearings to discuss a $2.1 million
loan guarantee from a Hong Kong businessman, Ambrous T. Young, to an
organization Barbour started up called the National Policy Forum. Barbour
claimed that the transaction was completely legal and just like those made by
such research outfits as the Brookings Institution and the Heritage Foundation.
The Democrats suggest it was a scheme for channeling foreign money into
Republican coffers. Barbour also testified that he didn't know the money had
come from Hong Kong. "It's hard for me to accept that you didn't know this
money was coming from Hong Kong," committee member Sen. Joseph Lieberman is
quoted as saying. "My God, you went to Hong Kong to see Mr. Young."
BTW, according to the "Washington Wire" column in today's Wall Street Journal , "A memo prepared before Barbour's trip
to China last year reminds an aide to brief him on Chinese 'protocol' including
'burping, spitting, hookers in hotel, chopsticks, gifts, etc.'"
Both the LAT and NYT are on the front page with the news that
in Dallas yesterday, a jury found the local Roman Catholic diocese liable for
$120 million in damages in connection with a sex abuse complaint brought
against a priest by 10 men and the family of another who committed suicide.
Tucked deep inside the WP is word that President Clinton's quick
recovery from his knee injury "was the result of his using a new hot tub on the
West Lawn out by the swimming pool." The device was donated to the White House
by the manufacturer, Watkins Manufacturing. It's the company's biggest--a
seven-seater that retails for $8,100--and comes with two Moto-Massagers. "Those
are," explains the Post , "the jets that go up and down your back and
make you so mellow that it's advisable not to enter budget talks for at least
two hours afterward, lest you agree to scrap capital gains taxes
altogether."
