Today's Special
What's so special about special prosecutors these days? USA Today and
the Los
Angeles Times lead with Janet Reno's decision to ask that one be
appointed to investigate if Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt's decision to
reject a casino application opposed by major Democratic party contributors had
any connection to subsequent donations they made. The New York Times
leads with Kenneth Starr's unprecedented subpoenaing of members of President
Clinton's Secret Service detail. The Washington Post goes with the revelation that U.N. weapons
inspectors have uncovered evidence that in 1995 Russia had agreed to sell Iraq
sophisticated equipment that could be used to develop biological weapons. This
disclosure, says the WP , puts a new spin on Russia's recent diplomatic
efforts to modify the inspection procedures applying to Iraq: perhaps they are
designed, not to head off a war, but to keep such mass destruction fingerprints
from being lifted.
Our grandchildren may look back at this as the year when the branch of the
Cabinet known as Special Prosecutions started on its way to becoming the
largest single entity in the federal government (Motto: "The Purpose of
Government is to Investigate Government"). USAT and the NYT (in
its front-page piece) note this is Reno's fourth request for a special
prosecutor looking into a Clinton Cabinet officer and the Times adds
it's the sixth one appointed overall during the Clinton administration. The
Times goes on to observe that this is the first Clinton-era outside
inquiry into political fund-raising. (You'll recall Reno declined to go the
special prosecutor route over Clinton-Gore coffees and phone calls.)
The papers all emphasize, however, that Reno's request is "very narrow in
scope" (the NYT 's words). And the LAT says any subsequent
broadening of this mandate would be "unusual." Hmmm.perhaps someone should
check this with that key figure in 1970s Arkansas real estate deals, Monica
Lewinsky.
Starr's move on the Secret Service raises novel arguments. Agents have
testified before (most famously about the Watergate taping system), but never
about what they saw or heard the president do. As a WP editorial points
out, the agents are law enforcement officers and so shouldn't be any more
silent about illegal activities than say, an Arkansas state trooper. But on the
other hand, the NYT points out that the Secret Service argues that if a
president physically distances himself from his protective detail out of fears
for his confidentiality, security is compromised.
More Monica news: Marcia Lewis' second day of grand jury testimony ended
abruptly, says the NYT , when she became physically and emotionally
unable to continue. She's expected back today. Her daughter will nestle into
that pre-warmed hot seat early next week.
The USAT front carries word that the EPA is considering requiring
local water systems to issue reports on the chemical contents of their water to
consumers. The story also makes the LAT and WP , which reports
that the FDA is considering requiring similar labeling on bottled water. This
is key: without the ability to know what's in tap water alternatives, knowing
what's in tap water isn't worth much.
A Wall Street Journal "Politics and Policy" piece on
the post-affirmative action drive to do away with SATs as a college admissions
tool reports that after the Texas legislature passed a law that in effect
replaced SAT scores with high school class rank, Texas A & M University
found that some high schools are reporting that 25 percent of their students
are in the top 10 percent of the class.
A letter to the editor in the NYT points out there was
something odd in the recent Times charge in an editorial that President
Clinton can't prove his sweeping assertion that Kenneth Starr has illegally
leaked grand jury testimony. The writer notes that the Times could help
in this regard, since it has run stories apparently benefiting from leaked
information relating to grand jury testimony. But although the topic is
important enough for a NYT editorial, don't look for any Times
news stories to really dig into such leaks, as they are the lifeblood of the
paper's scandal coverage.
Readers are asked at this point to observe a moment of silence. After
yesterday's nee-saying debacle, TP's eighth-grade French teacher, Mme. Teller,
hung herself.
