Inquiry law futile, Starr tells senators

PATRICK HOWE
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

WASHINGTON -- As several senators shook their heads in disbelief, independent counsel Kenneth Starr administered what may prove to be a lethal injection to the Independent Counsel Act on Wednesday by declaring the law unworthy of renewal even as he defended his own investigation.
Starr told members of Sen. Fred Thompson's Governmental Reform Committee that the act that has kept him at work investigating President Clinton and others for nearly five years is unworkable because the structure invites political attacks and creates a "carnivallike" atmosphere.
Several senators said they were surprised by his position.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Starr, you were as guilty as any independent counsel of abusing it," said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.
Durbin and Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., each questioned whether Starr should be allowed to continue his investigation in light of his stance. "If it's as bad as you say it is, maybe we ought to abrogate it now," Specter said. Starr replied, "I think that's unwise."
The law is to expire June 30, but Starr's investigation would go on unimpeded. Starr's opinion on the matter, which he said he has held for years, puts him solidly in the camp of Attorney General Janet Reno and several former attorneys general who have testified against renewing the law in recent months.
Several senators, however, expressed disappointment with Starr's position. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., said, "I do not believe the law is fatally flawed," though he said Starr's tenure "illuminates the need for some substantial reforms."
Thompson, R-Tenn., who praised Starr for his record to date and for having "weathered withering attacks," said he is withholding judgment on renewing the law. "I'm going to take a little time and work through this," he said.
Congress is considered likely to allow the law to expire this summer although members could renew it later. In absence of an independent-counsel law, authority to investigate wrongdoing by high administration officials would fall to the Justice Department, just as it did before the law was enacted in 1978.
Some Democrats on the panel took the opportunity of Starr's appearance to taunt him on his failure to convict Susan McDougal this week. They said the loss is evidence that Starr overstepped his bounds.
"I don't believe the jurors in Little Rock think Susan McDougal did not commit civil contempt," said Sen. Robert Torricelli , D-N.J. "I think 12 ordinary Americans finally took a stand and said, 'No. Enough. Better that the guilty should go free than that the government should operate with excessive power.' "
Starr reacted testily to the McDougal allegations but acknowledged that he became a factor in the trial. "The assaults took a toll," he said of criticism of him. "The impact on public attitudes was unmistakable, as the comments of potential jurors in the Susan McDougal trial demonstrated."
Torricelli also blasted Starr for what he said was inhumane treatment of McDougal during her stay in jail. But Starr dismissed those allegations.
"She had the keys to her own confinement," Starr said, adding that by testifying she would have been free. "The story you're telling is the stuff of theater that is ungrounded in fact."
Starr said he had no control over how McDougal was treated in prison. "I have just as much power over the United States Marshals Service as I do over our forces in Europe."
Amid the sniping, however, Starr pointed proudly to his record of convictions, especially that of Arkansas Gov. Jim Guy Tucker.
He also told the senators that he believes he has the authority to prosecute Clinton after the president leaves office. But he said he will not predict how long the investigation will go on.
Pressed on his record, Starr said he has only a few regrets.
He said he wished that when he issued his salacious report to the House of Representatives that he was "much more emphatic in saying treat the material cautiously in light of the nature of the material. I don't think I did enough."
He also said it might have been better politically if he hadn't expanded his investigation into such matters as the White House travel office firings and the mishandling of FBI files.
Asked whether his aides conducting the investigation have ever done anything unethical, he said, "I can't say never." Starr has had troubles, including the resignation of his spokesman after leaks from the office were reported to the news media. The Justice Department is currently reviewing several matters related to Starr's conduct.
For the most part, however, Starr steadfastly defended his actions in a variety of cases that have attracted criticism. Starr also praised Reno for generally providing resources to Starr's investigation but offered one subtle dig for Reno's not standing by him during administration criticism.
"If the attacks come, then the attorney general has the solemn weight and responsibility to rally quickly to the side of the independent counsel and to say, 'Call off the attack dogs and do it now.' "

This article was published on Thursday, April 15, 1999

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