March 2000 |
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Guest Editorial:
White House scandals: Owing it all to Clinton
March 12, Investors Business Daily
Al Gore cannot be happy. Just as he locks up the Democratic nomination for president, the media are finally starting to report the Clinton Administration abused power and tried to cover up what they did. The Los Angeles Times reported Friday the conclusions of Justice Department special investigator Charles Labella on the need for an independent counsel to probe Clinton/Gore for fund-raising abuses. Labbela said that Justice Department officials were intellectually dishonest in use legal can portions to avoid investigating the president and Mrs. Clinton, Al Gore and and White House aide Herald Ickes. In his report, Labbela urged attorney general Janet Reno to appoint in independent counsel, but she refused to do so. She also kept the report itself confidential, even under the threat of contempt of Congress.
This wasn't Reno's first stone wall response. In 1997 faced with Al Gore's fund-raising phone calls from the White House she said, "the allegation that the vice president may have been soliciting hard money is insubstantial and I conclude it does not provide reasonable grounds for investigation." At the very least, Reno's actions looked and smelled funny. But at worst, suggests a criminal cover up so Clinton/Gore could keep their jobs. Now Gore wants a new job. But before voters and the media give it to him they should demand to know:
- what he meant when he said he was innocent of fund-raising abuses because there was "no controlling legal authority."
- If he expects the country to believe he was ignorant of the improprieties of raising money from Buddhist nuns at their Southern California Temple.
- What he did, if anything, to discourage the White House's use of FBI files on political foes.
- Whether he knowingly participated in the White House years of independent counsel Kenneth Starr, his informant Linda Tripp, and congressional investigators.
- If he knew about White House efforts, as reported by the Washington Times, to withhold 100,000 subpoenaed email's that dealt with Monica when ski, fund-raising from Chinese agents, and FBI files.
While an aide to the First Lady took an envelope full cash from a huckster, the president was enjoying himself with a 21 yr. old intern. While the Internal Revenue Service targeted political foes with audits, operatives rifled through FBI files for dirt on opponents. While the First Lady put the Justice Department on innocent travel office employees, Defense Department officials illegally released confidential information to the media.
At times, it seemed like everything was for sale in this administration: seats on trade trips, sleep overs in the Lincoln bedroom, coffee at the White House, and get out of jail cards to corporate contributors. Gore of course is now the sole of piety, saying he has learned from his mistakes, and please pass campaign reform.
Pardon us if we have a hard time accepting this ploy. Gore has much explaining to do-if not in court, then to the American people. The Clintons won't, nor will Reno.
Letters:
1. David Gay writes;
Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2000 09:58:02 -0600
From: David H. Gay <dgay@program-works.com>
To: LANGER STEVEN C <sglanger@Oakland.edu>
Subject: Re: lastcall
LANGER STEVEN C wrote:
> "What should the Justice Dept. do with Microsoft?"
Steve,
Thinking about this over the last several months, I've
come to the
conclusion that there is a truly simple answer to this
problem. The
Federal Government and several State Governments have come
to the
conclusion that Microsoft has abused its monopoly powers.
The simple
resolution if for those governments and their agencies to
forgo any
future purchase of Microsoft products. They would not be
allowed to take
bids for anything that includes a "contribution" to
Microsoft either
directly or indirectly.
This should only effect 25% to 35% of Microsoft's market directly.
This is better than the current solution, where they say
Microsoft has
misbehaved and "Oh, by the way, we are going to throw out
all those
copies of WordPerfect and buy MS Office to replace
it..."
Dave
Ed: Interesting thought. Back in the late 80's, the
Pentagon had a rule that any OS they bought had to be POSIX
compliant - which basically meant UNIX. Along came NT and
someone at MS had the bright idea of bringing a PERL
interpreter over to NT so they could write the basic "csh"
commands in PERL. Ultimately they were converted to C and
now MS claims NT is POSIX compliant (yeah, go ahead and try
"fork" or "sys").
Quote(s) of the month:
-- Justin Phelps, my nephew at the sight of the implosion
Fix of the month:
News:
Washington;
1. March 16: Initiative 695, which was passed by the voters last Nov. and said that car tabs should be based on a flat $30 rather then a percent of the car's value and that further tax increases had to be approved in referendum, has been found to violate the state's constitution by the King County state circuit court. The argument is that the constitution requires each ballot referendum to address a single issue. The court says that I695 addressed two points. Of course Tim Eyman, I695's author, wrote it the way he did because a similar bill limiting car tab taxes in Calif. a few years back was rendered ineffective when state lawmakers simply legislated other new taxes. Eyman was a victim of his own research. The budget restriction will remain until the decision is reviewed by the state supreme court.
2. March 5, Olympia: In the aftermath of ferry service sutbacks caused by I695, numerous private concerns have reapplied to the State for permits to operate foot ferry service. The plea goes before the state Congress which must have open hearings on the issue. The State Ferry workers union says the permits should be denied because public transportation jobs are protected by the state consitution, and private operators would not pay "decent" wages (i.e. over $40K/year for a starting postion with a high school diploma).
3. March 6, Olympia: State Ferry Workers Union members, utilizing state owned equipment, produced thousands of flyers to distribute among the ferry riders urging them to write their Congressmen to exempt ferrys from I695 cuts. The state AG has said that such a use of public funds to promote the interests of state employees is a conflict of interest and unconstitutional. The union disputes the claim.
1. 1 April, Redmond: Despite numerous rumors of a
settlment, the Justice Dept, has said it will go ahead with
its cases against Microsoft and seek punitive damages.
Wisconsin;
1. April 1: For the first time since 1941 the UW Badger Basketball sqaud made the final 4 in the NCAA payoffs. They were defeated today by the Michigan State Spartans 53-41, thus cruching hopes of a Cinderella season. The Spartans face Florida Monday night for the final.
Virgina;
1. 31 March, Virginia Tech: Researchers have isolated a chemical in tobacco that prevents Parkinson's Disease. Thus, the very industry that Janet Reno's Justice Dept. is trying to put out of business may be responsible for her cure (she is a Parkinson's patient). The researchers ackowledge that the negative correlation between smoking and Parkinson's has been known for decades, but until the isolation of this specfic compound, no one was aware of the causative agent.
New York;
1. March 24, NY City: The State of New York, flush with
their impending cash payoffs from tobacco lawsuits, has
begun the opening overture in their bid to rape and pillage
the gun industry. The State Attorney General has given an
ultimatum to all US gun manufacturers - either sign a
document permitting a state and citizen oversite board to
decide what guns will be made, or else. Colt and Smith and
Wesson said OK. GLock and Browning said no. The NY AG said
flat out, "If those corporations don't sign, they
better have their bankruptcy attorneys standing buy."
Ed: And so now the cat is out of the bag. At last a
liberal admits that its all about power and money. Shocking.
Soon, it will be the sellers of violent video games.
Wash. D.C.;
1. MArch 17: During his interview on "This Week",
National Rifle Assoc. Vice President Wayne LaPierre
was questioned by Cokie Robert's on whether the shooting of
a Detroit area child by a six year old had changed the NRA's
position on child safety locks. LaPierre noted
that:
a) The NRA has never opposed safety locks, but that
b) he found it hard to see how a safety lock would have been
in use by the child's legal guardian's, since they were
running a crack house
LaPierre also said that Clinton/Gore are willing to
accept a certain amount of gun violence just to have the
political hay by giving lip service to more gun laws, rahter
like Al Gore giving lip service campaign finance reform.
Cokey said, "Certainly, you cannot mean that the President
would risk lives for political gain." Unperturbed, LaPierre
said, "What else would one conclude when in 1997 in the
aftermath of Brady there was a bill which would have given
Clinton nation wide FBI checks for gun sales, banned
virtaully all semi-automatic pistols, and the only reason he
vetoed it was that the bill proposed a 3 day cooling off
period when Clinton wanted 7 days."
Net News;
1. David Limbaugh summarizes the month:
Treaties, triggers, tobacco, and tyranny
Why do you suppose the framers were so insistent that
only
virtuous men serve as president? To set a moral example for
the
nation? Oh yes, but there's much more to it than that.
Before you Clintonoids wrongly assume I am waxing nostalgic
for
impeachment and urge me "to move on," you should hear me
out.
Despite the brilliant scheme of checks and balances
incorporated
into the Constitution, the system is not foolproof against
the
devices of clever and deceitful men.
No, I'm not referring to "lying under oath about sex." I'm
talking
about Clinton's other flagrant abuses of executive authority
making
headlines this week. They all illustrate just how much
damage one
Constitution-disrespecting president and his administration
can do
to the cause of freedom in this country.
This week, President Clinton urged India to comply with
the
Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which the Senate
soundly rejected last year, and the Kyoto (global warming)
Treaty,
which he hasn't even submitted to the Senate for
ratification
because he knows he doesn't have the votes. In utter
disregard for
the Senate's constitutional role in these matters, Clinton
presses
forward with the unabashed arrogance of a totalitarian
dictator.
On the environmental front, the EPA has announced that it
will not
allow certain California farmers to harvest timber on their
own
property because it would violate new water-quality
regulations
governing a river adjacent to their land. Never mind the
devastating
economic impact this could have on landowners whose
livelihood
depends on their land use. Never mind that the EPA lacks
statutory
authority under the Clean Water Act to regulate such
"non-point
sources" of pollution.
On to tobacco. In an excellent article in the American
Spectator,
Byron York chronicles the extensive efforts of the Clinton
Justice
Department to bring Big Tobacco to its knees. In 1996, the
federal
government refused to join states in their litigation
against tobacco
companies, saying they had no legal authority do so.
In the meantime, the states achieved an enormous settlement
with
tobacco, whetting Clinton's appetite beyond containment.
When he
couldn't convince Congress to intervene, he directed the
always-compliant Janet Reno to reverse her earlier
decision
declining to involve the Justice Department. Never mind that
there
had been no change in the law authorizing Justice to
proceed
against cigarette makers.
Clinton would not be deterred by that annoying nuisance of
a
document known as the Constitution. He proceeded
primarily
under the Medical Care Recovery Act, a narrowly defined
statute
allowing the federal government to recoup medical expenses
on
behalf of military personnel injured by civilians. Using a
tortured
interpretation, Clinton argued that the statute allows
the
government to recover against tobacco companies the
medical
costs expended on behalf of Medicare patients due to
smoking.
York notes that "It's an interpretation of the law that
strikes some
experts as almost breathtaking in its audacity." Stay
tuned.
In another audacious move, Clinton's FDA tried to
regulate
tobacco as a drug. Thankfully this week, the Supreme Court,
in a
5-4 decision, slapped down the FDA's attempted usurpation
of
authority. The ever-brazen Clinton was unfazed by the
ruling,
spinning it as a victory because the Court recognized
tobacco as
"one of our most troubling public health problems facing our
nation
today." He knows that Gore, if elected, can rectify this
constitutional obstacle by appointing activist judges.
To top it all off, the administration this week bullied
gun-maker
Smith & Wesson into adopting gun safety measures that
Congress
had so far refused to legally mandate. In exchange, the
company
was released from liability in lawsuits brought by more than
15
cities, the Federal Housing Authority and other groups
seeking to
hold manufacturers legally responsible for violence caused
by their
weapons. The lawsuit was never about recovering money,
but
using the courts as a weapon to circumvent the democratic
will of
Congress. Adding insult to injury, HUD Secretary Andrew
Cuomo
has promised to use the economic coercion of the federal
government to force other recalcitrant gun manufacturers to
get on
board.
Without some modicum of honor being exhibited by our
elected
and appointed officials, the Constitution is hardly worth
the paper it
is written on. Without some respect for their proper
constitutional
roles, we are all at the whim of their capricious abuses of
authority.2000
© Steve Langer, 1995-2000