Reprinted from The Washington Times , 5am -- April 1, 1998
White House stonewalls Senate on lawyers' work
By Paul Bedard
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
The White House yesterday resisted explaining to the Senate whether its $2.36 million legal department is conducting improper personal legal work for President Clinton. The General Accounting Office, meanwhile, moved to determine if tax dollars are being misused in the counsel's office.
"We have received more information from the Internal Revenue Service than we have about White House legal work," said a spokeswoman for Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, Colorado Republican and chairman of the Senate subcommittee that oversees the White House budget.
The White House told Mr. Campbell that it won't let him question members of the counsel's office about their role in Mr. Clinton's defense in the sex-and-lies scandal and will only send a White House administrator to an annual budget hearing before his Senate Appropriations subcommittee.
Typically, congressional appropriations committees rubber-stamp White House budget requests.
But facing a White House rebuff, Mr. Campbell -- backed by House appropriations officials -- moved closer to drawing up legislation to stop the counsel's office from receiving funding until the role of White House lawyers in defending the president on personal matters is explained.
"This is not a good time to make it difficult to get answers," said a Campbell aide, referring to the senator's lead role in approving -- or slashing -- the White House operating budget.
He has the support of Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens, Alaska Republican.
Even as the White House attempted to stonewall Senate appropriations officials, the General Accounting Office (GAO) told Congress it plans to welcome Mr. Clinton and his attorneys home from their 11-day tour of Africa with a probe into the affairs of the 49-person legal office.
The focus by Congress on the White House counsel's office came as Republicans looked broadly into the use of lawyers and advisers by Mr. Clinton to both defend him from scandal charges and attack his opponents.
The Washington Times this week reported that the White House has created an "opposition research" office and compiled files on Clinton critics, such as House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Rep. Bob Barr, Georgia Republican, and Sen. Fred Thompson, Tennessee Republican.
Mr. Barr yesterday filed a Freedom of Information Act request to see his file and suggested that the White House, which previously was accused of snooping through FBI background files of Republicans, was violating the Privacy Act in researching the background of critics.
"If the White House is gathering information on members of Congress, this is a truly disturbing, frightening development," added Jim Nicholson, chairman of the Republican National Committee.
GAO officials told Mr. Barr they planned to meet with White House Deputy Counsel Cheryl Mills to discuss the role of administration lawyers once she returns from Africa, where she is a member of Mr. Clinton's official delegation.
That could lead to the first-ever audit of the White House counsel's office.
"We're encouraged that the GAO is taking action," said a spokesman for Mr. Barr, who first called for the audit.
The Times previously reported that Mr. Clinton's counsel's office is the largest and most costly in history. It was expanded three years ago to handle the president's reaction to several scandal investigations.
The White House has countered that President Reagan had a larger legal department, but it was increased above the normal eight lawyers for just six months as the administration moved to find papers sought by the Iran-Contra independent prosecutor.
The focus on the counsel's office yesterday was sparked by the administration's refusal to provide further details on the role of the White House legal team.
The administration refused to send a top White House lawyer to a hearing this week on the administration's operating budget to explain the jobs of the president's lawyers.
Instead, they said chief White House administrator Ada Posey would make the broad pitch for the president's budget.
At a previous House Appropriations Committee hearing, Miss Posey gave a similar presentation but conceded that she didn't know the roles of the lawyers.
White House Counsel Charles F.C. Ruff recently wrote Mr. Campbell that up to seven taxpayer-funded lawyers handle legal matters related to various Clinton scandals, most stemming from the Whitewater probe.
But his office has not detailed the jobs of those lawyers or adequately quelled congressional concerns that the attorneys are handling personal legal affairs for the Clintons in violation of rules written by the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel.
Angered by the refusal to explain the role of the legal office, Mr. Campbell yesterday postponed tomorrow's planned hearing on the White House budget for a month.
"Significant questions have been raised in recent weeks about the number of attorneys serving in the White House and their respective duties and responsibilities," said Mr. Campbell in a letter to White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles.
In the letter, he demanded that the administration either send Mr. Ruff to the hearing or an aide "who is well-versed and can directly speak to the issues relating to the counsel's office."Copyright 1998 News World Communications, Inc.
Reprinted with permission of
The Washington Times.
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