Reprinted from The Washington Times , 5am -- April 17, 1998
With work left to do, Starr says no to Pepperdine offer
By Jerry Seper
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr said Thursday he had told Pepperdine University Law School that he no longer wants to be considered for the deanship because the end of the Whitewater investigation was "not yet in sight."
"With profound regret, I am writing to confirm my decision ... to withdraw as dean-designate of the School of Law at Pepperdine University," Mr. Starr said, quoting from a letter to the university's president, David Davenport.
"As you know, I had eagerly looked forward to spending many happy years at Pepperdine after completing my duties as independent counsel. The work of that office, however, has expanded considerably and the end is not yet in sight."
Mr. Starr made the announcement during an unusually upbeat press conference on the steps of the U.S. District Courthouse in Washington, showcasing what appeared to be a new public relations image aimed at making him more "media-friendly." Most of his previous remarks to reporters were made in "ambush interviews" in the driveway of his home in McLean, Va.
Mr. Starr noted that his office had not sought to get involved in a public relations war over the investigation and he had never had a public information office.
But that apparently has changed, with the independent counsel even joking with reporters as they asked questions during the 20-minute session. At one point, he asked ABC reporter Tim O'Brien what he was doing at the news conference, because the Baltimore Orioles were playing at home.
"I think as time goes along, I have become increasingly sensitized to the need to have a public information function and to provide information, and especially, as I have said in recent weeks, to respond when there is misinformation," he said.
Mr. Starr recently hired Charles G. Bakaly III as his media consultant. Mr. Bakaly formerly worked for independent counsel Donald Smaltz and was credited with directing a successful public information effort.
He said the decision to forgo the Pepperdine job had nothing to do with accusations of a link between his office and publisher Richard Mellon Scaife, who contributed money to Pepperdine and to a foundation that contributed to the American Spectator magazine.
"Let me say that with respect to the individual who you have named, I have never met him; I have never talked to him. I have had no arrangement -- implicit, explicit, direct or indirect -- with him," he said.
Mr. Starr said his decision was based on his "commitment" to the school. "I owe it to the university to either be there, or if I can't be there, to say that," he said.
Mr. Starr said Pepperdine had offered to hold the position open for him but he felt the law school should not operate for more than a year without permanent leadership. He said the Whitewater investigation -- which has been expanded on four occasions by Attorney General Janet Reno and a panel of federal appeals judges --"will prevent my being on board by conclusion of the spring term."
President Clinton, in Santiago, Chile, for a meeting on international trade, was asked if he believes Mr. Starr should wrap up his investigation. "I shouldn't be commenting on domestic politics while I'm overseas," he replied. "We're here to do important work, and that's what I'm going to do."
As for an investigation into accusations that Mr. Scaife routed cash to witness David L. Hale through the American Spectator while he was cooperating in the Whitewater inquiry, Mr. Starr sent a letter to Miss Reno Thursday asking that his office and the Justice Department "seek mechanisms that will ensure a full investigation."
He noted that accusations appear to cover a period before August 1994, when the Justice Department was in charge of the Whitewater investigation.
The accusations were first made by Caryn Mann, an astrologer, psychic and onetime live-in girlfriend of the man she said befriended Mr. Hale and gave him money. She first said she saw the transactions but later changed her story, saying the transactions were witnessed by her son, then 13.
The Justice Department asked Mr. Starr to investigate the accusations but said it would accept a referral to take the matter back because of its concerns about a possible conflict.
Mr. Starr said that while there could be an "appearance of a conflict," the department itself might have "multiple actual conflicts" because, among other things, Mr. Hale provided information damaging to Mr. Clinton. He said he hopes an inquiry would address the facts of the case in "a fair way and a comprehensive way that will promote public confidence in the administration of justice."
Asked whether his office had suffered from a lack of public confidence, Mr. Starr said that the issue is "very important" but that he owed it to "the American people to seek the facts, to seek them fairly, to seek them comprehensively."
"It is an extraordinary situation to conduct an investigation which, by its nature, given our traditions and the law, is to be secret, under the circumstances that have attended this investigation," he said. "But we're seeking it every way that we can, to make sure that the investigation moves forward very quickly, very comprehensively, very fairly."
Responding to questions about criticism of his ties to his Washington law firm, Kirkland & Ellis, Mr. Starr said he was working "more than full time" on the Whitewater inquiry and also fulfilling his obligations to the firm.
"I am one who believes in moral commitments, and I'm living up to those commitments at the same time as devoting full-time ... more than full-time to this investigation," he said.
He would not say when he would submit any reports on the probe to Congress, as required under the Independent Counsel Statute, but said the act imposed a responsibility that a report be filed and his office would "live up to our statutory obligation."
Mr. Starr said that while it would be "very difficult" to say how much of the inquiry had been completed, he noted that "our level of activity has been extremely high." He said he was "very satisfied" with the progress that had been made, which he described as "substantial."
He noted, however, that there have been unwanted delays in the process, singling out grand jury witnesses who "interpose privileges that then have to be litigated in secret." He said White House claims of executive privilege have not been "helpful to the investigation and to its speed."
Two Washington grand juries are investigating accusations in the Starr probe; one involving charges of perjury, subornation of perjury and obstruction of justice in the Monica Lewinsky sex-and-lies inquiry, and a second concerning accusations that former Associate Attorney General Webster L. Hubbell was paid $500,000 in "hush money" for his silence in the Whitewater probe and failed to declare the money on his tax returns.Copyright 1998 News World Communications, Inc.
Reprinted with permission of
The Washington Times.
To subscribe to the Washington Times National Weekly Edition, click this icon or call 800-363-9118.
