WILLEY'S CAPABLE OF
SERIOUS DAMAGE
By DEBORAH ORIN
It was a real Friday the 13th for
President Clinton, who must be
wondering why he didn't settle with
Paula Jones a long, long time ago.
Now the world has heard - in graphic
detail - how Kathleen Willey accuses
him of groping her at the White House.
Willey - the White House volunteer who
claims Clinton put her hand on his
crotch when she came to beg him for a
paying job - is by far the most
devastating anti-Clinton witness to yet
emerge.
Devastating because no one can paint
Willey as part of Hillary Rodham
Clinton's supposed "vast right-wing
conspiracy." Willey and her husband
were Democratic fat cats and active
Clinton supporters.
Devastating because the incident took
place at the White House, not back in
Arkansas, and Willey was clearly a
reluctant witness rather than eager to
dish dirt on the president. Lawyers for
Jones had to drag the story out of her.
Devastating because Willey reportedly
accuses Nate Landow, a Democratic
fat-cat power broker with ties to Vice
President Al Gore, of leaning on her to
change her story - possible obstruction
of justice.
And devastating because Willey is
going public with an interview on CBS's
"60 Minutes," which airs tomorrow.
She'll tell how the leader of the free
world hit on her and say he's a liar if he
denies it.
"It's very believable and very
persuasive and leaves little doubt about
what happened," CBS "60 Minutes"
producer Don Hewitt said yesterday as
he hyped his show.
There is, of course, amazing irony in
Willey choosing to speak out on "60
Minutes" - the program Clinton used in
1992 to deny any affair with Gennifer
Flowers. He now admits one sex act
with Flowers, meaning he lied in 1992.
Because Clinton has denied groping
Willey, her story also raises the
prospect that independent counsel
Kenneth Starr - with whom she's
cooperating - could use her story to
charge Clinton with perjury.
Willey, after all, isn't a Paula Jones
who's seeking money. Nor is she a
Monica Lewinsky who once signed a
sworn affidavit denying sex with Clinton.
She is a lifelong Democrat with no
obvious ax to grind - which makes her a
credible witness.
And because Clinton helped Willey get
a paying job, sent her on two overseas
junkets and even named her to a
prestigious post on the board of the
United Service Organization, now
would be a little late for the White
House to claim she's an untrustworthy
Clinton-hater.
And yet, the story she tells is very
similar to the Paula Jones story - of a
boss who used his power to seek
nonconsensual sex from subordinates.
Also known as ... sexual harassment.
So it will be fascinating to watch how
the feminist movement reacts to Willey
- after doing its best to demean Jones
and brushing off the Monica Lewinsky
mess as consensual sex if there was
sex.
No matter what happens in the Jones
case now, it's all out in public - including
Willey's charges.
It's too late for second thoughts about
how things would be if only the Clinton
legal team had settled the Jones case.
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