By David M. Bresnahan WorldNetDaily.com
President Bill Clinton was given one more legal problem to be concerned about yesterday when a public interest legal group filed a formal complaint with the State Bar of Arkansas, charging him with violating his oath of professional responsibility and ethics.
"As a member of the bar, as a lawyer, he needs to abide by the rules of professional conduct that are required of attorneys in the state of Arkansas. It's considered professional misconduct in Arkansas if an
attorney engages in conduct that involves dishonesty, fraud, deceit, and misrepresentation. Clearly the president of the United States has done that. He's violated the rules of professional misconduct and
therefore should be disbarred," said Matthew J. Glavin, president of the Southeastern Legal Foundation after filing the complaint in Little Rock.
The complaint was delivered to the Arkansas Commission on Professional Conduct along with a copy of the Independent Counsel Referral to Congress for potential impeachment proceedings as supporting evidence. The complaint made the same charges as the report to Congress. Glavin also attached portions of Clinton's deposition in the Paula Jones case as additional evidence.
The "Arkansas Rules of Professional Conduct" clearly state that an attorney may be disbarred "whether or not the conviction of any criminal offense occurred." Glavin says there is no question that Clinton has demonstrated sufficient grounds for impeachment.
The rules state that it is professional misconduct for a lawyer to "engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation."
"I believe it was on January 21 where the president stood up at a health care conference and he looked in the camera and he pointed his finger at us and he said, 'Now you listen here. I did not have sex with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky.' That alone is enough to have the president disbarred. It was a violation of trust," explained Glavin.
The complaint comes as the result of concern over the initial denial by Clinton that he had sex with Monica Lewinsky and his later admission that he did have sex after all. Glavin believes Clinton lied in his deposition for the Jones case, lied to the public, and then lied before the grand jury investigating the Lewinsky affair.
The complaint was delivered to James A. Neal, executive director of the Arkansas Commission on Professional Conduct. He is now required to conduct an investigation and submit his findings to a committee that will then determine the fate of Clinton as an attorney.
Neal refused to confirm or deny whether or not he had received the complaint, adding that it was standard policy to keep complaints confidential in Arkansas. He also noted that his office is concerned
with protecting the public from obtaining the services of bad attorneys. Since Clinton is not providing legal services to the public there may not be an urgency to act, Neal implied.
Speaking in general, since he would not acknowledge he had received a complaint against Clinton, Neal said in such cases he would wait for other investigations to complete themselves before taking action.
He mentioned he has limited resources to conduct his own investigation.
"It would be reasonable to expect that some evidence might be produced in that proceeding that would be helpful in the determination either way. Either helpful to the attorney complained against, or perhaps adverse to his position. Normally we wait for the conclusion of those matters. We do not have a statute of limitation so we're not required to file in a certain period of time," said Neal.
The investigation should be a simple one. Clinton does not have to be indicted, convicted, or impeached to be disbarred. The evidence submitted to the Arkansas Bar is said to be substantial and easy to
recognize as being sufficient to disbar Clinton, according to Glavin.
Despite the initial indications that the complaint may sit for some time with no action, Glavin says he is not deterred. He believes they will ultimately decide to move forward quickly.
"If they find that the pesident did not violate the rules, then the Arkansas Bar would be viewed as a kangaroo court. Even the Bar in Arkansas doesn't want that," said Glavin.
"It's not necessary that an attorney engage in conduct directly connected with the provision of legal services or the practicing of law before that attorney can be disciplined by the regulatory agency,"
confirmed Neal.
Glavin predicted that there will be additional legal problems for members of Clinton's staff in the near future. The investigations by Kenneth Starr will continue, with more indictments expected in the near future.
"What is coming though in the reports on Filegate, Travelgate, Whitewater may not have offenses that would require the impeachment of the President of the United States. I would suspect there will be a
number of other individuals who will be indicted by the independent counsel as a res lt of those activities. I'm suspecting that the independent counsel didn't find anything that would come to the level of high crimes and misdemeanors on the part of the pesident. There are a lot of other people in the administration who are at fault for those activities but it just didn't go to the Oval Office. If you're a friend of the president and you're in Washington I'd be worried right now," Glavin warned.
David Bresnahan, a WorldNetDaily contributing editor, hosts "Talk USA Investigative Reports" and is the author of "Cover Up: The Art and Science of Political Deception." His email address is David@talkusa.com. |
