Hey, TP, you are an e-mail friend so just to make sure you are not out of the loop, I've enclosed
a copy of the article on Olson.
Nominee Tied To Attacks On Clintons Olson Denied Involvement In Conservative Project
"The American Spectator was widely viewed as one of the driving forces in promoting negative stories about the Clintons and their associates in Arkansas, where Clinton served as governor before winning the presidency. The Arkansas Project – which lasted from 1993 to 1998 -- was financed by foundations run by Richard Scaife, a major backer of conservative causes."
By Thomas B. Edsall
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 10, 2001; Page A29
During testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee last month, Theodore B. Olson, President Bush's nominee to become solicitor general, sought to dissociate himself from the "Arkansas Project," the effort by the conservative magazine American Spectator to uncover scandals linked to President Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Asked about his involvement, Olson, who served on the magazine's board of directors, said he belatedly became aware of the $2.4 million undertaking, after questions were raised about whether funds were misspent. However, he added, "It has been alleged that I was somehow involved in that so-called project. I was not involved in the project in its origin or its management."
Since Olson testified, however, former Spectator staff writer David Brock has told the Judiciary Committee that Olson was directly involved in the Arkansas Project, participating in discussions about possible stories and advising the magazine whether to publish one of its most controversial stories, about the death of Clinton White House deputy counsel Vincent Foster.
Brock repeated his version of events in an interview with The Washington Post.
In addition, a variety of documents obtained by The Post suggest that Olson's role in the Arkansas Project was larger than he described. In a 1994 letter to the publisher, Ronald Burr, Olson said he and his law firm had been retained to prepare a "chart summarizing various federal and state criminal laws that may be implicated by conduct of certain public officials." In addition, billing records for the Arkansas Project show payments to Olson's law firm.
In a telephone interview, Olson said "I'm not going to comment on David Brock or David Brock's statments." He said, "I've responded to the committee's questions in written form on three occasions and I think that covers the territory."
The nomination of Olson, one of the most prominent conservative legal activists in the nation's capital, is scheduled for a Judiciary Committee vote today. Democrats have refused to allow a vote so far, using Olson and other nominees as bargaining chips in a bid to gain leverage in the selection of judges.
The American Spectator was widely viewed as one of the driving forces in promoting negative stories about the Clintons and their associates in Arkansas, where Clinton served as governor before winning the presidency. The Arkansas Project – which lasted from 1993 to 1998 -- was financed by foundations run by Richard Scaife, a major backer of conservative causes.
In written answers to follow-up questions about the Arkansas Project posed by Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (Vt.), the Judiciary Committee's ranking Democrat, Olson said, "I was not involved in organizing, supervising or managing the conduct of those efforts." He added: "I do not recall giving any advice concerning the conduct of the 'Project' or its origins or management."
Brock, who was one of the Spectator's leading investigative reporters in the Arkansas Project but who left the magazine after a series of disagreements, said Olson attended a number of dinner meetings at the home of R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr., president and chairman of the Spectator, which were explicitly "brainstorming" sessions about the Arkansas Project.
"There were several dinners at Bob Tyrrell's house, editorial planning sessions, on articles on the Clintons in Arkansas," Brock said. "Ted [Olson] was sometimes there, occasionally Barbara Olson [Ted Olson's wife] as well."
Olson, according to Brock, was an active participant in discussions of possible stories, of methods to investigate scandal allegations and of ways to cultivate sources who would be familiar with the Clintons' political and financial dealings.
Brock said most of the staff of the Spectator opposed publishing the article about Foster's death, believing the piece to be unsubstantiated. Tyrrell, however, insisted and Brock said he sought out Olson to get him to dissuade Tyrrell. The move backfired, according to Brock, when Olson told Brock that "while he didn't place any stock in the piece, it was worth publishing because the role of the Spectator was to write Clinton scandal stories in hopes of 'shaking scandals loose.' "
Tyrrell did not respond to messages left at his office.
Asked if he attended such dinners, Olson said, "I'm not going to spend the rest of my life responding to things David Brock comes up with." Later, Douglas Cox, a law partner of Olson's who worked with him on the Spectator account, said Olson's presence at such dinner meetings did not mean that he was aware of the scope of the Arkansas Project and the Scaife funding.
Cox said the chart of possible allegations against the Clintons that ran in the magazine, was not, to his or Olson's knowledge, a part of the Arkansas Project.
Records of the Spectator provided by a source who performed work for the magazine included a multipage "Expense Analysis -- Arkansas Project." Among more than 100 expenses listed for June 1995, the only month covered in the documents, are a series of payments totaling about $8,000 to Olson's law firm, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.
While these records suggest that Olson's firm was being paid by the Arkansas Project, Olson said, "I don't know how the American Spectator accounted for the payment of legal fees."
Olson's January 1996 letter accepting a post on the Spectator board is addressed to Burr, the publisher, with copies sent to Tyrrell and David W. Henderson, one of the two principals directing the Arkansas Project.
Cox, asked why Olson sent a copy to Henderson, said "Henderson was a functionary of the magazine" and therefore an appropriate recipient.
© 2001 The Washington Post Company |
