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Politics : Did Slick Boink Monica? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: James R. Barrett who wrote (11074)	3/17/1998 7:55:00 AM
From: Zoltan!	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 20981

March 17, 1998 Whistling the Stall The Clinton Administration's strategy in scandal containment has been deny, delay, denigrate the facts and destroy the Independent Counsel. Perhaps the most effective has been delay. From executive privilege to missing coffee-donor videos the White House uses a variant of the old four-corner stall in basketball to run out the clock and the public's attention. That may no longer be possible in the wake of Kathleen Willey's extraordinary testimony. Moreover, a federal judge has set up a shot clock on the Clintonites' temporizing lawyers. Judge Royce Lamberth has been in this game before. Back in March 1993 he was assigned a lawsuit challenging the secrecy around Hillary Clinton's Health Care Task Force as a violation of federal open-meeting laws. Nearly five years of litigation later, Judge Lamberth levied $286,000 in sanctions against the executive branch for "running amok" in a "coverup" of the case. He detailed a pattern of evasion, false statements and delay that operated "at the highest levels of the government." Now a whole passel of Clinton supporters have found themselves back in Judge Lamberth's courtroom, where more penalties may be assessed. This case involves the infamous Filegate, in which the White House collected some 900 FBI files on GOP appointees. The conservative legal group Judicial Watch filed a $90 million invasion-of-privacy lawsuit. This in turn has led to deposition dates for some of the Clinton team's most noted players, including James Carville, George Stephanopoulos and private eye Terry Lenzner. Mr. Carville of course is the seldom subdued consultant who first declared "war" on Ken Starr. Not eager to talk in this venue, Mr. Carville called Judicial Watch's Larry Klayman "a little twerp" and said he wouldn't be deposed. He then said a TV taping prevented his showing up. That delay was granted, but then he said he had a business trip to South America. Jo Marsh, the attorney for both Mr. Carville and Sidney Blumenthal, then accused Judge Lamberth of failing to consider certain facts in concluding that Mr. Carville should be deposed. This past Friday, Judge Lamberth ordered Mr. Carville to show up. The judge said that both Mr. Carville and his lawyer have "been less than forthcoming with this court at all relevant times." He ruled that "the court will not give these parties the benefit of the doubt . . . Marsh and Carville sought to mislead this court from the outset and to delay this deposition. There is simply no other explanation." Clinton allies have used every excuse save "the dog ate my homework" to avoid being deposed over Filegate. Paul Begala, a senior White House aide, had remarked previously at a Democratic fund-raiser that he read FBI files on Clinton opponents. He argues plausibly that he was joking, but the White House tried to block him from giving his side of the story under oath. Judge Lamberth ordered him to appear.Lawyers for George Stephanopoulos and Terry Lenzner also tried to block depositions. The depositions of both men were finally taken last week, and Mr. Stephanopoulos was asked about his comment on ABC that some Clinton allies were thinking of a strategy that would "open up everybody's closets." He acknowledged in the deposition that such a strategy is being considered by "White House allies" whom he wouldn't identify because of "journalistic privilege." Mr. Lenzner denied he was looking into several figures who are investigating the White House, but refused to answer when asked about several others. Judge Lamberth gave credence to Judicial Watch's contention that the issue of FBI files and Clinton allies needs to be cleared up quickly, noting that such a strategy "historically involved the use of FBI files to smear political adversaries." Yesterday Mr. Carville finally showed up for his deposition. He even brought along his own video camera. No doubt it was a great home video. But it's clear that the stalling strategies that have brought the Clintonites this far in the public arena aren't playing well in front of judges. Which may be why the lawyers for this Administration's current and former members are working so hard to keep their clients out of a federal courtroom. interactive2.wsj.com