Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

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

To: Peter S. Maroulis who wrote (15150)	5/12/1998 10:38:00 PM
From: Zoltan!	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 20981

Lead Editorial - NYT's May 12, 1998 The Reno Paradox Attorney General Janet Reno's decision to request an independent counsel to investigate influence-peddling and illegal fund-raising allegations against Labor Secretary Alexis Herman is consistent with the letter and spirit of the Independent Counsel Act, and carefully worded so as not to prejudge Ms. Herman's culpability. We only wish Ms. Reno's sensitivity to conflicts of interest and her clarity in interpreting her duty under the act extended to the broader and more important matter of the 1996 Presidential fund-raising scandals. The act is designed to insure a thorough and impartial investigation in cases involving cabinet officers and other "covered persons." It calls for the Attorney General to ask a three-judge court to name an independent prosecutor when, as here, the Justice Department's own preliminary investigation is unable to resolve specific, credible allegations of Federal felonies to a point where it can be safely concluded that "there are no reasonable grounds to believe that further investigation is warranted." But if that is true of the Herman case, it is certainly true of the whole fund-raising mess. This Attorney General has shown she is willing to bring in an independent counsel except in the one case where it is most obviously needed. Charles LaBella, the outgoing head of the Justice Department's campaign finance task force, is said to be finishing a report on the suspect fund-raising activities of the Clinton White House and senior Democratic Party officials. The contents and recommendations are still unknown. But as she reads it, Ms. Reno must keep in mind that the fund-raising operation was run out of the White House and that her boss, President Clinton, was intimately involved in its planning and execution. That is, she must read it against the act's expectation that the Attorney General will appoint an independent counsel and recuse herself when there is a clear "political conflict of interest." nytimes.com