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Politics : Should Clinton resign? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Zoltan! who wrote (59)	9/10/1998 1:16:00 PM
From: Les H	Respond to of 567

THE QUICKER IT'S OVER, THE BETTER FOR WALL STREET By JOHN CRUDELE WALL STREET has to hope the 36 boxes of information on impeachable offenses Kenneth Starr delivered to Congress doesn't lead to marathon hearings on whether Bill Clinton should stay in office. But that's exactly what's likely to happen. The stock market showed just how vulnerable it is to the upcoming political turmoil yesterday, when the Dow fell 156 points, giving up almost 40 percent of the gains of the previous day. And the loss could be blamed on nothing but the Starr report - first, rumors of its imminent arrival and then the delivery late in the day It's becoming apparent Clinton won't remain in office to the end of his term. The only question that remains now is: How long will it take? Obviously, as far as investors are concerned, the quicker this thing is over the better. Wall Street can take a sudden shock. But it can't take another lingering problem on top of the Asian economic turmoil. News organizations have reported that the militants in the White House have seized the day and are vowing to counterattack Starr relentlessly. Others are expecting a quick end to this impeachment matter because leaders of the Democratic party will step in and convince Clinton to quit. Both those views miss reality. Here are the problems: Clinton can't quit unless he is given a full pardon for the alleged crimes reported to Congress - and those excluded from the report. Otherwise, private citizen Clinton could end up in jail. Ken Starr accused Bill Clinton of a double-digit number of felonies in his report to Congress. So the offenses aren't merely an annoyance. The charges are narrow in scope - related to his personal life and cover-ups of such things. The report probably focused mainly on Monica Lewinsky, but it wouldn't be surprising if incidents from the Paula Jones suit were also mentioned. Starr's staff decided not too long ago to concentrate on these limited matters in the Congressional version. There are also other women and other cases of obstruction of justice, mainly involving the moving of these people to cushy jobs. Most of the jobs were in the Department of Defense and the Pentagon, but others were with Hollywood firms. The intention was for these women to become inaccessible. In one instance, a source says, a woman's record was expunged from the Pentagon's files to cover up her transfer. By limiting the scope of the report to these things, it leaves Clinton legally vulnerable to a lot of crimes that aren't going to be revealed to Congress. As if all this weren't enough: Starr is working on a second report to the three judges who oversee his probe. The charges in the judges' report won't be as titillating, but they will make Clinton vulnerable to prosecution should he leave office. Charges to the judges will include racketeering, a legal term that means a series of crimes committed in an organized fashion. Since this statute is usually applied to mobsters, it will be shocking to the public and harmful to Clinton. There are stories of sexual oddities in the report that was sent to Congress, some of which haven't yet surfaced. As much as the Republicans might be inclined to get this impeachment process over with, the temptation to embarrass Clinton and the Democrats as much as possible will be too great. All of this is a formula for a long, protracted period of tension for America and for an already nervous stock market.