Pardon me, Starr isn't being investigated in Arkansas--his investigation and his key witness are.
AT FIRST GLANCE, JUDGE RULES STARR INVOLVED IN JURY LEAKS
Chicago Tribune, Aug. 9, 1998
By Naftali Bendavid, Washington Bureau.
WASHINGTON--A federal judge has found that evidence appears, at first glance, to support complaints by President Clinton's lawyers of illegal leaks by Independent Counsel
Kenneth Starr's office. She has ordered Starr to "show cause" why he should not be held in contempt of court.
Few expect Starr to suffer a serious legal setback as a result of the decision. But any determination that he or his staff leaked confidential grand jury information
would be a major embarrassment, given Starr's many forceful denials, and it could further erode his credibility with the public.
But the Clinton camp received a setback of its own. An appeals court overturned a ruling that would have allowed Clinton's lawyers to interrogate Starr's prosecutors
about their contacts with the press.
The rulings were made public in documents released Friday. Both sides sought to portray the developments as a victory.
"The endemic and casual disclosures of grand jury information which have characterized the past seven months of the (independent counsel's) investigation are highly
unprofessional and utterly indefensible," said Clinton's private attorney, David Kendall.
But Starr said he was "gratified" the courts did not allow Clinton's lawyers to question his team. He insisted that his office has not violated secrecy provisions and
added, "We welcome the opportunity to demonstrate this fact to the court."
If prosecutors on Starr's team are found guilty of contempt of court, they could be subject to fines, reprimands or even disbarment.
The battle over who provided the media information highlights the central role the press has played in Starr's explosive investigation into whether Clinton lied about an
alleged affair with Monica Lewinsky and whether he also encouraged her to lie about it.
Highly sensitive and supposedly confidential grand jury information has leaked out almost instantaneously, and the media have helped stir the frenzy surrounding the
scandal by publicizing rumors and tawdry facts.
Clinton supporters have hammered Starr with charges that his prosecutors were disclosing confidential information. The rulings disclosed Friday stem from a
complaint filed by Kendall on Feb. 9. Kendall also sent Starr a letter saying "the leaking by your office has reached an intolerable point."
Federal Judge Norma Holloway Johnson cited several news articles or broadcasts that she said presented prima facie evidence of leaks by prosecutors. Federal rules
prohibit prosecutors from revealing what goes on inside a grand jury room.
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE, Aug. 26, 1998
Woman alleging Hale payments;
went before panel, lawyer says
JOE STUMPE
Charges that key Whitewater witness David Hale was secretly paid by conservative political activists have led to grand jury appearances and meetings with
investigators for several Arkansans.
Caryn Mann and her son, Joshua Rand, both of Rogers, whose allegations regarding Hale sparked a federal witness-tampering investigation, testified for most of one
afternoon before a federal grand jury in Fort Smith earlier this month, their attorney, David Matthews, confirmed Tuesday.
"Caryn Mann and Josh Rand were subpoenaed before the grand jury," Matthews said. "They responded to that subpoena. We can't talk about what she discussed
because she was asked not to."
Mann has claimed that her ex-boyfriend, Parker Dozhier, funneled money from the conservative American Spectator magazine to Hale in the form of payments ranging
from $ 40 to $ 500, along with the free use of a car and cabin.
Dozhier, who owns a small fishing resort in Hot Springs where Hale sometimes stayed, was paid about $ 35,000 as part of the $ 1.7 million Arkansas Project, funded
by conservatives, to uncover information about President Bill Clinton and the Whitewater Development Corp.
Clinton, first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, James McDougal and McDougal's former wife, Susan, were partners in the failed Marion County development.
Independent counsel Kenneth Starr has jurisdiction in the investigation of Hale, whose allegations against President Clinton helped lead to the Whitewater
investigation. But Starr, citing appearances of a conflict of interest, has turned the latest investigation over to former Justice Department attorney Michael Shaheen.
Shaheen did not return messages Tuesday.
Dozhier and David Bowden, an attorney for Hale, denied again Tuesday that Hale received any payments.
"She saw a lot of things -- she's a fortune teller," Dozhier said sarcastically of Mann, who formerly gave psychic readings at a Hot Springs bookstore and appeared as
a call-in psychic on a radio station.
"I haven't done anything to be concerned about."
"This woman is as flaky as can be regarding this allegation," Bowden said. "This woman has told various people at times that she knows where Jimmy Hoffa is
buried."
Unlike grand juries in Little Rock and Washington, D.C. that were empaneled specifically to hear Whitewater matters, Mann and Rand testified before "a regular grand
jury that's taken evidence on any number of crimes alleged to have been committed in the western district of Arkansas," Matthews said.
At least three other Arkansans confirmed Tuesday that they have talked to investigators in the case.
Bill Mullineaux, who runs a private investigation firm and driving school in Little Rock where Mann worked, said Shaheen's investigators asked him whether Mann
had told him about payments to Hale.
"Yes, she did," Mullineaux said. He said the conversation took place sometime in 1997, months before Mann made her allegations public.
Investigators also asked about Mann's credibility, Mullineaux said.
"I said she never lied to me that I know of," he said.
Tommy Goodwin, the former head of the Arkansas State Police who was associated with Mullineaux's firm in the past, said he told Shaheen's investigators that he
doesn't recall Mann mentioning Dozhier during that period.
Former Little Rock Municipal Judge Bill Watt, who represented Mullineaux's firm, said he overheard Mann talking about Dozhier and Hale in June 1997.
"She was basically at that time making the representation that she knew money had been paid to David Hale either by [Dozhier] or by somebody they were meeting
with at Dozhier's place," Watt said.
The more that Mann said about the matter, Watt said, "I kind of found out basically that her son had either seen or heard things more first-hand than she had."
Watt said investigators could be considering what Mann told people in the past when assessing her credibility.
"She told that thing to people in June of 1997 under no pressure, with nothing to gain," Watt said.
"From the standpoint of whether or not you believe it, whether it's accurate, I don't have any idea." |
