Starr restirs witch hunt brew

By Tim Wheeler

This article was reprinted from the August 1, 1998 issue of the People's Weekly World. For subscription information see below. All rights reserved - may be used with PWW credits.

Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr's witch hunt, aimed at forcing President Clinton from office, took an ominous turn July 28 with the announcement that Monica Lewinsky will testify that she and Clinton had an affair and then agreed to deny it under oath.

Starr's and Lewinsky's attornies reached an agreement to grant the former White House intern sweeping immunity from prosection in exchange for her testimony. Both Clinton and Lewinsky had denied the sexual relationship in previous grand jury testimony. According to news accounts, Lewinsky will tell the grand jury of the affair, which she claims dates back to 1995.

But there are also reports that Lewinsky takes responsibility for writing the so-called "talking points" outlining the strategy of denying the affair. These same reports also assert that she will testify that Clinton did not instruct her to lie under oath. Starr has been attempting to build his case against Clinton on charges that Clinton told her to lie - subornation of perjury, the only impeachable offense he has been able to dig up after four years of investigations.

Nevertheless, on Capitol Hill, Senate Judiciary Chair Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) openly spoke of pushing forward with impeachment. House Judiciary Chair Henry Hyde (R-Ill.) has assembled a hand-picked team under Counsel David Schippers, a Chicago prosecutor, to handle impeachment proceedings against Clinton should Starr recommend it in his final report.

Joe Volk, Executive Secretary of the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL), told the World that FCNL has not taken a formal position on the issue. But he expressed his personal view that Quakers are deeply concerned about the abuses of power in Starr's probe. "Having lost the election at the polls, Clinton's opponents are using the Independent Counsel's office inappropriately," he said. "It should be used to investigate crimes, not for partisan political purposes."

Volk said he believes the people "have a far more balanced, mature picture of this situation than those inside the [Washington] beltway." Volk traveled cross-country from Montana on a bicycle recently and had a chance to discuss the crisis in Washington. "These are rural people and they told me, 'The President won the election. What is this fishing expedition about? These are not high crimes and misdemeanors. These are not impeachable offenses.'"

Volk said the people he interacts with are focused on real issues. "Why hasn't the Senate ratified the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty? Why aren't they acting to provide health access for children? But the media is full of Monica Lewinsky and Kenneth Starr."

Jarvis Tyner, vice chair of the Communist Party USA, told the World, "What hits me is that Kenneth Starr is today's Joe McCarthy and somehow he has coerced Lewinsky into testifying. This is not about Clinton's sex life or his integrity. It's a right-wing conspiracy to hold on to the Congress in 1998 and win the presidency in the year 2000. It's about their real goal: privatization of Social Security, terminating affirmative action, busting unions. They are using the sex scandal to disarm the people to the danger on the right."

Jim Naurekas, editor of Extra, newspaper of FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting), a media watchdog group, charged that many in the media "completely overidentified" with Starr and reported gossip and innuendo as fact in the Lewinsky affair. "I think concerns have been raised about freedom of the press by the lines of inquiry that Starr has pursued - hauling people, including reporters, before his grand jury if they criticize him. This is a pretty frightening abuse of power."