PIML 96050506 / Forwarded to Patriot Information Mailing List: [One of these days soon, if we just keep pushing, the whole system is going to come down like the Berlin wall.] PIML ================================================================== Date: Mon, 03 Jun 1996 20:36:02 -0600 From: "J. Horn" <6mysmesa@1eagle1.com> Subject: L&J: WSJ - a Democrat speaks Reply-To: liberty-and-justice@pobox.com "The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition" "Editorial Page" June 3, 1996 Whitewater May Drown Democrats By TED VAN DYK We Democrats shouldn't fool ourselves. The conviction last week on 24 felony counts of Arkansas Gov. Jim Guy Tucker and Clinton associates James and Susan McDougal marked the beginning, not the end, of a looming political ordeal that could endanger not only the president and Hillary Rodham Clinton but hundreds of Democratic officeholders and candidates on the ballot this November. It also could set the stage for the ultimate triumph in 1997 of an unadulterated Contract With America, as interpreted by Speaker Newt Gingrich. Of course the Clintons were found guilty of nothing last week. And they, as every American citizen, are entitled to be considered innocent of any and all charges until proven guilty. This is all the more true because the credibility of the presidency itself is at stake. No president, of either party, should be challenged lightly in lieu of compelling evidence that he had breached public trust. No Illusions Nonetheless we should have no illusions about what will follow. By convincing 12 Arkansas jurors that the charges against the Clinton allies had merit--and that he was not part of some partisan Republican cabal--Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr gained credibility and running room to pursue other cases that could come far closer to the Clintons. In two weeks, Mr. Starr will bring to trial Arkansas bankers Herbert Branscum and Robert Hill for their alleged illegal diversion of bank funds to Bill Clinton's 1990 gubernatorial campaign. Both Mr. Branscum and Mr. Hill were appointed to state regulatory positions after approving loans totaling $180,000 to the Clintons. Yet another trial is pending in a separate fraud indictment brought against Gov. Tucker. The "other" independent counsel, Donald Smaltz, who has been pursuing an investigation of, among others, former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy and chicken magnate (and Clinton backer) Don Tyson reportedly is close to bringing new indictments of his own. He also is reported to have turned over to Mr. Starr files and evidence that could be used in several other prospective cases. Among possible targets is Dan Lasater, a Clinton financial backer, big time bond trader, and convicted drug trafficker. House Banking Committee Chairman Jim Leach (R., Iowa) and Sen. Alfonse D'Amato, chairman of the Senate Whitewater and Banking Committees, reportedly are ready to proceed with reports and hearings on matters as diverse as the Travelgate scandal (in which White House Travel Office employees were fired and then smeared); the Mena, Ark., airstrip associated with drug trafficking, payoffs and money laundering; and possible perjury and obstruction of justice by current and former White House staff and advisers. Beyond this, Paula Jones remains out there with her sexual harassment charges against Mr. Clinton, whose attorney gave new visibility to the charges by claiming immunity for the president on the basis that as commander-in-chief he was akin to an active duty soldier. Then, way out there on the fringe, are investigations still under way into the death of Deputy White House Counsel Vincent Foster and of several scandal-associated Arkansans who expired under mysterious circumstances. Presume for a moment that the investigations into unexplained deaths, narcotics trafficking and money laundering have nothing to do with the Clintons or flow from conspiracy-theorist imaginations. The rest of what generically has become known as Whitewater still could provide more than enough raw material to keep Republicans and media researchers busy until Election Day. In addition, we can expect Independent Counsel Starr to leverage his recent convictions to frighten into cooperation not only Mr. Tucker and the McDougals, but also literally dozens of big and bit players in Arkansas who now fear for their own futures as additional cases are pursued. What can Democrats do? In previous presidential election years, incumbent Democratic presidents in trouble voluntarily have stepped down early in the election year rather than subject their party to divisive debate or probable general election defeat. In 1952 President Harry Truman stepped aside and, in 1968, Lyndon Johnson followed suit. Both did so because they were associated with unpopular wars (Korea and Vietnam) that had driven their popularity through the floor. President Clinton's situation is different. There is no substantive issue creating a polarizing emotional divide in the party or country. And, unlike Truman and Johnson, he still maintains a respectable approval rating and leads his prospective opponent, Bob Dole, in opinion polls. At any rate, we are midway through the campaign year, and the nominating process is over. In this circumstance our only option, of course, is to stick by the Clintons until and unless courts of law move against them. Yet congressional and other defenders of the president and first lady understandably will become wary as they fear they might be signing their own political death warrants by defending them against charges that subsequently might prove to be true. No matter, our first obligations as a party is to Stand By Your Man (and his Hillary). Everything will change, however, if investigations and court proceedings result in one or more indictments against the first couple. Then the task will be to save the party and its candidates rather than let them be destroyed in a Clinton implosion. We as Democrats will have an obligation to forestall the Republican tidal wave that could take place in November, absent a Clinton withdrawal. A GOP landslide could provide hard-edged Contract Republicans with strong majorities in both houses of Congress and the ability to enact into law an agenda we have so far held in check. Fortunately, there is time. Even though President Clinton has amassed the Democratic delegates necessary for his nomination, party rules provide that every delegate technically is unpledged in the event of an extraordinary circumstance. By our late August convention, it may well be that the charges and rumors will have been resolved and put to rest. However, if disastrous news hits the Clintons between now and late August, the responsibility of party delegates will be clear. It will be to call on the president voluntarily to step down and to make way for a substitute nominee--logically, Vice President Al Gore, whose reputation for personal integrity is unsullied and who has kept full distance from Whitewater and related matters. Another Possibility There is another possibility, of course. It is that the charges and investigations involving the Clintons will develop like those against President Richard Nixon in 1972. Before that election, a series of congressional and media inquiries began to establish that serious wrongdoing had taken place in the Nixon White House. Sen. George McGovern, the Democratic presidential nominee, strongly challenged President Nixon to answer these charges but was not taken seriously. Later, after President Nixon's second inaugural, a worst-case denouement took place and the country approached a constitutional crisis until Mr. Nixon was forced to resign. As Democrats there is little we can do about that eventuality but pray that it doesn't take place. But if the outlook is clear and gloomy by August, we Democrats must think the unthinkable and be prepared to act on it. Otherwise, the growing Whitewater scandal could overtake and bury our party and its candidates. And all because we blindly walked to the guillotine chanting repetitively the Clinton mantra that "mistakes were made" but "we did nothing wrong." Mr. Van Dyk, a 1992 adviser to presidential candidate Paul Tsongas, has been active in Democratic national politics since 1961. Copyright (c) 1996 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. 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