Salon | Swamp Fever

S W A M P   F E V E R   |   B Y   J A M E S   C A R V I L L E

CASE CLOSED

Kenneth Starr proves, beyond a reasonable doubt,
that he has absolutely no judgment.

if you're a stargazer, NASA's just-completed Hubble house call made for a heckuva memorable week. The week was no less exciting for those of us who make a hobby of watching a particular wayward Starr here on earth. On Tuesday, we learned that Kenneth Starr, the "independent" counsel investigating Whitewater, was going to be packing his bags and heading for sunny Malibu U. And then, on Friday, after several days of blistering criticism, Starr changed his mind once again. Tail between his legs, he announced he would stay on as counsel until the Whitewater investigation is over.
While all of this was downright confusing, it shouldn't have been all that surprising. From the very start, everything about Starr has been, to say the least, bizarre. The circumstances of his appointment to this post were bizarre. His conduct in office has been bizarre. His abrupt decision to split was bizarre. His about-face was bizarre. Starr's now 4-for4. We should be plenty used to this by now.
I will admit, however, I was caught off-guard by Starr's decision to leave. I was well aware of Starr's failings. I had even started an organization to publicize them. But the last thing I thought was that Starr would just up and quit.
Why did he decide to abandon his post? I can't claim any special access to the truth on this one. But as always, I'll be happy to give you my opinions. First of all, he didn't think it was that big of a deal. In this team of investigators, it seems, quitting is the fashionable thing to do. The turnover among staff lawyers has been ridiculously high. Well over half of the lawyers who have participated in this witch hunt have left rather than see it through. Devotion to duty just ain't that high on their agenda.
Second, there was the public pressure orchestrated by me and others. The blood sport Starr helped pump up was not as predictable as he thought. When it turned on him, he decided to turn tail. Being a dean at Pepperdine University suddenly looked to him like a dream job.
The final reason is probably the most important. In the end, criticism from people on our side of the aisle may have been less intense than the pressure he was getting from his right-wing patrons. You see, these guys set Starr up with an impossible mission. Even if Starr had wanted to conduct a credible, nonpartisan investigation, that wasn't going to be enough. To please the right-wingers who helped him get his post -- the same right-wingers who he hoped would someday help him get on a short list for the Supreme Court -- he had to come up with something real big. Harassing the president and first lady was necessary but insufficient. One way or another, he had to find the kind of evidence that would bring them down. In essence, he was commissioned to prove that the Earth was flat.
After two and a half years and more than $17 million in taxpayer expense, Starr finally came to the conclusion that he couldn't do it. He had no credible case against the president or first lady. All the arm-twisting in the world wasn't going to change that fact. His choice was either to stay on and admit that the world is in fact round and the Clintons are in fact honorable human beings, or just skip town and let his underlings handle it. Starr took the easy way out.
Or so he thought. By the end of the week, getting out wasn't so easy after all. Right-wingers and op-ed writers were all over him like gravy on rice. For once, I was amazed by their clarity of thought. They said that the week's antics proved that Starr has no judgment. They said Starr showed that he cares only about his own career and doesn't give a whit about seeing justice done. They said Starr ought to be replaced immediately, not given a chance to compromise the investigation further. Amen, brothers and sisters. Amen.
Even now that Starr has said he'll stay to the bitter end, it's too late for him to regain his credibility. Conservatives like George Will are treating him with nothing but disdain. To his subordinates, he's still nothing but a lame duck. The best his supporters can say is that their guy has a "tin ear," which to my ear sounds like they, too, are saying he has no judgment. Even his good friends can't put together a convincing defense this time around.
As for me, I've got plenty of work to do. The Education and Information Project I started back in the fall to keep the public aware of Starr's prosecutorial excesses and his many conflicts of interest will go on. Until we see Starr pack his bags, we'll keep up our efforts. The first thing we're going to focus on is the non-Whitewater investigations. Everyone in Washington knows that his office has concluded that the White House travel office firings were in fact done with legitimate cause and authority, the FBI file flap was in fact nothing more than a bureaucratic snafu, and that Vince Foster's death was in fact a tragic suicide. It's time Starr allowed his office to put out their final reports. It's time Starr admitted that the world is round.
And then the Education and Information Project will turn back to Whitewater. There ain't no way these people are going to continue harassing the president for the rest of his time in office. The longer Starr drags this out, the more heat we will apply.
When Starr finally does depart, I hope we will learn from our mistakes. I'd like to think that next time a person is charged with weighing evidence against a president, one of the most serious and sober responsibilities a private citizen can be given, he or she will not be a partisan hack. I'd like to think that any future independent prosecutor will have a reputation and credentials that are above reproach. At the very least, I'd like to think we'll find someone with more than a modicum of sound judgment.
Feb. 24, 1997
Has Starr lost all credibility as a prosecutor with his recent flip-flop? Chew it over in Table Talk.