Editorials
Tuesday, October 7, 1997NO sooner had Attorney General Janet Reno announced that she had rejected calls for an independent counsel to investigate allegations of Democratic campaign fund-raising violations than the Clinton administration released videotapes of President Clinton and Vice President Gore at fund-raising events at the White House. The Senate committee investigating fund-raising had asked the White House in July for all related materials but didn't get these tapes. Reno should reconsider her decision in the light of the belated disclosures. Tapes strengthen case
for special prosecutorA Clinton spokesman claimed that the administration did not know that the tapes existed until recently. He called the situation an honest mistake. Maybe. But the timing of the disclosure makes it particularly suspicious.
The disappearance of evidence is nothing new in Congress' efforts to hold the Clintons accountable. There was, for example, the mysterious reappearance of Whitewater-related documents in the office of Mrs. Clinton after they had been declared lost.
The Senate committee recently unearthed another abuse: The chairman of the Democratic National Committee pressured a National Security Council official to back off from her recommendation against letting Roger Tamraz, a financier with a shady reputation who had given the Democrats hundreds of thousands of dollars, attend a White House event, where he lobbied for support for his proposed Caspian Sea oil pipeline. One of the tapes that was released shows Clinton shaking hands with Tamraz.
There are 44 coffee hours on the tapes, which were released Sunday by the White House. They show Clinton thanking his visitors, but reportedly without asking for money. In footage from one reception, then-Democratic National Chairman Don Fowler refuses five checks offered by a guest, apologizes and says the checks could be handled later. The administration says there are more tapes of similar events at the White House and a search is under way to locate them.
An 1893 law bars the solicitation of political donations in federal offices. Whether or not requests for money were made at the coffees, the purpose of these events was clearly to raise campaign funds. The presidentially appointed attorney general should stand aside and let a special prosecutor determine whether the law was broken.
Reno has extended a preliminary inquiry into allegations against Gore, including his attendance at a fund-raising event at a California Buddhist temple, which could lead to the appointment of an independent counsel. But the case against Clinton also requires independent handling.
HAWAII appears to have been spared most of President Clinton's line-item vetoes of projects that were part of a military construction bill. The president did veto a $9.5 million appropriation for permanent quarters for the recently launched Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies at Fort DeRussy, but the center should be able to continue operations at its present rental space in Waikiki. Military building cuts
While supporting the line-item veto as a means for presidents to eliminate individual items without vetoing entire bills, we find this application questionable if the implication is that the center isn't worth funding. Its purpose is to promote the exchange of views and information on security issues in the Asia-Pacific region, which is valuable. However, there is no indication that the veto was intended as a slap at the center.
The military think tank was opened two years ago. It brings Asian military and civilian leaders to Hawaii for lectures and discussions on military, political, economic and diplomatic subjects. Modeled on the George Marshall Center in Germany and funded through the Defense Department, it does not compete with the East-West Center, which relies on State Department support.
Under a provision added by Senator Inouye, the military construction bill included funding for permanent facilities to be built for the center at DeRussy. Clinton vetoed projects that had not gone beyond the design stage and were not ready for construction. Presumably new quarters can still be built at a future date, but the veto could delay the move.
Escaping Clinton's line-item veto were projects totaling $13 million for naval housing at Pearl Harbor, $7.4 million for an advanced SEAL facility at Pearl Harbor and $5.2 million for additions and changes to the Army National Guard training facility at Bellows Air Force Station. Hawaii's strategic importance and Inouye's influence continue to be appreciated in the White House as well as in Congress.
ROSS Perot got only 8 percent of the popular vote in the 1996 presidential election, a far cry from his showing in 1992. The way he toyed with former Colorado Gov. Richard Lamm, a supposed rival for the Reform Party nomination, may have turned off some supporters. His failure to qualify for the TV debates must have hurt. A no-Perot party
Now a dissident group has organized a new party, sort of a Perot party without Perot. Meeting in Schaumburg, Ill., it kept part of the Reform Party name, calling itself the American Reform Party. "We've created a political home for the millions of people who voted for Perot's ideas in '92 but could not bring themselves to vote for the man in '96," said the party's chairwoman, Linda Witherspoon.
Perot alienated many with his antics, but before that he succeeded in attracting millions to the idea that the federal government should be shrunk. Without his flair for publicity, the new party may have a hard time getting the people's attention.
Rupert E. Phillips, CEO
John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher
David Shapiro, Managing Editor
Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor
Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors
A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor
