Editorials
Friday, January 23, 1998ALLEGATIONS of sexual misconduct have hovered like a dark cloud over Bill Clinton throughout his presidency, but the latest scandal is a full-fledged storm that could be the most serious of all. A 24-year-old former White House intern was recorded on tape numerous times during what she stated was a lengthy sexual affair with the president. Both Clinton and the intern, Monica Lewinsky, have denied the accusation under oath, but their denials raise the question of perjury rather than discrediting the allegations. Allegations must be thoroughly probed
Lewinsky began her internship in the public affairs office of the White House in the summer of 1995 and, at the age of 21, allegedly became involved in a consensual affair with Clinton late that year. She was transferred to a job at the Pentagon in 1996, but is said to have made numerous visits to the White House in the late afternoon and evenings through last year.
Lewinsky began confiding more than a year ago in an older woman, one-time White House staffer Linda Tripp, who also had been moved to a Pentagon job. Tripp's credibility had been attacked last year by a Clinton attorney when she said another colleague had told her she had been kissed and "fondled" by Clinton in a room off the Oval Office. Perhaps to retaliate, Tripp began recording her conversations with Lewinsky.
Tripp compiled about 20 hours of surreptitiously taped phone conversations with Lewinsky on 17 tapes. In addition, the FBI recently wired Tripp to record what turned into a four-hour conversation between Tripp and Lewinsky at a suburban Washington hotel. On the tapes, Lewinsky is heard weeping, intimating that she had a sexual relationship with the president and deciding to deny it if questioned by lawyers for Paula Jones, the woman suing Clinton for sexual harassment in a pre-presidential incident. Tripp contends that Clinton and his lawyer-friend and adviser Vernon Jordan coached her to lie.
Attorney General Janet Reno has authorized Whitewater prosecutor Kenneth Starr to investigate the matter, and Starr immediately issued subpoenas to the White House for any records pertaining to Lewinsky.
Proof of sexual misbehavior could be a crippling blow to Clinton's ability to perform his duties,but obstructing justice by committing or even suborning perjury is even more serious. Those are impeachable offenses that warrant the most thorough investigation.
SENATE President Norman Mizuguchi dropped a bomb of sorts in his remarks at the opening of the Legislature with his call for an independent commission on closings of public schools with shrinking enrollments. He likened the proposal to the federal commission on closing military bases. School closings
There is a similarity in that closing a school can be almost as hot a political potato as closing a base, and the politicians are reluctant to come to grips with the issue. Mizuguchi accuses the Board of Education, which is elected, of refusing to confront the need to close schools. Therefore, he argues, an appointed commission is needed.
In theory, it makes sense to close schools where enrollments are shrinking because the neighborhood is aging and fewer families have school-age children. In practice, it means a battle with the parents of the students still attending the schools.
They can cite studies showing that children learn more in smaller schools because the environment is more conducive to education. Moreover, as Superintendent Herman Aizawa pointed out, the savings achieved in closing a school would not be significant, perhaps $175,000 to $200,000. There is no saving in teachers' salaries because the teachers are transferred to bigger schools.
A school should be closed when enrollment drops so low that continuing to operate the facility would be grossly inefficient. The parents' desire to keep the school open cannot be the deciding factor. But Mizuguchi is mistaken in assuming that this is a way to save a lot of money.
STATE officials are embarrassed - as they should be - about construction of a University of Hawaii softball stadium in which much of the action on the playing field will be blocked from fans' view. The season will go ahead at the facility as scheduled for the UH Wahine softball team, after which repairs will be made. Because of this major defect, no admission will be charged, which means a loss of revenue for UH. New stadium repairs
The $1.2 million stadium construction was the responsibility of the state Department of Accounting and General Services. The department or university officials should have detected the problem long before completion, at the design stage, but that should not let stadium architect Bryce Uyehara off the hook unless he advised state officials of the problem.
DAGS Director Sam Callejo says the problem was created by raising stands from the originally planned height of seven feet to 14 feet so they could be built atop an existing electrical supply building that would have been expensive to move. As a result, people sitting in the stands will not be able to see much of the action in the area of home plate. Any casual observer of the national pastime knows that is where most of the action occurs.
Governor Cayetano says the stadium will be fixed, as of course it must be. That could involve raising the level of the playing field, rebuilding the stands or changing the design in other ways, at a cost estimated between $100,000 and $500,000.
Callejo says he has directed his staff to review the minutes of all meetings with Uyehara to determine who approved what changes "to see how we got where we are." Those findings also should be used to decide who pays for the repairs. If it's the state, the responsible officials should catch hell.
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
