Capital Briefs

Human Events, May 22, 1998

* STARR ASKS FOR CONTEMPT:, Independent Counsel Ken Starr has struck back at Bill Clinton's personal lawyer, David Kendall, who periodically holds press conferences accusing Starr's office of leaking secret grand jury testimony while never producing any evidence. Starr filed a motion May 12 with the U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia asking the court to hold Kendall in contempt unless he can produce evidence that leaks are coming from Starr's office.

Starr was responding to a May 6 motion filed by Kendall seeking court sanctions on Starr's office for allegedly leaking that Chief Judge Norma Holloway Johnson had decided that President Clinton's invocation of executive privilege to prevent his aides from testifying was invalid. Fox News had originally identified Starr's office as the source of its story breaking that piece of news, but then labeled that identification as a "mischaracterization."

* REGULATE EXECUTIVE PRIVILEGE: House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R.-Tex.) and Sen. John Ashcroft (R.Mo.) have introduced legislation to require the President to notify Congress when he uses executive privilege to withhold information in court proceedings. The two expressed disgust at what they consider Clinton's abuse of the privilege in order to delay cases. Their bill also mandates faster court review of executive privilege claims and allows direct appeal to the Supreme Court to reduce the amount of obstruction that can be caused by frivolous privilege claims.

* COMMUNITY RENEWAL REINTRODUCED: The Community Renewal Act, authored by Representatives Jim Talent (R.-Mo.) and J.C. Watts (R.-Okla.), was reintroduced on May 13, this time minus its controversial schoolchoice initiative. "It's the antithesis of big-government programs," said Kristin Young, Talent's spokeswoman. "It contains moral renewal as well" In a provision similar to the long-discussed enterprise zone idea, the bill contains tax breaks to entice small businesses into depressed urban areas.

It also would allow government money to flow to "faithbased rehabilitation centers," said Young, "which historically perform better than others" In addition, the bill would create certain capital gains tax exemptions. Since House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R.-Ga.), Majority Leader Dick Armey (R.-Tex.), and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Archer (R.-Tex.) are all supporters of the bill, it is expected to advance quickly in the House, especially if cosponsor Rep. Danny Davis (D.-Ill.) can persuade some of his black Democratic colleagues to sign on.

* DEMOCRATIC 'HYPOCRATS': House Republican Conference Chairman John Boehner (R.-Ohio) is fuming over Democrats' professed disgust with Government Reform and Oversight Chairman Dan Burton (R.-Ind.) for releasing the Webster Hubbell tapes while staying conspicuously silent over the Tapegate incident orchestrated by Rep. Jim McDermott (D.-Wash.) two years ago. McDermott allegedly leaked the tape, made by a Florida couple, of a conversation Boehner had with fellow House leaders.

Democrats were quick to defend Hubbell, a convicted felon, yet, Boehner said, "none of these staunch defenders of privacy rights has spoken one word about members and staff who violated the rules of the House and federal law in a plot to illegally release the contents of my illegally recorded cell phone conversation." Boehner's civil suit against McDermott is still in court, where McDermott's lawyers have tried to quash it on what Boehner and his lawyers say are very flimsy 1 st Amendment grounds.

* NEW NUCLEAR POWER: The Clinton Administration, never a foreign policy adept, struggled to get on top of the situation after India detonated three nuclear bombs on May 11. The President was blindsided when the CIA failed to figure out that increased activity at a test site in northwestern India-conveniently located close to the border of Pakistan, India's archrival and a suspected nuclear power itself-meant that underground tests were about to be conducted. India detonated two more bombs on May 13.

India's move, the first time it has openly admitted to possessing nuclear weapons, came soon after the election victory of a Hindu nationalist party and the installation of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. President Clinton announced sanctions that will cost India hundreds of millions of dollars plus steps that could lead to the loss of many billions in credit. Vajpayee's government responded with a symbolic shoulder shrug. "The news of the day is: India defies world opinion," said a spokesman-as Pakistan threatened to conduct its own tests and GOP members of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence demanded to know why the CIA failed to warn the President of what was to happen.

* NO `NO GO' RESOLUTION ON CHINA: With all the consternation among Senate Republicans over the President's first trip to Red China, the controversial technology sales to Beijing (see cover box story) and the ongoing investigations into China's influence in U.S. politics, talk had been mounting about a Senate resolution calling on the President to cancel the visit. But sources close to the Senate Republican Caucus said that when the subject actually came up for consideration, "there was no interest in taking that route,' for fear of appearing to be interfering in the President's foreign policy prerogatives. House conservatives, however, are still considering such a move.