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Thursday, Apr. 15, 1999

Starr: Independent Counsel Act flawed

Prosecutor defends tactics, but recommends not renewing law in June

By LAURIE KELLMAN
Associated Press

    WASHINGTON - Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr rebuffed allegations that he abused his office as "completely bogus" on Wednesday but stunned some of his harshest detractors by adopting their disdain for the law that empowered him to investigate the president.
   Amid a polite but steady stream of criticism from Democratic senators, the controversial prosecutor mixed a legalistic defense of his staff's tactics with reflective and conciliatory statements.
   "I think there are ways in which I do search my memory and conscience and could we have done something in a less public way ... and I despair," Starr testified - at that point discussing the public battle last year to force Secret Service agents to testify about the relationship between President Clinton and Monica Lewinsky."
   Democrats on the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee were caught off guard when Starr sent in his testimony calling for abolition of the Independent Counsel Act.
   "If you live long enough, you'll experience everything. I never expected to be sharing that judgment with you," said Sen. Robert Torricelli, D-N.J.
   At the White House, press secretary Joe Lockhart said it was "difficult to see how you reconcile" Starr's investigation with his objections. But, Lockhart added, "we'll leave it to more objective commentators and historians to draw their own conclusions."
   And Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said Starr's reasoning that the independent counsel law was flawed because the process had become too politicized was like "Jack the Ripper calling for more neighborhood patrols because of the surge in crime victims."
   Starr reiterated that he believes he has the power to indict Clinton after the president leaves office, and he said his criticism of the 1978 law wouldn't interfere with his continuing duties as independent counsel.
   The law expires June 30, and Starr recommended to the Senate panel reviewing its future that it not be renewed because it was "constitutionally dubious" and "structurally unsound."
   Starr's $40 million investigation and the impeachment trial it prompted was so emotionally charged that some senators have suggested a cooling-off period before a final decision is made on whether to reauthorize the law.
   No consensus exists for how to fix what critics say are the statute's flaws - chiefly the lack of a way to hold independent counsels accountable for their tactics and the money they spend. Starr said the law violates the constitutional separation of powers between the branches of government and leaves the investigator vulnerable to political attacks.
   

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