Perversion of justice

Wildcat File Photo Arizona Daily Wildcat

I waded my way through the swarm of reporters and, once I finally passed the heightened security, headed to the elevator. Upon entering the office, I clicked on C-Span and tuned in to what was about to take place just three floors below me, where the Judiciary Committee was preparing to begin impeachment hearings.

Enter Kenneth W. Starr.

The independent council had come to Capitol Hill to lay out a road map for the committee to render justice in the matter of President Clinton's alleged wrongdoing. The man who has been vilified for months, years, finally would have his chance to be heard.

He described a pattern of behavior on the part of the president which, if found to be true, could result in his removal from office.

There was the time the president testified that he could not recall if he had been alone in the Oval Office with Monica Lewinsky. There was the time he had his secretary Betty Currie retrieve and hide the gifts which were exchanged between he and his young lover. There was the time he used his cabinet to deceive the American people on his behalf.

Judge Starr presented a compelling case and displayed a pattern of behavior where repeatedly, when confronted with a choice between truth and deceit, the president chose deceit.

At no time during the hearings - not once - did any Democrat member offer a single defense of the president against Judge Starr's charges. They gave the American people no reason to believe the man they so adamantly support is different from the hundred of criminals sitting in cells right now because they had committed similar offenses.

The strategy of the Democrats instead was to distract attention from the charges by shifting the focus to the prosecutor.

Sadly, this group of demagogues had become skilled in the art of character assassination in their attempts to avoid substantive debate. In an effort to conceal wrongdoing by the president, they seem prepared to abandon their responsibilities throughout the process by launching a fundamentally dishonest assault on Ken Starr.

Their shameful actions were reminiscent of Johnnie Cochran explaining that O.J. Simpson didn't kill his wife because Mark Fuhrman said the "N-word."

Starr was given a task by the Department of Justice, one he did not ask for. He has relinquished his privacy as well as a lucrative income to take on this civil service job for the American people. In an effort to defend the indefensible, the White House camp and their allies attack this man to achieve victory at any cost.

This should anger all Americans because these tactics seem likely to prevent true justice from ever being discovered. If the president did not commit these acts - if he did not commit perjury, obstruct justice, tamper with witnesses or abuse his power - then he should be left alone.

But the very process the Judiciary Committee is attempting to peruse is being derailed by the maneuvering of those who seem more concerned about how long they are allowed to speak and the treatment of ex-con Web Hubble, than they are with the criminal activity of the president of the United States.

If the Democrats are able to direct this investigation to a deliberate death and then claim partisanship on behalf Republicans, it will be the American people who will lose. The people of this nation deserve to know the truth, whatever it may be.

"What can I say," I tell those who call Newt Gingrich's office each day to vent such frustration. They want me to tell them that it all will be OK, and that, in the end, justice will prevail. Unfortunately, I can't do that.

In fact, it is likely that Bill Clinton will get away with it, and sadly, for all the wrong reasons. He has lied to a grand jury, the American people, his own family. He may walk away from this claiming victory, even feeling as if he is above the law.

But the president and those who defend his dishonest ways are not above the oath he took when he raised his right hand. It was he who said it: "So help me God," as he completed that oath.

Al Mollo is a political science senior serving an internship in Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich's office and can be reached via e-mail at Al.Mollo@wildcat.arizona.edu. His column, From atop the Hill, appears every Wednesday.