Sue Hartigan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
To many in Little Rock, reach of inquiry is
`eerie'
They oppose tactics of Starr, aides in
Whitewater case
Agents sought boy at high school
Tuesday, May 5, 1998
By Tom Hamburger
Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- From the windows of his 17th-floor
office in
downtown Little Rock, architect Don Evans sees his
hometown under siege.
As independent counsel Kenneth Starr wraps up the
Arkansas end of his
four-year inquiry, Evans put into words what the
investigation has meant to the
power structure in the city of 172,000.
"We are an occupied city," said Evans, a soft-spoken,
self-described
Democrat. A dozen years ago, his work touched upon the
Whitewater
controversy when he remodeled Madison Guaranty Savings
& Loan, the
financial institution at the center of President Bill
Clinton's allegedly improper
business transactions.
Despite his small role, Evans said that he, like many
of his friends and
neighbors in Little Rock, has felt "the eerie
surveillance" of a prosecutor whose
office has an unlimited budget and few institutional
constraints.
Most of Starr's critics happen to be Democrats, the
party that has dominated
Arkansas politics for decades. Now, the state's
Democrats are speaking out
against a prosecutor they believe has abused his power
in a seemingly endless
pursuit of their favorite son.
Little Rock was transformed when Bill Clinton began his
run for the
presidency in 1992. From then on, Clinton's alleged
transgressions during his
years as governor - from compulsive womanizing to
questionable real estate
deals - have haunted him and denizens of his home
state.
Last month, however, many there focused not so much on
Clinton's alleged
misdeeds but on the prosecutor investigating them.
Evans first encountered Starr's agents when they called
to seek the
whereabouts of a receptionist who had left his office
10 years before.
"They said they had found her name on a call slip from
1988, and it was then
that I realized the scope of this investigation," he
said. "They were contacting
anyone who had ever called Madison, putting everything
under a microscope."
Evans had only one other contact with the FBI, a visit
from an agent who went
through his files on the bank renovation. He was never
charged with any crime
or called before the grand jury that is scheduled to go
out of business
Thursday.
`Kenneth Starr Go Home!'
"They are not on our street corners with guns, but the
prosecutors' years here
have damaged relationships in this town," he said. "You
are wary of what you
say. You worry about who you talk to."
His views were echoed by Democrats throughout Arkansas,
some of whom
drive around with bumper stickers reading "Kenneth
Starr Go Home!" or "I
Slept with Ken Starr."
Of course, there are many in Little Rock who say the
independent counsel has
done more good than harm.
"I recognize the dangers of a grand inquisitor on the
loose with unlimited sums
of our money," said Paul Greenberg, an editorial writer
for Little Rock's
newspaper, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. "Yet in many
ways, the ethical
standards of our state have been raised by all this."
Greenberg noted that former Gov. Jim Guy Tucker has
been convicted of
fraud and removed from office and that the legislature
is considering enactment
of a meaningful code of ethics.
In a recent editorial, Greenberg credited Starr with
"tearing through the
one-party establishment in this state." The writer
suggested that "the biggest
beneficiary of this four-year investigation could prove
to be the quality of
politics in Arkansas."
Others suggest that the era will be remembered as a
time of latter-day witch
hunts. "They were after people, not crimes," said Jack
Lassiter, a Little Rock
lawyer.
Are Starr's critics right?
It's difficult to gauge the conduct of this prosecutor
because, as New York
University law professor Stephen Gillers puts it: "The
public lacks much
information given the rules governing grand jury
secrecy and the protection
afforded law enforcement materials. Acts that may seem
abusive can appear
reasonable in a context we do not have."
What's more, Starr is the subject of a vigorous assault
by the White House
and is limited in his ability to respond. Indeed, no
one from Starr's office was
willing to comment for this story.
It is, however, possible to gauge the impact of a
prosecutor on a small state
where one gregarious man served as governor for 12
years. Most everyone
who has had contact with Clinton - from merchants to
political appointees to
community organizers - has felt the presence of the
independent counsel.
In some cases, agents have come armed with subpoenas
and asked
shopkeepers - such as Susan Pfeifer of the Design
Center - to review five
years' worth of receipts. In several cases, agents
questioned relatives of those
under scrutiny - in one case a 16-year-old boy was
sought at his high school.
No one is angrier than Herby Branscum, a banker, lawyer
and Democratic
stalwart. Clinton named him to the Arkansas highway
commission.
Branscum was acquitted in 1996 of charges that he and
his bank partner,
Robert Hill, concealed large cash withdrawals from
Clinton's 1990 race for
governor. The jury was hung on questions of whether he
and Hill had
reimbursed themselves with $13,000 in bank funds for
political contributions.
Branscum said he and his partner and their bank spent
more than $1.5 million
in legal fees, had their lives disrupted and their
immediate families dragged
before the Whitewater grand jury.
`Absolutely frightening'
"No other prosecutor in the country would have brought
this case," said
Branscum's defense lawyer, Dan Guthrie of Dallas, a
former assistant U.S.
attorney. "These two men were each accused of
misappropriating what
amounts to about $1,600 a year from a bank that is not
only solvent but
growing. Essentially, the government charged that they
were stealing from
themselves."
In the Branscum case, prosecutors had hoped to get
information on Clinton or
one of his aides, Bruce Lindsey, who was named an
unindicted
co-conspirator.
"It was an incredible prosecutorial effort that
bordered on Gestapo tactics,"
Guthrie said. "They were trying to pressure Herby to
enter a plea" by calling
family members to testify.
Many of those called had made campaign contributions,
and the prosecutor
was interested in whether they had received
reimbursement for them.
Hill's 16-year-old son was subpoenaed, and agents first
went to find him at
the local high school.
Branscum, a power in state government and local
business circles, said that he
was unnerved by his encounter with the independent
counsel. "It was
absolutely frightening," he said.
Starr's office declined requests to comment.
--
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1. Don't tell people everything you know.
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