-Caveat Lector-
Nov 20, 2000 - 06:07 AM
Charles Ruff, Clinton's Impeachment Lawyer, Dead at 61
By Ronald Powers
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Charles Ruff, an influential Washington lawyer
who made a career of defending politicians with legal problems
and represented President Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky
scandal and his impeachment trial, has died at age 61. "All of us
at the White House admired Chuck for the power of his advocacy,
the wisdom of his judgment and the strength of his leadership,"
Clinton said. "We loved him for his generous spirit and his keen
wit which he used to find humor in even the most challenging
circumstances."
The president issued a statement aboard Air Force One during the
flight back to Washington after his historic visit to Vietnam.
Patrick Marshall, watch commander at the District of Columbia
Metropolitan Police Department's Second District headquarters
said Ruff's wife found him unconscious in the master bedroom of
their Washington home.
"It appears to be from natural causes, there is no indication of
foul play," said Marshall. Paramedics were unable to revive Ruff
and he was pronounced dead at D.C. General Hospital.
Ruff had used a wheelchair since contracting a rare tropical
paralyzing disease while teaching law in Africa in the 1960s.
After building a career representing powerful political figures
and, occasionally, their adversaries, Ruff was asked by Clinton
in 1997 to become his chief legal adviser. At the time, Clinton
was being investigated by independent prosecutor Kenneth Starr
for possible wrongdoing in an Arkansas land deal.
The investigation, known as Whitewater because of the name of the
land development scheme in which Clinton and his wife were
partners, soon expanded to include his affair with Lewinsky, a
former White House intern. Starr's investigation led to the House
impeaching Clinton in December 1998 on charges that the president
had lied under oath when questioned about the affair and
obstructed justice.
In an interview with the New York Daily News, Ruff said his
decision to serve Clinton was no choice at all.
"When the president of the United States asks you to do something
you don't say, 'Let me think about it.' You say, 'How can I help
you, Mr. President.'"
Ruff represented Anita Hill in her sexual harassment accusations
against Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas. He also
represented Sens. Charles Robb and John Glenn when they were
embroiled in scandals and former White House aide Ira Magaziner.
As Clinton's lawyer, he mounted a powerful defense of the
president in his closing arguments to the Senate in its
impeachment trial, accusing House GOP prosecutors of being more
motivated by politics than what was good for the nation.
"I believe their vision to be too dark, a vision too little
attuned to the needs of the people, too little sensitive to the
needs of our democracy. I believe it to be a vision more focused
on retribution, more designed to achieve partisan ends, more
uncaring about the future we face together," he said.
Ruff entered hardball Washington politics during the 1970s when
he served as a prosecutor during the Nixon-Watergate
investigation. He initially helped prosecute President Nixon's
chief fund-raisers for taking illegal campaign contributions and
then took over as special prosecutor in 1975.
In one of his final duties, he looked into charges that President
Ford, Nixon's successor, had improperly used campaign funds. Ruff
found no wrongdoing by Ford.
Later, as an associate deputy attorney general in the Justice
Department, he helped prosecute members of Congress in the Abscam
bribery case.
Ruff left the government in 1982 to join the Washington law firm
of Covington Burling, where he earned his reputation for
helping political leaders in legal hot water. He retuned to
public service in 1995 when he accepted a huge pay cut to take on
the job as chief lawyer for the District of Columbia.
Charles Frederick Carson Ruff was born Aug 1, 1939, in Cleveland,
Ohio. He received his undergraduate degree from Swarthmore
College in 1960 and went on to law school at Columbia University,
graduating in 1963.
Fresh out of law school he received a Ford Foundation grant to
teach law in Liberia. It was there that Ruff was struck by
paralysis in his legs. The cause of the affliction was never
determined, but his doctors said they believed it was caused by a
virus.
Ruff is survived by his wife Sue, his daughters Carin and Christy
and his mother Margaret.
AP-ES-11-20-00 0607EST
© Copyright 2000 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published
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