On the Prowl
ON THE PROWL Counting Corks The bubbly flowed freely at the White House after Whitewater independent counsel Kenneth Starr announced he'd be moving to Malibu. "The White House Counsel's office...
...1 The American Spectator • April 9 9 7 15...
...She Blinded Them With Science The White House refused comment when asked why Secretary of State Madeleine Albright apologized to the German government for the State Department's latest human rights report that—in harsher language than any directed at China—accuses Germany of discriminating against the Church of Scientology...
...The question was never raised...
...In one, Dodd admitted he may indeed have been present at a December 21,1995 White House coffee he previously denied attending...
...Blair Force One The White House was not the Democrats' only bed-andbreakfast...
...Jones shouldn't count on big donations from his bosses, real estate developer and team owner Edward DeBartolo and 49er president Carmen Policy—both are heavy donors to Bay Area Democrats...
...It was more out of relief than anything else, because they assumed Starr's replacement wouldn't be quite as sharp and there might be some light at the end of the tunnel...
...Real Patriotic Gore The first Democratic politician to pay a price for the fundraising scandals may not be Bill Clinton but former DNC co-chairman Sen...
...The conservative Republican has told friends he intends to retire after the 1997 season and prepare to run for Congress in the East Bay in 2000...
...But someone very close to the troubled agents tells the Prowler that Woodward's source isn't in the FBI—and isn't even in the country...
...Bruce Lindsey supposedly stopped by the office and asked Lanny Davis if he felt like popping a few corks now...
...Her assignment: to find out whether her boss could be told in advance that she had won for her book on tape, It Takes a Village...
...Traditionally they've been doled out regardless of party affiliation by seniority...
...There was Buddy Young, former head of the Arkansas State Police detail at the Governor's Mansion, who tried to squelch the Trooper-gate revelations...
...He's up for re-election next year, and a barrage of bad press from the liberal Hartford Courant, the state's dominant paper, may well encourage a serious Republican challenge from popular governor John Rowland...
...White House sources tell the Prowler that Blair House, a private White House residence just across Pennsylvania Avenue, was also rented out to potential donors...
...That part of the report was written by the White House, and now staffers on the Senate Finance IRS Oversight subcommittee want to know why...
...Court of Appeals...
...ATaxing Question The growing fundraising scandal is raising many troubling questions like: Who paid for the perks overnight guests and coffee klatch attendees received while on government grounds...
...It was just understood, I think, that the White House"—in other words the taxpayers —"would pick up the tab...
...In late February the Courant put two damaging stories on the front page...
...And they rarely came into contact with Clinton...
...A DNC source says that the party has never received a bill from the White House, nor do they anticipate getting one...
...Many of the Blair guests were donors to the DNC in the $35,00o-$5o,000 range...
...Another guest at the coffee was convicted stock manipulator Eric Wynn, whose bail has since been revoked...
...Bill's personal physician from Arkansas, Dr...
...One of the klatchers that day, Connecticut businessman James Belcher, says that Dodd arranged a phone call for him from John Huang...
...Christopher Dodd of Connecticut...
...The president has his entertainment budget, and we've been covering most of the fundraising incidentals out of that for the past four years," said another White House source...
...Shearer, a.k.a...
...But Lott overrode seniority and gave it to Larry Craig, a member of Lott's leadership team...
...There were notable fixers and damage controllers, Skip Rutherford, James Lyons, and Jim "Commodities" Blair...
...The good cheer gave way to hangover when Starr changed his mind a few days later...
...Good to know patriotism can still be the last refuge of a scoundrel...
...One fellow who will help finance Jones's run is his long-time partner in passing situations, quarterback Steve Young, a devout Mormon who maintains a residence in Utah and is considering a political career of his own when he retires...
...Since Democrats intend to block all funding for such moves, Nickles & Co...
...Some might have even been friends...
...In 1993, after 26 years of trying, the church was granted tax-exempt status as a religious organization in one of the first actions taken by the Clinton-era IRS...
...Susan Santa Cruz, made the list...
...Starr misjudged his value as a figurehead, and changed his mind when staffers brought the message home to him in what sources say were rather blunt terms...
...Witnesses who've dealt with the pair suggest Starr felt he'd only be a distraction once indictments were handed down...
...There was federal judge Henry Woods, a longtime Hillary pal who threw out some of the Independent Counsel's indictments until he was overturned and reprimanded by the U.S...
...As the staffer explained, due to scheduling conflicts Mrs...
...The White House Counsel's office pulled out a few bottles of champagne and toasted each other," said a White House staffer...
...The White House says the Democratic National Committee covered all costs, but sources at both the DNC and White House say such payments haven't been made, since no one knows how much was spent...
...Minority leader Tom Daschle's office retaliated by leaking a memo claiming Republican office moves would cost nearly $2 million (wildly inflated — $59o,000 is a more realistic figure...
...After Washington Post writer Bob Woodward reported that Chinese government officials may have funneled money to the DNC, two G-men were told to find out who within the Bureau had leaked the story...
...LippoHuang and Gore-Clinton go-between Mark Grobmyer is on it too, along with ideological soulmates Derek Shearer and Mrs...
...People would sleep at Blair House, be served breakfast there and then escorted over the Old Executive Office Building for tours and briefings in the White House," says one White House source...
...Political Football All-Pro San Francisco 49er tight end Brent Jones may be the next star athlete to enter politics...
...Meanwhile, Starr's on-again, off-again moves set off a frenzy of White House–abetted speculation that his investigation was petering out...
...But we've never sat down and figured out how much it costs the White House to care for an overnight guest...
...The paper highlighted a Dodd spokesman's defiant reply—that the senator is "not for unilateral disarmament for himself, for his party, or his country...
...This in turn enraged Democrats who had their own designs on the space...
...The paper also played up a memo showing that Dodd opposed DNC co-chairman Don Fowler's suggestion to announce a $2,000 limit on party contributors...
...will have to make do with shabby and cramped quarters...
...On Monday, February 24, two days before the awards were announced, a Grammy official called back to inform the White House, according to this source, "that it would be an honor to have the first lady at the event, that it would be a positive experience for her...
...All 9 along, however, Starr has delegated trial work to able prosecutors such as Hickman o Ewing and W. Ray Jahn...
...14 April 1997 • The American Spectator The New Gridlock When Senate majority whip Don Nickles chose not to challenge Trent Lott for majority leader last fall, he was promised new office space for himself and his staff in the Capitol...
...Clinton would not be able to attend unless she was assured of winning...
...The slam at Germany isn't the first favor the Clinton administration has done for the Scientologists...
...The feuding is over 65 small "hideaways," many of them lavishly appointed with antiques, kitchenettes, wet bars, and even beds...
...Dodd sits on a subcommittee that handles securities issues...
...When Claiborne Pell retired, his plush hideaway was to go to Orrin Hatch...
...There were also several young ladies who, eyewitnesses tell the Prowler, were even closer to Bill...
...But that move—among others—may not come about thanks to a major congressional real-estate war...
...Ruth Goldway, not to mention McGovernites Rick Stearns and Gary Mauro...
...We didn't want her to look like a loser on national TV," a source on her staff later said...
...Many met the vice president and his staff instead...
...Another Heads-Up More than a week before this year's Grammy Awards, a White House staff assistant to first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton called the offices of National Association of Recording Arts and Sciences president and CEO Michael Greene...
...Now That's Outsourcing Some worried FBI agents are wondering which side of the fundraising scandal their bureau is on...
...Bumps in the Night Not every one of the president's 938 overnight guests was a campaign donor—some earned their invitations by providing other services...
...We assumed that meant she had won...
...Clinton fundraisers have long understood the need to maintain friendly ties with the church: it boasts real star power in Clinton's beloved Hollywood, counting among its members the likes of John Travolta and Tom Cruise, and sympathizers such as Dustin Hoffman, Goldie Hawn, and Oliver Stone, who recently signed an open letter comparing the plight of German Scientologists to that of Jews in the 1930's...
Vol. 30 • April 1997 • No. 4
