Picking up Bill's Tab

The Newark (NJ) Star-Ledger | Saturday, August 31, 2002 | Editorial Page Editor

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

Picking up Bill's tab:

Former President Bill Clinton is seeking more than $1 million from the federal government to compensate him for legal fees he incurred to protect himself from the Whitewater investigation. He may be legally entitled to the money. There is, however, a better and fairer way of compensation.

There's a precedent for federal subsidy. President Ronald Reagan got money for fees he incurrred during the Iran-contra probe, as did President George Bush the elder.

The Clinton claim is only for the original Whitewater probe, not for paying his lawyers for their work during the Monica Lewinsky investigation that followed it. Keep in mind that the Whitewater investigation was a loser from the beginning. For reasons of politics and personal vendetta, independent counsel Kenneth Starr kept the probe open for six years, even though he later admitted there was no wrongdoing.

Nevertheless, it would be better if the federal government didn't have to pay anyone's legal fees, even those of ex-presidents. There is a more elegant solution to this dilemma, one not provided for in the law books but one that would certainly be equitable.

Send the bills to Starr, who has been getting rich on speaking fees from those who think he did the right thing.

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

I saw this editorial this morning and screamed "F**k you" so loud that my wife thought my brother-in law had come over asking for another loan. These commies never quit. The reason Ken Starr kept the probe open for so long was that every time he tried to get a question answered, somebody died, was unavailable due to being on a prison work detail, or just couldn't remember.

[alisasny]

Whitewater was done prior to them entering the White House. Why should we have to compensate them for criminal activities prior to 1993???

[SES1066]

Please - This really needed a "Barf Alert" tag on it. I'd still read it but would appreciate NOT having coffee coming out my nose (painful). This idiot editorial writer wants to blame the messenger not the root cause - "Slick Willy" and his local facilitators!

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Ken Starr never admitted or said any such thing. Some serious revisionist history from the Star-Ledger.

[Consort]

Clinton will have to wait his turn and be placed at the back of the Reparations line.

[joesnuffy]

He should compensate the victims left in his wake...
Which is pretty much everybody

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

Sorry I left out the Barf Alert. In my defense, it would seem that anything related to the Great Stainmaker and the Devil in a Black Pantsuit would put you on alert, at least enough to have swallowed your coffee.

A great philosopher once noted that, in a perfect world, Elvis would be alive and all the impersonators would be dead. In my perfect world, Hillary would have put $100,000 into cattle futures and turned it into $1,000, and McAuliffe would have invested 18 million in Global Crossing and come out with a hundred grand.

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

In a perfect world, Lionel Hampton would still be alive.

[Ole Okie]

>He should compensate the victims left in his wake...
Which is pretty much everybody<

REPARATIONS NOW! ;-)

[leprechaun9]

First of all, the fish wrapper is titled "The Star Ledger" (formerly Newark Star Ledger). It was renamed several years ago. Maybe this is where Jim McGreedy and George Bootaki got the idea to rename Newark Airport.

It has been suggested that since the Mayor of Newark screamed for some more money, that the proposed name of the airport be changed to: "Newark Liberty Sharpless Jimmy Mc Greedy Bootaki Sleazy Politician International Airport"!

Of course for a state that claims to be in a "severe" budget crunch, there is no concern for the cost of changing all the road signs and directions of hundreds of companies on their maps.

The people of New Jersey get the government that they deserve!

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

I know they renamed this rag. Sometimes people post stuff from "The Register" or some local paper and you never know the source, so I reverted to the old name and even added the NJ so people would know it isn't Newark Delaware or somewhere. That having been said, even the dead fish jump out of this paper. I once was awarded a Quote of the Day when I said it was so far to the left that I have to retrieve it from my neighbor's driveway every morning.

[Wild Irish Rogue]

"..even though he later admitted there was no wrongdoing."

I don't believe that Starr's final reports said that Clinton was innocent. It was more about meeting the threshold to bring charges and Starr was unable to do that-primarily because his witnesses wouldn't drop a dime on Clinton. The Clinton's could teach the Gambino family a few tricks.