$3,400,000,000,000 (TRILLION) OF TAXPAYERS' MONEY IS MISSING

The U.S. Government can't balance its books and can't properly explain how it spent $1.8 trillion last year or account for $1.6 trillion in such assets as parks, buildings, missile launchers, tanks and paper clips.

That's $1,800,000,000,000 in dollars and $1,6000,000,000,000 worth of things--a grand total of $3,4000,000,000,000.

The upshot is that, "once again, billions of taxpayer dollars were lost to waste, fraud and mismanagement," says Rep. Steve Horn, California Republican.

Mr. Horn, chairman of the House government reform and oversight subcommitte on government management, information and technology, gave that assessment yesterday as his subcommitte reviewed the government's attempt to produce a Consolidated Financial Statement.

It was the second time in U.S. History that the government has tried to comply with a 1994 law requiring it to account in a businesslike way for the revenues, expenditures and assets of the 24 Cabinet-level departments and agencies--a total of 70 agencies with some 2000 components.

And for the second time, the statement failed to meet accounting standards acceptable to the General Accounting Office, Congress' investigative arm and the government's official auditor.

The accounting failure means the government doesn't employ common business safeguards to know how much money actually has been wasted or stolen. Some lawmakers believe the figure could be in the billions.

In general, the GAO concluded that "because of the serious deficiencies in the government's systems, record-keeping, documentation, financial reporting and controls, amounts reported in the financial statements...do not provide a reliable source of information for decision-making by the government or the public."

Mr. Horn calls the accounting performance "dismal." And Rep. Pete Sessions, Texas Republican, who has been working for management reform in the executive branch, said the lack of reliable information has made him feel "like a doctor performing surgery with a blindfold on."

Still, the government's accounting has improved. Last year, the GAO approved audits of just 11 agencies. This year it's expected to give "unqualified opinions" to 13.

Comptroller General David M. Walker said that although "major obstacles need to be overcome...considerable effort is being made by agencies...and steady improvements in financial accountability are occuring."

G. Edward DeSeve, deputy director for management of the Office of Management and Budget, concurred. "The [Clinton] administration supported and created the bill to cause these [accounting] requirements and in time they will provide a tremendous management tool," he said.

For that to happen, the executive branch must "properly account for and report billions of dollars of property, equipment, materials and supplies," Mr. Walker testified.

It also must correctly estimate the costs of environmental and nuclear cleanups and determine the amount of such liabilities as veterans and health benefits.

The executive branch must bolster "serious and widespread computer security weaknesses," as well as figure out the "full extent" of the estimated billions of dollars improperly paid in major programs.

And finally, Mr. Walker said, the government must "accurately report" a basic fact for the first time--the net cost of running the government.

Courting the Presidential Cons
""Trillions are missing from federal agencies. That's right, gone. Poof! As in, "Nowhere to be found." People familiar with government accounts have charged off the record that in 1996 a concerted and intentional effort began with the support of the Office of Management and Budget and Treasury to strip agencies of honest officials and internal financial controls."

David M. Walker became the seventh Comptroller General of the United States and began his 15-year term when he took his oath of office on November 9, 1998. As Comptroller General, Mr. Walker is the nation's chief accountability officer and the head of the General Accounting Office (GAO), a legislative branch agency founded in 1921. The GAO helps the Congress maximize the performance and assure the accountability of the federal government for the benefit of the American people.

Immediately prior to his appointment as Comptroller General, Mr. Walker was a partner and global managing director of Arthur Andersen LLP's human capital services practice and a member of the board of Arthur Andersen Financial Advisors, a registered investment advisor. He also served as a Public Trustee for Social Security and Medicare from 1990 to 1995 while he was a partner with Arthur Andersen. Prior to joining Arthur Andersen, Mr. Walker was Assistant Secretary of Labor for Pension and Welfare Benefit Programs and Acting Executive Director for the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. His earlier technical, professional and business experience was gained with Price Waterhouse, Coopers & Lybrand, and Source Services Corporation.

Mr. Walker is a certified public accountant. He has a BS in accounting from Jacksonville University and a Senior Management in Government (SMG) Certificate in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
Source

4. Address: 997 Peachtree Battle Avenue, Atlanta, Georgia, 30327 (Home) Arthur Andersen LLP, 225 Peachtree St. NE, Suite 1800, Atlanta, Georgia, 30303-1731 (Office)

6. Marital status: Married to the former Mary Etheredge of Jacksonville, Florida for over 27 years.

7. Names and Ages of Children: Carol Marie Walker Williamson (24) and James Andrew Walker (21)

8. Education: B.S. in Accounting, Jacksonville University (5/73) S.M.G. in Public Policy, JFK School, Harvard University (8/86)*

9. Employment record (Employer, dates, most recent city and primary position): Arthur Andersen LLP (7/ 89-Present), Atlanta, GA, Partner - U.S./ Americas Managing Director, Human Capital Services Practice; U.S. Department of Labor (8/ 85-6/ 89), Washington, DC, Assistant Secretary of Labor for Pension and Welfare Benefit Programs; Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (10/ 83-8/ 85), Washington, DC, Acting Executive Director and Chief Negotiator; Source Services Corporation (7/79-10/83), Washington, DC, Eastern Regional Manager; Coopers & Lybrand (8/75-7/79), Houston, TX, Regional Director of Practice Management; Price Waterhouse & Co. (5/73-8/75), Jacksonville, FL, Exp. Auditor.

10. Government experience: Public Trustee of the Social Security and Medicare Trust Funds (10/90-5/95); Co-Chairman of the Mayor's Pension Review Task Force, City of Atlanta, GA (1994); Vice-Chairman of the Secretary of Labor's ERISA Advisory Council (1989-1992); Assistant Secretary of Labor for Pension and Welfare Benefit Programs (1987-1989), Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for Pension and Welfare Benefit Programs (1985-1987); Acting Executive Director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (1985) and, Deputy Executive Director and Chief Negotiator of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (1983-1985).

12. Memberships: Arthur Andersen Financial Advisors (Board of Directors); Association of Private Pension and Welfare Plans (Executive Committee and Board of Directors); Womens' Institute for a Secure Retirement (Board of Directors); American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (Past Committee Chairman), several state societies/institutes of CPA's; Council for Excellence in Government; Kiwanis International (Past Vice-President); Southern Employee Benefits Conference (Past Committee Vice-Chairman); International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans; National Academy of Social Insurance; the Concord Coalition; the International Platform Association; and, the Carter Center. I have also served on a number of national commissions and task forces addressing a variety of retirement security and related issues. Examples include the Committee for Economic Development's (CED's) Private Pension and Social Security Reform Task Forces, the Milbank Memorial Fund's Task Force on Pension Portability for State and Local Governments, the Center for Strategic and International Studies' (CSIS') National Commission on Retirement Policy and various other Congressional, governmental, not-for-profit and private sector task forces or committees addressing a range of retirement and health security reform issues (e.g., womer@s pension equity, pension education and assistance initiatives, negotiated rule making).

14. Honors and awards: Who's Who in the World (Publication pending); Who's Who in America; Who's Who of Emerging Leaders in America; Who's Who in Finance and Industry; Who's Who in the East; Who's Who in the South; Notable Personalities in America; American Biographical Institute's Presidential Seal of Honor; Pension World Public Policy Award; Council on Employee Benefits - Most Outstanding Government Official Award; and, Secretary of Labor's Outstanding Achievement Award.

I also frequently receive invitations from a number of organizations and groups to participate in various invitation-only conferences and events, including the Renaissance Weekend program.

15. Published writings: Retirement Security - Understanding and Planning Your Financial Future (John Wiley & Sons - 10/96); Delivering on the Promise Attracting, Managing and Retaining Human Capital (The Free Press - 10/98); HR Director - The Arthur Andersen Guide to Human Capital (Profile Pursuit - 1997 and 1998); Audits of Employee Benefit Plans training course (AICPA- annually since 1990) and, numerous articles on pensions, employee benefits, investments, retirement security/planning, fiduciary, governance, accounting, auditing, human capital and other matters.

16. Speeches: I am a frequent speaker on a variety of pension, employee benefits, investments, retirement security/ planning, fiduciary, governance, accounting, auditing, human capital and other matters. I do not believe that any of these present a conflict or problem in connection with my serving as Comptroller General.

"Well, now that the honorables have given themselves another raise, they will become better representatives and will put a halt to such abuses."

State & Local Government Spending Report

Government Spending Report

Groups blast Congress over pay raise

Pay Raise For The Parasites

Lawmaker, union stand behind 4.1 percent pay raise

"The Inspector General of the Social Security Administration found that 145 employees of the agency were working full-time for unions and 1,600 others were devoting up to 75% of their time on union activities."

For many federal workers, job just a paycheck

Employee whose office let 9-11 hijackers in U.S. gets bonus
"The State Department official who was forced to retire because her office allowed most of the September 11 hijackers into the United States has recently won an "outstanding performance" award of $15,000... The congressional General Accounting Office said in a report this week that 13 of the 19 hijackers were given visas without ever seeing a U.S. consular official...Last summer, reports of lax visa rules for Saudis — who could apply for visas over the Internet with no questions asked — prompted Secretary of State Colin L. Powell to force Miss Ryan to retire...Thomas Furey, who was consul-general in the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and helped establish the "Visa Express," also received a bonus....[State Department spokesman Richard] Boucher, when asked whether the bonus was appropriate, accused the reporter of "attacking friends of mine, people who dedicate their lives to their government and their country — my friends." Mr. Boucher, who also received a bonus, refused to comment on the individual merits of each bonus. The awards list was compiled this summer by the 2002 Senior Foreign Service Selection Board. The State Department official would not describe the criteria on which the awards were made. "

The Aging Government Workforce: An Impending Challenge for State Governments

Contact: Jeff Goldings
Source
Full Report

Employment & Social Services Policy Studies

As the country's population ages in the coming years, all employers will need to address the replacement of growing numbers of retiring workers. A new report, The Aging Government Workforce, published by the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government, asserts that this problem will be especially acute for federal, state, and local governments. Government workforces are usually older than the private sector workforce, and the proportion of workers age 45 and over has been increasing faster in the government workforce than in the private sector.

The looming government worker retirement crunch poses a host of human resource and financial challenges for states. The report suggests that state governments will soon encounter fierce competition with the private sector and with the federal and local governments for younger "knowledge workers" (e.g., health care workers, legal professionals, natural scientists, engineers, educators, and managers). This will pose a great challenge as a substantial percentage of older knowledge workers currently employed in the public sector(50 percent) and the private sector (35 percent) retire, in accelerating numbers, over the coming years.

The report statistics also illustrate that state governments will likely not be as adversely affected by the looming retirement crunch as will the federal government or local governments. Overall, older workers (age 45 and over) total 43.6 percent of the state workforce, compared to 50.3 percent of federal workers and 46.3 percent of local government workers.

The effect of worker retirement will impact U.S. Census regions differently as well. The statistics illustrate that the Middle Atlantic region is likely to encounter a more acute state government workforce retirement crunch than any other region, while the impact of this retirement crunch will be least felt by state governments in the Mountain West.

"Second time in U.S. History! They passed a law in 1994 and have only tried, at most, 2 times to comply with the law.

As a CPA in private industry and a corporate controller, I have never worked for a company that is not required to account for revenues and expenditures EVERY SINGLE MONTH! We have to have the books closed and financial statements out by the 7th workday following the close of every month. We have numerous SEC filings every quarter. We are audited by an outside firm every year, and by internal auditors several times randomly throughout the year.

These people who cannot find our tax money are the same a-holes who have the audacity to tell us how "Wall Street is cooking the books." They are the same a-holes who steel our social security money because we are "too stupid to invest for our own retirement."
27 posted on 01/08/2003 10:04 PM PST by gubamyster

Investor's Business Daily
Senator William Roth
April 14, 1999

The following are some quotes from an article in Investor’s Business Daily, page A-24, April 14, 1999, "Fighting The Power To Destroy," by Sen. William Roth. The article was not posted on IBD’s web page, but I thought it important enough to present a portion of it here:

". . . the IRS is shrouded beneath a cloak of secrecy that puts even the Central Intelligence Agency to shame. Section 6103 of the tax code, originally intended to protect sensitive taxpayer information, has been strengthened and stretched to the point that it can be used by IRS employees to cover their activities and mistakes. Historically, Congress and oversight agencies have not been able to get adequate information to monitor and investigate abuses within the system.

"Using section 6103, agency managers – 15% in one survey – admit to having observed instances of lying, deception or deliberate concealment of information from government audit agencies, while 3 out of 4 IRS managers responded that they believe they are entitled to deceive or lie while testifying before Congress.

"Only the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee have the authority under section 6103 to penetrate the veil of secrecy and investigate the agency. But until 1997, this authority had never been used.

. . . "Almost every examiner we interviewed told us that they were taught to assume that taxpayers were hiding something and that ‘all entrepreneurs, especially small businessmen and -women, are tax cheats.’

"One examiner said, ‘We were taught to assume beforehand that all returns had something wrong with them'..."

Senator William Roth, R-DE, is Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and co-author of "Power to Destroy" (Atlantic Monthly Press, 1999).

IRS Taxpayer Abuse: Views From The Inside

IRS Agent: Some Evidence Falsified - "I have actually witnessed IRS management manipulate income tax return figures just to increase their office or division collection statistics," said Jennifer Long, a 15-year IRS employee now working as a revenue agent in the Houston office.

IRS Flunks Audit
Widespread Problems at Tax-Collecting Agency

ABC News
ABCNEWS Correspondent Jackie Judd
March 1, 1999

W A S H I N G T O N, March 1 - Just as millions of Americans struggle to meet the strict reporting standards set by the Internal Revenue Service, the tax-collecting agency itself has failed a federal audit.

The General Accounting Office today slammed the IRS for poor bookkeeping, paying out fraudulent refunds and leaving holes in computer security that may let outsiders ``access, alter or abuse'' taxpayer information.

Most significantly, the amount of money the IRS has failed to collect has reached a whopping $222 billion dollars - the same amount of money we spend every year on Medicare.

Most of it will never be collected, because it is owed by either bankrupt companies, failed savings and loans, individuals who are missing, or dead - or just plain deadbeats.

Congressman Blasts IRS

The litany of IRS failures was aired at a hearing today on Capitol Hill, drawing sharp criticism from lawmakers.

"I think the stockholders, the taxpayers, have every reason to demand a dramatic and immediate change and that includes debt collection," said Rep. Steve Horn, R-Calif., chairman of the government management subcommittee.

Debt collection was not the only problem found by the GAO. The IRS essentially failed the same sort of audit it forces upon taxpayers.

"Think of this as not balancing your monthly checkbook to the monthly bank statement," said GAO auditor Gregory Kutz, "and at the same time having a record-keeping system that was prone to error."

Shoddy Filing System

In some cases, the GAO said, the IRS had no record-keeping system at all. The IRS could not provide a list of what it owed outside vendors - such as utility companies that supply power to field offices.

Also, the IRS lost track of its own property. While some items may have been lost to theft, others simply could not be accounted for.

"We noted a missing Chevy Blazer, laptop computer and $300,000 printer," Kutz told lawmakers. "At one IRS field office, 19 of 130 computer assets over $50,000 each could not be located."

The IRS blamed antiquated computer systems for many of the snafus and asked for the same thing that many anxious taxpayers want: more time to fix the problem.

Making Government Immune From Law

NewsMax
By Paul Craig Roberts
January 14, 1999

If President Bill Clinton were being tried by the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, he would be home free.

In a horrendous ruling devastating for justice, fair play and the rule of law, the 10th Circuit has ruled (9-to-3) that the laws of the United States do not apply to officers and agents of the government unless Congress specifically designates that the law applies to the government.

"Statutes of general purport do not apply to the United States unless Congress makes the application clear and indisputable," says the court, citing a 1873 case that "it is a familiar principle that the King is not bound by any act of Parliament unless he be named therein by special and particular words."

At dispute in the case, Singleton v. U.S., is the federal statute that specifies punishment for "whoever" promises anything of value to a witness in exchange for testimony for or against another person. Under the normal reading of the statute, prosecutors who promise defendants reduced sentences in exchange for testimony against others are violating the prohibition.

According to the majority opinion, federal prosecutors are not bound by the law against bribing witnesses, because they serve as alter ego for the government and "the word 'whoever' connotes a being," whereas "the U.S. is an inanimate entity, not a being. The word 'whatever' is used commonly to refer to an inanimate object. Therefore, construing 'whoever' to include the government is semantically anomalous."

In other words, "whoever" doesn't mean "whoever" if the "whoever" is an officer of the government. This Clintonesque word-play is necessary because, as the court acknowledges, "no practice is more ingrained in our criminal justice system" than convicting people with purchased testimony. Faced with an emptying of the prisons, the court ruled that the U.S. government is not a government accountable to law, but a "sovereign" above the law.

Prosecutors have found that it is far easier to purchase with leniency the testimony of accomplices against their confederates than to build a case against the confederates. When this practice began it was aimed at known criminals against whom evidence was lacking. But once the practice began, it has taken on a life of its own.

Today many innocents are ensnared by untrue accusations from criminal defendants seeking reduced charges by producing more fodder for prosecutors. Less and less does the criminal justice system work by police investigating a known crime and building a case. All too often, the first knowledge of the "crime" occurs when a defendant seeking reduced charges accuses others. In these cases, the accusation is the sole "evidence" of the crime, and prosecutors, who serve career instead of justice, are increasingly destroying innocents with purchased testimony.

A recent example is Khem Batra of Burke, Va. Mr. Batra, married with two children, came to the U.S. in 1974 from New Delhi, India. He has been a U.S. citizen since 1981 and was successfully operating his own travel agency. His troubles began when the husband of one of his employees approached him for loans to enable him to purchase distressed properties at auction. Soon Mr. Batra found himself in partnership, pooling money to bid on properties.

Unbeknownst to Mr. Batra, his sometime partner was illegally obtaining multiple mortgages on the same property. When the partner was apprehended, instead of being indicted, he was wired and promised leniency in exchange for implicating others. The partner managed to implicate some mortgage companies in technical infractions and apparently made an unsuccessful attempt to implicate the Burke and Herbert Bank in Alexandria, Va.

Mr. Batra was never implicated in the illegal financing schemes, but his partner, desperate to earn his leniency, testified that his money-pooling partnership with Mr. Batra was a conspiracy to under-bid the properties. On the basis of his partner's plea-bargained testimony, Mr. Batra was convicted in federal court of one count of violating the Sherman Anti-trust Act.

It is a definite sign of prosecutorial abuse when the Sherman Anti-trust Act, designed to bust up large monopolies, is applied to a small-time local partnership speculating in distressed properties sold at auctions where Mr. Batra and his partner comprised one of many bidders.

Such a dubious interpretation of the anti-trust statute shows an extraordinary determination to convict. But justice is forfeited when, in addition, the conviction is obtained solely through the purchased testimony of a defendant who committed a real crime and is seeking to reduce his charges.

Until the Glorious Revolution when Parliament established the supremacy of law over the sovereign, kings dealt with enemies by bribing or compelling witnesses to testify against them. Once law and not the king's government was supreme, Matthew Hale established the maxim that testimony purchased with reward has no standing in court.

It is an abomination that the 10th Circuit has enabled unscrupulous prosecutors to resurrect the ancient practice of convicting defendants with paid testimony.

7 YEARS OF HELL AT HANDS OF IRS

"HAS ANYONE CHECKED BILL AND HILLARY'S CHECKING ACCOUNT?"

"Can't. Their account is at the "Peoples Bank of Peking," it's all in Chinese."

The secrets of the Clipper chip

Clinton doesn't recall $1 million pledge from Riady

Riady Invites Clinton to Lippo Board

Justice for Riady? David Limbaugh looks at wrist-slap for Clinton crony

Secret Swiss Link To White House Death

The Electronic Telegraph
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in Washington
May 22, 1995

THE mystery over the death of the White House aide Vincent Foster is getting deeper. Records shown to the Telegraph reveal that he had clandestine dealings in Switzerland, and even purchased an airline ticket to Geneva just three weeks before his death.

Foster's travels have never come under scrutiny before. Two investigations have concluded that he shot himself on July 20, 1993, because he was upset over harsh editorials in the Wall Street Journal and other mundane matters. But his trips abroad have come as a total surprise to his family.

They could prove to be of great importance. Foster was an intimate friend of both Bill and Hillary Clinton and was responsible for handling their private financial affairs at the White House.

The revelations of Foster's covert forays to Switzerland come after a week in which the Senate announced details of new televised hearings on the Whitewater scandal, due to begin later in the summer.

But it remains far from certain whether the Republicans in Congress are prepared to reopen the file on the deputy White House counsel's death.

At his death he had built up more than 500,000 airmiles

The records show that Foster bought a ticket to Switzerland on November 1, 1991 - during the early phase of the Clinton presidential bid - travelling on American Airlines from Little Rock to Paris with a connection to Geneva on Swiss Air. The return flight was booked for November 3, giving him less than one full day on the ground in Switzerland. The cost was $1,490.

A year later he did exactly the same thing, darting in and out of the country. On December 7, 1992 - during the presidential transition period - he bought a ticket from Little Rock to Geneva, via Paris, returning on November 9.

Finally, on July 1, 1993, he purchased a ticket through the White House Travel Office from Washington to Geneva on TWA and Swiss Air, reimbursing the White House from his personal American Express Card. But he never made the trip and was refunded by Swiss Air on July 8.

Twelve days later he was found dead in a Virginia park next to the residence of the Saudi ambassador. A Colt .38 revolver of Edwardian vintage was found jammed in his hand. Independent experts have described the crime scene as a textbook case of a murder made to look like a suicide.

These are only a sample of his flights, not the full picture. On December 20, 1988, for example, he flew to Batman in remote Turkish Kurdistan. At his death he had built up more than 500,000 "airmiles" on the frequent flier programmes of major US airlines.

On Delta he apparently had 197,853 miles. Much of it came from flying overseas. His foreign trips on Delta during the late 1980s and early 1990s were often purchased at "executive fares", a category of discount that is only available to senior government officials - or contract operatives doing work for the federal government. That raises the question: was Foster a US agent at a time when he was ostensibly in private practice as a Little Rock lawyer?

Widow not aware of trips to Switzerland

Sources close to the Foster family say that his widow, Lisa, was not aware of any trips he made to Switzerland, which suggests that he was not engaged in routine work for the Rose Law Firm. Apparently there are no Swiss stamps in his passport, but this would not necessarily be unusual. Mrs Foster has accepted the official verdict that her husband committed suicide. In her statement to the FBI she said that he had been depressed and had "no sense of joy and elation at work". She believed that this may have been related to the Waco disaster.

"Lisa Foster believes that Foster was horrified when the Branch Davidian complex burned. Foster believed that everything was his fault," wrote the FBI. (OIC document 000278). But there may have been other concerns on his mind. A psychiatrist told the FBI that he was contacted on July 16 1993 by Foster's sister, Sheila Anthony, a top official at the Justice Department. She told him that Foster was working on "top secret" issues at the White House and "that his depression was directly related to highly sensitive and confidential matters".

It remains to be seen whether the investigation of Special Counsel Kenneth Starr will get to the bottom of the Foster mystery.

Many in Washington now consider that the investigation by Robert Fiske last year was a charade and a black mark on the American judicial system. It reached the conclusion that Foster committed suicide before much of the forensic evidence had been analysed by the FBI crime labs, before key witnesses had been interviewed, and before the autopsy review by independent experts. Several of the FBI documents appear to have been doctored. One official close to the investigation has described the scale of lying and fabrication by government officials as staggering.

There are signs that the same thing could be happening again. Very few witnesses have been called before the Grand Jury. The police have not even visited the houses within earshot of the spot where Foster was supposed to have shot himself. Yet a highly placed member of the investigation has already been leaking stories to journalists saying that there is nothing to the Foster death, and that there will soon be a fresh ruling of suicide.

FBI "appeared to be sweeping crucial evidence under the carpet"

The lead prosecutor handling the death of Foster, Miquel Rodriguez, resigned in March. Sources say he quit because he felt that certain members of the Starr team were more interested in covering up discrepancies than finding out what really happened, and were merely going through the motions of an investigation. The Starr team counters that his resignation was largely the result of a character clash. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports that Rodriguez was unable to call key witnesses before the Grand Jury. The paper said he had also lost confidence in the FBI, which appeared to be sweeping crucial evidence under the carpet. For example, the FBI had discarded a set of crucial crime scene photographs, deeming them unusable. Rodriguez turned to a private firm, which had no difficulty enhancing the photos.

Rodriguez cannot be dismissed as a Right-wing prosecutor with an axe to grind. He is a liberal by background and rose to his current position as Assistant US Attorney in Sacramento after working as a civil rights lawyer. It is astonishing that the American media has made so little of his resignation. If a lead prosecutor during the Watergate scandal had departed in such circumstances it would have been headline news.

What is it about the death of Vince Foster that has caused every investigation to recoil? First the US Park Police, then the Fiske investigation, then the Senate Banking Committee and now, perhaps, Kenneth Starr's team - all have dipped their toe in the water and pulled it straight back out again. One can only deduce that the temperature must be very hot indeed.
[End of Transcript]

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