Death of American Virtue - Ken Gormley [108]
Dash, for his part, saw this as a ripe opportunity to ensure that the independent counsel statute fulfilled its original, noble purpose. Dash later explained that he accepted this assignment enthusiastically because he wanted to keep the independent counsel statute from being unfairly tarnished. “There was criticism of Lawrence Walsh in Iran-Contra,” said Dash years later, “but I thought that most of it was unfair. And I wanted to play a role to make sure that, in this particular case, since it was a highly political, controversial matter involving the president and Whitewater and the Madison Bank and all those things, that perhaps—by my presence as an ombudsman—I would be able to do something to help the statute be correctly implemented.”
Sam Dash had big ears, a blaring Philadelphia voice, and a propensity for telling it straight. Signing him was viewed as a major coup for the Starr operation. But the two men did not always see eye-to-eye. Dash would often needle Starr and his deputies, saying, “The only thing that Whitewater has in common with Water gate is the word ‘water.’” This joke usually did not produce smiles. “I think that Ken and some of his staff took offense at that,” Dash said. “And their view was that I was sort of playing it down … that I was trying to demean his investigation. That was not my purpose.” His point was that although Whitewater/Madison fell within the orbit of the statute, this did not make it the case of the century.
For one, none of the Whitewater or Madison dealings had anything to do with Bill Clinton’s conduct as president. Nor did they even involve traditional federal issues.
Still, Dash felt he could do some good by keeping the investigation on an even keel. He would receive letters and phone calls at his law school office, berating him: “You ought to be ashamed of yourself. How would you work with that monster Ken Starr?” Dash would reply to these critics: “You’re wrong. He [Ken] basically is a man of integrity and a decent person.”
Dash still defended his former boss, even after he had quit Starr’s employ and returned to the quietude of academia: “It may be that he was not the right person to have taken it in the first place. But that’s not the point. I think Ken is dedicated to public service, and, unfortunately, got hurt by it.”
THE daily functioning of Starr’s office was professional and diligent. Most decisions were made only after convening meetings—sometimes with the whole staff—and allowing every prosecutor to provide input. It was, said Mark Tuohey, “a very collegial, collaborative style.” Staffers observed no sign of hostility by Starr toward the Clintons. To the contrary, the new independent counsel displayed an old-fashioned reverence for the presidency. “I think that Ken was respectful of the office of the presidency and of the First Lady,” said Tuohey, who ran the Washington office. “When certain facts came out on matters that suggested that there might be an involvement of one or more of the Clintons, Ken was always of the view that that had to be looked at very, very thoroughly and vetted thoroughly because you’re talking about the office of the presidency.” On a day-to-day basis, he said, “I didn’t detect partisanship on Ken’s part at all.”
Moreover, popular fiction notwithstanding, Starr’s office did not begin each meeting with a prayer. “We never did that—not one time—with any kind of meeting,” said Hickman Ewing. He acknowledged that there was an element of respect given to Starr, in view of his religious background. Prosecutors and staffers “restrained themselves as far as profanity and other things if he was present,” admitted Ewing, himself a lay minister. “This was simply because you knew where he was coming from and out of respect you