Monday, April 20, 1998

Starr digs in for fight

Whoever in the Clinton White House was sniping at special prosecutor Kenneth Starr for his alleged links to a right-wing millionaire is probably now having deep second thoughts.

The attacks prompted Starr to do something he should have done 14 months ago: Decline a standing offer to become dean of the schools of law and public policy at Pepperdine University, where he had "eagerly looked forward to spending many happy years."

That formal announcement, plus his hiring of a press spokesman and his plans for regular press conferences, indicate that Starr is digging in for the long haul, that he will pursue his much broadened Whitewater investigation to its ultimate conclusion. He would be less than human if he did so without a bit of a grudge. .

Starr admitted that when he first took the independent counsel's post he envisioned his role as more managerial than prosecutorial, presiding over his lawyers and investigators like a U.S. attorney or a Justice Department section chief. He continues to maintain an outside law practice, which he should also shelve considering the gravity of his probe.

Starr seems now fully committed to an investigation, where, he now says, "the end is not yet in sight." The White House may be sorry it didn't encourage Starr to take the Pepperdine job.