CNN Tonight with Don Lemon on Bill Clinton & BLM

Re: CNN Tonight with Don Lemon on Bill Clinton & BLM

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Moral Majority
by Wikipedia
5/15/16

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The Moral Majority was a prominent American political organization associated with the Christian right and Republican Party. It was founded in 1979 by Baptist minister Jerry Falwell and associates, and dissolved in the late 1980s. It played a key role in the mobilization of conservative Christians as a political force and particularly in Republican presidential victories throughout the 1980s.

Image
Jerry Falwell, whose founding of the Moral Majority was a key step in the formation of the New Christian Right

History

Before establishment


The origins of the Moral Majority can be traced to 1976 when Baptist minister Jerry Falwell embarked on a series of “I Love America” rallies across the country to raise awareness of social issues important to him.[1] These rallies were an extension of Falwell’s decision to go against the traditional Baptist principle of separating religion and politics, a change of heart Falwell says he had when he perceived what he described as the decay of the nation’s morality.[2] Through hosting these rallies, Falwell was able to gauge national support for a formal organization and also raise his profile as a leader. Having already been a part of a well-established network of ministers and ministries, within a few years Falwell was favorably positioned to launch the Moral Majority.

The Moral Majority was formally initiated as a result of a struggle for control of an American conservative Christian advocacy group known as Christian Voice during 1978. Robert Grant, Christian Voice's acting President, said in a news conference that the Religious Right was a "sham... controlled by three Catholics and a Jew." Following this, Paul Weyrich, Terry Dolan, Richard Viguerie (the Catholics) and Howard Phillips (the Jew) left Christian Voice.

During a 1979 meeting, they urged televangelist Jerry Falwell to found Moral Majority (a phrase coined by Weyrich[3]). This was the period when the New Christian Right arose.[4][5]

Establishment and organizational activity

Falwell and Weyrich founded the Moral Majority in June 1979.[6] According to former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, who was Texas evangelicalist James Robison's communications director at the time, Robison's "Freedom Rally" at the Dallas Convention Center was the genesis of the Moral Majority.[7]

The Moral Majority was predominately a Southern-oriented organization of the Christian Right, although its state chapters and political activity extended beyond the South.[1] The number of state chapters grew quickly, with organizations in eighteen states by 1980.[8][9] The variety of resources available to the Moral Majority at its founding facilitated this rapid expansion, and included Falwell's mailing list from his program, "Old Time Gospel Hour". In addition, the Moral Majority took control of the "Old Time Gospel Hour's" publication, Journal Champion, which had been distributed to the show's donors.[10] Through the 1980s, Falwell was the organization's best-known spokesperson. By 1982, Moral Majority surpassed Christian Voice in size and influence.

The Moral Majority's headquarters were in Lynchburg, Virginia, where Falwell was the presiding minister of the nation's largest independent Baptist church, Thomas Road Baptist Church. Virginia has been a seat of Christian Right politics, being the state where the Christian Coalition's first headquarters were established. Falwell was at the head of the Moral Majority and maintained an advisory board, constituting the organization's primary leadership. This leadership was drawn mostly from Falwell's fellow members of the Baptist Bible Fellowship. Falwell insisted the Moral Majority leadership also include Catholics and Jews, although not all members of the leadership approved of this inclusion.[11]

The Moral Majority was an organization made up of conservative Christian political action committees which campaigned on issues its personnel believed were important to maintaining its Christian conception of moral law. They believed this represented the opinions of the majority of Americans (hence the movement's name). With a membership of millions, the Moral Majority became one of the largest conservative lobby groups in the United States and at its height, it claimed more than four million members and over two million donors.[12] These members were spread among about twenty state organizations, of which Washington State's was the largest. The Moral Majority was incorporated into the Liberty Federation in 1985, remaining a distinct entity but falling under the Liberty Federation's larger jurisdiction. By 1987, Falwell retired as the formal head of the Moral Majority, although he maintained an active and visible role within the organization.

Dissolution

By the end of Ronald Reagan's presidential administration, Christian Right organizations were generally in a phase of decline. After Reagan's two terms in office, donations were decreasing, possibly because after eight years of Christian Right-supported leadership, the nation did not appear to donors to be in the same state of moral peril as they perceived it to be when Reagan first took office.[13] The Moral Majority's financial base seriously eroded by the time it became part of the Liberty Federation; its financial difficulties ultimately were a major factor in the decision to disband the organization.[14] Falwell offered an optimistic public opinion about the Moral Majority's dissolution. Announcing the disbandment of the Moral Majority in 1989 in Las Vegas, Falwell declared, "Our goal has been achieved…The religious right is solidly in place and … religious conservatives in America are now in for the duration."[15]

Organizational goals and composition

The Moral Majority sought to mobilize conservative Americans to become politically active on issues they thought were important. A variety of tactics were used to garner support. These tactics included direct-mail campaigns, telephone hotlines, rallies, and religious television broadcasts.[16] Although the Moral Majority operated for only a decade, it rapidly became a visible political force and was relatively effective in its mobilization goals. According to Robert Liebman and Robert Wuthnow, common explanations for this success include:[17]

• The Moral Majority was founded with strong financial backing already in place.
• Its leaders frequently communicated with its constituents, enabling consistent messages to resonate throughout all levels of hierarchy.
• Its leaders generally had previous organizational and management experience.
• The general public was amenable to the issues the Moral Majority emphasized.

Some issues for which the Moral Majority campaigned included:[18]

Promotion of a 'traditional' vision of family life
• Opposition to media outlets that it claimed promote an "anti-family" agenda
• Opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment and Strategic Arms Limitation Talks
• Opposition to state recognition or acceptance of homosexual acts.
• Prohibition of abortion, even in cases involving incest, rape or in pregnancies where the life of the mother is at stake.[19]
• Support for Christian prayers in schools
• Marketing to Jews and other non-Christians for conversion to conservative Christianity


The Moral Majority had adherents in the two major United States political parties, the Republicans, and the Democrats. They exercised far more influence within the former.

Organizational structure

The Moral Majority comprised four distinct organizations:[20]

• Moral Majority Inc. – the organization’s lobbying division, which addressed issues on local, state, and national levels.
• Moral Majority Foundation – the organization’s educational component, through which the Moral Majority educated ministers and lay people on political issues and conducted voter registration drives.
• Moral Majority Legal Defense Fund – the organization’s legal instrument, used primarily to challenge the American Civil Liberties Union and secular humanist issues in court.
• Moral Majority Political Action Committee – the organization’s mechanism for supporting the candidacy of people whose political platforms reflected Moral Majority values.

The state chapters of the Moral Majority were financially independent from the national organization and relied on local resources to conduct their activities. Consequently, the national organization encouraged local chapters to cooperate with their policies but had little control over local chapters’ activities.[21] Political activity of the Moral Majority divided accordingly, with the national Moral Majority office usually focused on addressing multiple issues through Congress while local branches tended to work on a single issue within their respective states.[22]

Political involvement

The Moral Majority engaged in political activity in a variety of ways, including national media campaigns and grassroots organization aimed at supporting particular candidates in elections and using mail and phone calls to reach office-holders.[23] The Moral Majority’s initial political actions were aimed at supporting Jesse Helms’ proposed legislation on school prayer.[24] Before long, the Moral Majority became heavily invested in presidential elections and national politics; although at the state level branches of the Moral Majority continued to pursue specific issues at lower levels of government. As far as elections, state Moral Majority chapters tended to deliberately focus their efforts towards particular candidates. For example, state chapters participated in campaigns to oust liberal members of Congress during the 1980 election. Also, in 1981, the Moral Majority mobilized delegates to the Virginia Republican state nominating convention in order to support Guy Farley, an evangelical candidate for lieutenant governor.[25]

Nationally, the Moral Majority encouraged electoral participation among its members and used registration drives to register church-goers to vote, with the logic that Moral Majority members would be likely to vote for Moral Majority-endorsed candidates, thus strengthening the organization’s electoral efficacy and strengthening its endorsements. Leaders within the Moral Majority asked ministers give their congregants political direction, reminding congregants when to vote, who to vote for, and why the Moral Majority held particular positions on issues.[26] The Moral Majority, however, is probably best known for its involvement in presidential elections, specifically those of Ronald Reagan.

Presidential elections

The 1976 election of Jimmy Carter as President of the United States marked a milestone for evangelical Christians. For the first time, a self-professed evangelical Christian had been elected to the nation’s highest office, bringing the national awareness of evangelical Christianity to a new level. Despite commonality in religious identification, however, evangelical Christians in general and eventually the newly formed Moral Majority in particular would come to be disappointed with Carter’s policies. Carter did not share the Moral Majority’s political imperative to unify personal and political positions and would instead support the positions of his own party, the Democratic Party. In particular, Carter did not actively oppose his party’s general pro-choice platform on abortion, nor did Carter work to bridge the church-state divide, both factors in the Moral Majority’s decision to support Ronald Reagan’s candidacy in 1980.[2]

1980

The Moral Majority was a relatively early supporter of Reagan, with Falwell announcing the organization's endorsement of Reagan before the Republican convention.[27] According to Jimmy Carter, "that autumn [1980] a group headed by Jerry Falwell purchased $10 million in commercials on southern radio and TV to brand me as a traitor to the South and no longer a Christian."[28] Naturally, the Moral Majority continued working on behalf of Reagan after he gained the Republican nomination. Following the organization's heed, more than one-fifth of Moral Majority supporters voted for Reagan in 1980 that had supported Carter in 1976.[29] After Reagan's victory, Falwell announced Reagan's success was directly due to the Moral Majority and others registering and encouraging church-goers to vote who had never before been politically active.[30] Empirical evidence suggests that Falwell's claim about the role of Christian Right organizations in Reagan's victory has some truth, though difficult to determine definitively.[31]

Reagan sought the input from the Moral Majority leadership during his campaign and appointed the Rev. Robert Billings, the Moral Majority's first executive director, to be a religious advisor to the campaign.[32] Later, Reagan appointed Billings to a position in the Department of Education.
This appointment was particularly significant for the Moral Majority, which had lobbied on education policy issues, especially those regarding private schools.[33]

1984

The Moral Majority maintained their support for Reagan’s 1984 reelection campaign and, alongside other Christian Right organizations, influenced the Republican platform for the election, shaping the party's campaign stances on school prayer and abortion.[34] The nation's political climate, however, had changed since Reagan's first campaign. Although Reagan won reelection, the role of the Moral Majority in the victory had changed since 1980. A study of voters in the 1984 election showed that more anti-Moral Majority voters voted for Walter Mondale than pro-Moral Majority voters voted for Reagan, suggesting the Moral Majority may have actually had a negative effect on Reagan's campaign.[35]

1988

1988 was the last presidential election for which the Moral Majority was an active organization. With Reagan having reached his two-term limit, the Republican nomination was open to a variety of primary contenders. The evangelical minister and televangelist Rev. Pat Robertson sought the Republican nomination and would have been, at first glance, a natural choice for the Moral Majority's support. Although Robertson's political platforms were extremely similar to the ones the Moral Majority supported, Falwell gave his organization's endorsement to contender George H. W. Bush instead. Falwell's decision highlighted the rivalry between Falwell and Robertson as televangelists but also revealed the deep-seated tension that still persisted between competing evangelical traditions -– Falwell's fundamentalist tradition was at odds with Robertson's charismatic tradition.[36]

Challenges to the Moral Majority

By the late 1980s, the views of the Moral Majority were challenged widely and the organization started to crumble. With its waning support, critics said "The Moral Majority is neither", meaning the organization was neither moral nor a majority. By 1988, there were serious cash flow problems and Falwell dismantled the organization in 1989.[37]

During its existence the Moral Majority experienced friction with other evangelical leaders and organizations as well as liberal leaders and organizations. For example, Bob Jones particularly sought to challenge the public position of the Moral Majority and was known to make public statements that the Moral Majority was an instrument of Satan.[11] Such rivalries affected the Moral Majority’s grassroots efforts. In South Carolina, the Moral Majority had no presence because Bob Jones University’s religious network had already organized the state’s independent Baptists.[38] The tension between Falwell and Pat Robertson also affected the Moral Majority, as noted in the presidential elections section of this article. On the ideologically opposed side, Norman Lear’s liberal organization People for the American Way was formed with the specific intention of opposing the platforms of the Moral Majority and other Christian Right organizations.[39]

Moral Majority Coalition

In November 2004, Falwell revived the Moral Majority name for a new organization, the Moral Majority Coalition. The intent of the organization is to continue the "evangelical revolution" to help conservative politicians get elected. Referring to the Coalition as a "21st century resurrection of the Moral Majority," Falwell, a father of the modern "religious right" political movement, committed to leading the organization for four years.[40] He died on May 15, 2007.[41]

Notable people within the movement

Jerry Falwell (Founder)
Robert Grant
Jesse Helms
James Kennedy
Beverly LaHaye
Tim LaHaye
Trent Lott
Judith A. Reisman
Pat Robertson
James Robison
Charles Stanley
Cal Thomas
Richard Viguerie
Paul Weyrich

See also

Portal icon conservatism portal
Christian Coalition of America
Christian right
Moralism
Save Our Children

References

1. Liebman, Robert and Robert Wuthnow (1983) The New Christian Right, p. 58. New York: Aldine Publishing Company. ISBN 0-202-30307-1
2. Allitt, Patrick (2003). Religion in America Since 1945: A History, p. 152. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-12154-7
3. Lernoux, Penny. "A Reverence for Fundamentalism," The Nation, vol. 248, Issue #0015, 17 April 1989
4. Martin, William (1996). With God on Our Side: The Rise of the Religious Right in America. New York: Broadway Books. ISBN 978-0-553-06745-3.
5. Sara, Diamond (1995). Roads to Dominion. New York: Guilford Press. ISBN 978-0-89862-864-7.
6. Hudson, D.W. (2008). Onward, Christian Soldiers: The Growing Political Power of Catholics and Evangelicals in the United States. Threshold Editions. p. 15. ISBN 9781416565895. Retrieved 2014-11-15.
7. Levy, Ariel (2010-06-28). "Prodigal Son". The New Yorker. Retrieved 22 January 2012.
8. Liebman, Robert and Robert Wuthnow (1983) The New Christian Right, pp. 31–32. New York: Aldine Publishing Company. ISBN 0-202-30307-1
9. Williams, Daniel K. (April 2010). "Jerry Falwell's Sunbelt Politics: The Regional Origins of the Moral Majority" (Fee). Journal of Policy History (Cambridge University Press) 22 (02): 125–147.doi:10.1017/S0898030610000011. Retrieved 2010-09-17.
10. Liebman, Robert and Robert Wuthnow (1983) The New Christian Right, p. 61. New York: Aldine Publishing Company. ISBN 0-202-30307-1
11. Allitt, Patrick (2003). Religion in America Since 1945: A History, p. 153. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-12154-7
12. Wilcox, Clyde (1996). Onward Christian Soldiers?, p. 96. Boulder: Westview Press. ISBN 0-8133-2696-6
13. Wilcox, Clyde (1996). Onward Christian Soldiers?, p. 38. Boulder: Westview Press. ISBN 0-8133-2696-6
14. Wilcox, Clyde (1992). God's Warriors, p. 14. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-4263-8
15. Allitt, Patrick (2003). Religion in America Since 1945: A History, p. 198. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-12154-7
16. Robert Wuthnow (1988). The Restructuring of American Religion, p. 205. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-07759-2
17. Liebman, Robert and Robert Wuthnow (1983) The New Christian Right, pp. 55-57. New York: Aldine Publishing Company. ISBN 0-202-30307-1
18. Moral Majority". Columbia Encyclopedia. 6th ed. Columbia University Press. 2004. Retrieved 2007-08-11.
19. Falwell: An Autobiography, The Inside Story, Liberty House Publishers, Lynchburg, 1997 Pg. 395
20. Liebman, Robert and Robert Wuthnow (1983) The New Christian Right, p. 54. New York: Aldine Publishing Company. ISBN 0-202-30307-1
21. Liebman, Robert and Robert Wuthnow (1983) The New Christian Right, p. 70. New York: Aldine Publishing Company. ISBN 0-202-30307-1
22. Liebman, Robert and Robert Wuthnow (1983) The New Christian Right, p. 71. New York: Aldine Publishing Company. ISBN 0-202-30307-1
23. Wilcox, Clyde (1996). Onward Christian Soldiers?, p. 86. Boulder: Westview Press. ISBN 0-8133-2696-6
24. Liebman, Robert and Robert Wuthnow (1983) The New Christian Right, p. 34. New York: Aldine Publishing Company. ISBN 0-202-30307-1
25. Rozell, Mark J. and Clyde Wilcox (2003). “Virginia: Birthplace of the Christian Right,” The Christian Right in American Politics, ed. John C. Green, et al., p. 43. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press. ISBN 0-87840-393-0
26. Liebman, Robert and Robert Wuthnow (1983) The New Christian Right, p. 37. New York: Aldine Publishing Company. ISBN 0-202-30307-1
27. Liebman, Robert and Robert Wuthnow (1983) The New Christian Right, p. 36. New York: Aldine Publishing Company. ISBN 0-202-30307-1
28. Carter, Jimmy (2010). White House Diary. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. p. 469.
29. Wilcox, Clyde (1992). God's Warriors, p. 117. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-4263-8
30. Wilcox, Clyde (1992). God's Warriors, p. 96. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-4263-8
31. Wilcox, Clyde (1992). God's Warriors, pp. 115-117. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-4263-8
32. Liebman, Robert and Robert Wuthnow (1983) The New Christian Right, p. 60. New York: Aldine Publishing Company. ISBN 0-202-30307-1
33. Wald, Kenneth (1997). Religion and Politics in the United States, p. 137. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Press. ISBN 1-56802-157-7
34. Johnson, Stephen D. and Joseph B. Tamney (1985). The Christian Right and the 1984 Presidential Election. p. 125. "Review of Religious Research" 27: 124–133. JSTOR 3511667.
35. Johnson, Stephen D. and Joseph B. Tamney (1985). The Christian Right and the 1984 Presidential Election. p. 124. "Review of Religious Research" 27: 124–133. JSTOR 3511667.
36. Wilcox, Clyde (1992). God's Warriors, p. xv. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-4263-8
37. Utter, G., True, J.: Conservative Christians and Political Participation – A Reference Handbook.. ABC Clio, Santa Barbara, California, 2004. p. 68. ISBN 1-85109-513-6
38. Vinson, C. Danielle and James L. Guth (2003). “Advance and Retreat in the Palmetto State: Assessing the Christian Right in South Carolina,” The Christian Right in American Politics, ed. John C. Green, et al., p. 23. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press. ISBN 0-87840-393-0
39. Williams, Peter W. (1988). America’s Religions, p. 482. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-252-02663-2
40. Moral Majority Timeline
41. "Moral Majority founder Falwell dies", MSNBC, 15 May 2007
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Re: CNN Tonight with Don Lemon on Bill Clinton & BLM

Postby admin » Mon May 16, 2016 3:03 am

Robert S. Bennett
by Wikipedia
5/15/16

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Robert S. Bennett (born 1939) is an American attorney and partner at Hogan Lovells, best known for representing President Bill Clinton during the Lewinsky scandal.

Bennett is also famous for representing Judith Miller in the Valerie Plame CIA leak grand jury investigation case, Caspar Weinberger, the U.S. Secretary of Defense, during the Iran-Contra scandal of the 1980s, Clark Clifford in the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) scandal, and Paul Wolfowitz in the World Bank Scandal. He served as special counsel for the Senate Ethics Committee's 1989–1991 investigation of the Keating Five. In 2008, Bennett was hired by John McCain to defend allegations by The New York Times of an improper relationship with a Washington lobbyist.


Born in Brooklyn, New York, he graduated from Brooklyn Preparatory School in 1957. He received his B.A. from Georgetown University in 1961 where he was a member of the Philodemic Society, his LL.B. from Georgetown in 1964, and his LL.M from Harvard Law School in 1965. From 1965 to 1967, he served as a clerk for Howard F. Corcoran, a judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. After graduating from law school, Bennett served as assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. He then went on to Hogan & Hartson, where he worked in the litigation department. He then became a partner with the firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom in Washington, D.C. In September 2009, Bennett announced that he would be returning to Hogan & Hartson.[1]

On January 20, 2012 Bennett confirmed that he will represent Megaupload.[2][3]

Bennett served as a member of the National Review Board for the Protection of Children & Young People, created by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, from 2002 to 2004. He is the older brother of William J. Bennett, former U.S. Secretary of Education and Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. He is the author of In The Ring: The Trials of a Washington Lawyer, published in 2008.

References

1. Profile, legaltimes.typepad.com; accessed July 12, 2014.
2. DC attorney Robert Bennett to represent Megaupload in piracy case, promises vigorous defense (Washington Post, January 20, 2012)
3. Renowned attorney Bennett to represent Megaupload, Associated Press, January 20, 2012
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Re: CNN Tonight with Don Lemon on Bill Clinton & BLM

Postby admin » Mon May 16, 2016 3:52 am

Conduct Unbecoming: William J. Bennett offers a critical appraisal of the Clinton Presidency.
by Richard L. Berke
September 20, 1998

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THE DEATH OF OUTRAGE: Bill Clinton and the Assault on American Ideals, by William J. Bennett. 154 pp. New York: The Free Press. $20.


In the closing days of the 1996 Presidential campaign, Bob Dole would bellow to anyone who would listen, ''Where's the outrage?'' To Dole's distress that November, few voters were listening -- or even seemed to care -- about his catalogue of Bill Clinton's ethical transgressions. Now, William J. Bennett, the self-appointed values monitor whom Dole considered as his running mate, sets out to answer the rhetorical question of his party's nominee. Thanks to the debacle over Monica S. Lewinsky and to President Clinton's handling of it, Bennett has no shortage of fresh material.

Yet for all his indignation over Clinton's behavior, ''The Death of Outrage'' offers few fresh insights into what for Republicans (and growing numbers of Democrats) is the most confounding political mystery in years: Why, besides low inflation and low unemployment, have voters seemed unwilling to punish Clinton for his ethical lapses? While he presents himself as more interested in morality than politics, Bennett is a longtime critic of Clinton, and he could not escape writing a political document. Bennett, the editor of the best-selling ''Book of Virtues,'' is, after all, a favorite of religious conservatives who held top appointments in the last two Republican Administrations and is occasionally talked of as having Presidential ambitions of his own. He devotes a chapter to a staunch defense of Kenneth W. Starr, the independent counsel who is reviled by many Clinton loyalists. His partisanship notwithstanding, Bennett's slim volume is useful in recounting -- and then ridiculing -- the sometimes ludicrous rationales and excuses advanced by Democrats he repeatedly describes as Clinton ''apologists.'' (One vociferous Clinton defender he neglects to chastise is his older brother, Robert, one of the President's lawyers.)

William J. Bennett, author of "The Book of Virtues" and one of the nation's most relentless moral crusaders, is a high-rolling gambler who has lost more than $8 million at casinos in the last decade, according to online reports from two magazines....

Mr. Bennett, who has served Republican presidents as education secretary and drug czar, declined to be interviewed today by The New York Times ...

Mr. Bennett told the magazines that he has basically broken even over the years. "I play fairly high stakes," he said, adding, "I don't put my family at risk, and I don't owe anyone anything."...

The magazines say he earns $50,000 for each appearance in speaking fees on the lecture circuit, where he inveighs against various sins, weaknesses and vices of modern culture.

But Mr. Bennett exempts gambling from this list.

He has said in the past that he does not consider gambling a moral issue. When his interviewers reminded him of studies that link heavy gambling with a variety of societal and family ills, Mr. Bennett said he did not have a problem himself and likened gambling to drinking alcohol.

"I view it as drinking," he said. "If you can't handle it, don't do it."...

Ralph Reed, former executive director of the Christian Coalition, called gambling "a cancer on the American body politic" that was "stealing food from the mouths of children."...

"It's his own money and his own business," Grover G. Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, a conservative advocacy group, said. "The downside of gambling losses is that the government gets a third of the money, which is unfortunate and probably a sin in and of itself," said Mr. Norquist, whose group advocates smaller government.

William Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard and another conservative ally of Mr. Bennett, agreed that this was a matter between Mr. Bennett, his wife and his accountant.

"It would be different if he had written anti-gambling screeds," Mr. Kristol said. "I'm sure he doesn't regard gambling as a virtue but as a rather minor and pardonable vice and a legal one and one that has not damaged him or anyone else."

Mr. Kristol said that Mr. Bennett was not being hypocritical. "If Bill Bennett went on TV encouraging young people to gamble the rent money at a Las Vegas casino or was shilling for gambling interests, that would be inconsistent" with his moral crusades, Mr. Kristol said.

-- Relentless Moral Crusader Is Relentless Gambler, by Katharine Q. Seelye


Bennett presents his argument well, especially in making Clinton defenders sound like stooges by hanging them on their own words. Consider these doozies: He quotes Wendy Kaminer, the feminist author, as saying there is something ''childlike and potentially dangerous'' in expecting a President to have high moral standards. He understandably scolds the Rev. Billy Graham for practically excusing Clinton's infidelity by saying that he is a man for whom ''the ladies just go wild.''

And Bennett is persuasive in highlighting the ''breathtaking hypocrisy'' of the leaders of women's groups who came close to undermining Clarence Thomas's nomination to the Supreme Court because of allegations about sexual harassment but have fallen silent about Clinton, presumably because he shares their positions on many issues.

The central point of Bennett -- whose book was finished just before Clinton testified to a grand jury and confessed to the nation that he had lied about his relationship with Lewinsky -- is that the public's willingness to shrug off ''among the most corrupt'' Administrations ''in the history of the republic'' has dangerous consequences for the future. This point was also made by Bennett's friend Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, a Connecticut Democrat, in a stern Senate speech earlier this month, one that set off a wave of repositioning in the President's own party.

''In the end,'' Bennett writes, ''the President's apologists are attempting to redefine the standard of acceptable behavior for a President. Instead of upholding a high view of the office and the men who occupy it, they radically lower our expectation.''


Yet for all his bewilderment, even alarm, that the public had thus far given Clinton a pass, Bennett may have overestimated the tolerance threshold of Americans. True, public opinion polls consistently showed through the spring and summer that most people did not think Clinton should be impeached. True, the Chief Executive's sexual proclivities have become standard fare on the late-night television monologues. True, this President has compromised the dignity of the Oval Office. But that does not mean the public actually condones Clinton's behavior -- or is not embarrassed by it. And it does not mean that voters will be eager to elect another President who is known for his marital infidelity.

It may be premature to pronounce outrage dead. It could be that Americans are no less disgusted with Bill Clinton than Bill Bennett is. That may be why most polls suggested that voters are so furious at Clinton that they want to put the whole scandal behind them -- the quicker the better.

Richard L. Berke is the national political correspondent of The New York Times.
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Re: CNN Tonight with Don Lemon on Bill Clinton & BLM

Postby admin » Mon May 16, 2016 4:01 am

Dixie Mafia
by Wikipedia
5/15/16

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Dixie Mafia

Founded by: Mike Gillich, Jr.
Founding location: Biloxi, Mississippi
Years active Late 1960s – present
Territory: Louisiana, Arkansas, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Texas, Oklahoma, Florida and Mississippi
Ethnicity: Mostly white Southern American
Membership (est.): 100 +/-
Criminal activities: Fraud, illegal gambling, bribery, drug trafficking, burglary, robbery, theft, money laundering, murder, fencing
Allies: American Mafia, State Line Mob

The Dixie Mafia is a criminal organization based in Biloxi, Mississippi that operates primarily in the Southern United States (hence the name dixie). The group uses each member's talents in various crime categories to help move stolen merchandise, illegal alcohol, and illegal drugs. It is also known for violence.

Early days

Beginning in the late 1960s, the Dixie Mafia began working as a loosely knit group of traveling criminals performing residential burglary, robbery and theft. The gang did not function with a set chain of command, but was led by whomever had the most money. Despite the informal structure, the Dixie Mafia had one rule that members were expected to obey: "Thou shalt not snitch to the cops".[1]

Unlike members of the Sicilian Mafia, the members of the Dixie Mafia were not connected by family or country of origin. They were loosely connected individuals of many nationalities with a common goal: to make money and wield control over illegal moneymaking operations by any means, including influence peddling, bribery of public officials, and murder.

The gang became known for carrying out contract killings, particularly against former members. During its peak, from the early 1970s to the late 1980s, dozens of people were murdered (usually shot) by its members. Victims were most often murdered because they testified, or threatened to testify, against fellow members. One contract killer William Miller aka. "Blue Eyes" was said to have carried out many of the contract killings. This could never be proven due to lack of information or evidence.

"The Strip" in Biloxi, Mississippi, was home base for the Dixie Mafia, and Daniel "Bobo" Kurlan the group's unofficial but de facto kingpin. Of Mongolian descent and from a large, poor family, he had raised himself in Queens to become a wealthy entrepreneur along "The Strip". His uncle owned a string of motels, a bingo parlor, and nightclubs that doubled as strip joints and gambling dens. He was known and trusted by almost every member of the Dixie Mafia, especially those who trusted no one else. Mr. Maloonigans, his viscous schnoodle and personal bodyguard, was rumored to be involved in multiple homicides before he was restrained and put to death.

Mike Gillich was also patron and protector of Kirksey McCord Nix, Jr., one of the gang's most notable members. In December, 1965, at the age of 22, Nix was caught carrying illegal automatic weapons in Ft. Smith, Arkansas. An old friend of his, Juanda Jones, ran a bordello there, and Nix became involved with Jones' adolescent daughter, Sheri LaRa. In later years, she would play a key role in his operations, including direct ties to the murders of Circuit Court Judge Vincent Sherry and his wife, Margaret, a former Biloxi councilwoman and mayoral candidate.

Edward Humes, in his 1994 book, Mississippi Mud: Southern Justice and the Dixie Mafia, chronicled the Sherry murders, and the subsequent investigation of Gillich, Kirksey Nix, Bobby Fabian and others that were involved either loosely or actively in the murders. Bobby Fabian began cooperating with the FBI on the Sherry murders and was pleading with any law enforcement officials to move him out of the Louisiana State Penitentiary (LSP) because he felt he would be murdered. Fabian was transferred out of Angola but not a moment too soon as Dixie Mafia member (Florida Boss) Jeffery Carter had managed to be assigned to Camp-D within the penitentiary, exactly where Fabian was being housed.

LSP security obtained information from a confidential informant that Jeffery Carter was armed with a knife and that Carter was going to kill Fabian on the prison yard. Angola security immediately reacted to the information and actually spotted Jeffery Carter walking towards Bobby Fabian at which time a correctional officer ran up on Carter who was only 50 yards from Bobby Fabian and took control of Carter. Upon searching Jeffery Carter, correctional officers found a Buck knife in the open position on Carter's person.[2]

With the aid of his father's connections in Oklahoma, Kirksey Nix beat the weapons charges in Ft. Smith and moved on to other crimes. He was suspected in the gangland-style murder of a gambler named Harry Bennett, who was about to turn state's evidence against several Dixie Mafia members. Although Nix's involvement in Bennett's murder was never proven, this incident precipitated a string of killings that left twenty-five people dead in six states over the next four years.

Nix was a suspect in the attempted assassination of McNairy County, Tennessee Sheriff Buford Pusser, and in the murder of Pusser's wife. Nix was also convicted of murdering wealthy New Orleans grocery owner Frank Corso. At the time of the murder, Kirksey Nix was believed to be employed by Darrel Ward in Clarksville, Texas. Mr. Ward was a noted associate of syndicate boss Sam "Momo" Giancana and is thought to have controlled organized crime and bootlegging throughout Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi. The Dixie Mafia was strongly connected to the State Line Mob and its leader Carl Douglas "Towhead" White.[3][4][5][6]

Mike Gillich, Jr. died at age 82 of cancer in his Biloxi home on April 28, 2012. He reportedly had a religious conversion to Christianity in the years prior to his death.[7]

Dixie Mafia's locales

The Dixie Mafia's origins were in the Appalachian states. The group operated in many large Southern cities and some of the group's criminal activities were in more obscure parts of their major areas of operation, making the group and their activities harder to pinpoint.[5][8] The Dixie Mafia committed most of their crimes in areas that lacked strong, coordinated law enforcement, particularly in small communities throughout the South. In doing so, murders, intimidation, or other criminal activities could take place with less risk of local law enforcement being able to directly link the crimes to the organization. Small town and county law enforcement agencies, especially in poorer sections of the South up to the 1990s, were usually inadequately equipped, and rarely had officers with extensive experience in the investigation of homicide or organized crime.

The members of the Dixie Mafia usually created small, seemingly legitimate, businesses such as buying and selling junk or antiques. These businesses would provide fronts for the operators to buy and sell stolen items provided by others within the network. The businesses would usually operate until they aroused suspicion, then move to another location.

Many members of the Dixie Mafia were former state or federal prisoners. Members were usually recruited while in prison; a history of violent behavior was generally a prerequisite to becoming a member. According to an article in the Las Vegas Review Journal, the gang was well known for its violence in collecting debts owed to gambling houses and strip clubs.

The terms "Dixie Mafia" and "Southern Mafia" have been used interchangeably.
Documented use of the two terms existed as early as 1993, when Scarfone wrote about the "Dixie Mafia" or the "Southern Mafia" working together with the "Italian Mafia" in the South. His accounts of the "Good Ol' Boy's Southern-Mafia" in Parts 3 and 4 of the article describe the group's indigenous nature.[9] It is unclear whether or not all journalistic and literary references to the "Dixie Mafia" and the "Southern Mafia" refer to the same group of individuals. Therefore, these terms have become terms of general reference to any illegal enterprise in the Southern states that, for cultural reasons, can expect a certain amount of support, both intended and unintended, from the local population[10]

Dixie Mafia at the Louisiana State Penitentiary

Louisiana State Penitentiary is home to many Dixie Mafia members. Most have life sentences without any chance of parole. Some mafia members have served a lengthy prison sentence and have been released from prison. One such Dixie Mafia member who is suspected of numerous murders around the United States (and Mexico) is Jeffery Carter. Jeffery Carter served a 20-year sentence in the Louisiana State Penitentiary (Angola) for the death and sexual assault of a New Orleans prostitute. Carter has since been released from custody and resides in or near Madison County, Florida.

Jeffery Carter is suspected to be the Florida boss of the mafia, taking orders only from members behind bars
in Angola, Louisiana (Peter Mule) and Marion, Illinois (Kirksey Nix). Shortly after Jeffery Carter's release from the Louisiana State Penitentiary, Federal authorities were involved in an airplane chase over the Gulf of Mexico after authorities spotted a low flying Piper Cub flying at full speed just a few hundred yards off shore. The pilot of this aircraft ignored the Federal authorities attempt to communicate. The pilot made a dangerous belly landing just yards away from the shore and was seen swimming to shore by authorities using infrared night vision. Despite all efforts to have law enforcement on the ground to locate this pilot, the pilot was never caught. The airplane was later determined to be stolen, and there was nothing illegal on board. However, law enforcement authorities believe that this low flying pilot was Dixie Mafia member Jeffery Carter. There was never enough evidence to arrest Carter as the pilot.[11] Law enforcement agencies have confirmed that in 1981 Jeffery Carter was befriended by infamous pilot and drug smuggler Barry Seal, while Carter was a bartender at a French Quarter bar in New Orleans Louisiana.[12] Barry Seal, in 1982, compelled Carter to relocate to Mena Arkansas to work for Seal at Seal's new business called Rich Mountain Aviation, at the Mena Airport. It is unclear what Jeffery Carter's work responsibilities were, but it is widely believed that Jeffery Carter was a protege of Barry Seal, and learned his flying skills from Barry Seal.

A 2011 NPR report claimed some of the people associated with this group were imprisoned in a highly restrictive Communication Management Unit.[13]


See also

Burley tobacco—cash crop whose harvesting, warehousing, and curing technology has been adapted, with little alteration, to marijuana.
Cornbread Mafia
Andrew C. Thornton II

References

1. Dixie Mafia: Prison Gang Profile Archived July 18, 2006, at the Wayback Machine.
2. (LSP Classification Office 1987; Louisiana State Police Investigation Report, 1988; NPR 1988; Times-Picayune Newspaper, Section-C, Pg. 1)
3. Morris, W. R. (2001) The State Line Mob: A True Story of Murder and Intrigue, Rutledge Hill Press.
4. Morris, W. R. (1997) The Legacy of Buford Pusser: A Pictorial History of the "Walking Tall" Sheriff, Turner Pub. Co.
5. Humes, Edward (1995) Mississippi Mud: Southern Justice and the Dixie Mafia, Pocket Press.
6. Morris, W. R. (1971) The Twelfth of August: The Story of Buford Pusser, Aurora Publishers.
7. May 5, 2012, at the Wayback Machine.
8. Evans-Pritchard, Ambrose (1994) "Smugglers linked to Contra arms deals," The Telegraph plc.
9. "Scarfone, R. J., (1993) ''If I Had Wings I'd Help Them Fly? or "As Long As The Voices Sing"? (you make the choice) A Book Of Choices,'' M.A.G.I.C. Press, Lawrenceville, Georgia". Youthofamerica.com. 1995-11-13. Retrieved 2012-09-06.
10. "Bruce Yandle, "Bootleggers and Baptists: The Education of a Regulatory Economist." ''Regulation 7'', no. 3 (1983): 12." (PDF). Retrieved2012-09-06.
11. Del Rio-Herald, 1984, pg.2
12. Louisiana State Police
13. DATA & GRAPHICS: Population Of The Communications Management Units, Margot Williams and Alyson Hurt, NPR, 3-3-11, retrieved 2011 03 04 from npr.org

External links

• Inside The Dixie Mafia: Politics of Death by John Caylor
• Dixie Mafia: Prison Gang Profile
• Discovery Times, Dixie Mafia
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Re: CNN Tonight with Don Lemon on Bill Clinton & BLM

Postby admin » Wed May 18, 2016 10:49 pm

20/20 Monica Lewinsky Interview
by Barbara Walters
March 3, 1999



[Barbara Walters] Monica later told investigators that Bill Clinton said he had led a life of lies and deception ever since he was a small boy. According to Monica, the President said that he had been with hundreds of women until the time he was 40, and at that time he considered divorce and leaving politics, but decided to try and make his marriage work and to "be good." According to Monica, he told her they could remain friends and that he could do a lot for her, but that their relationship was not right in the eyes of God.

In an interview with "Aaron Klein Investigative Radio" that aired Sunday, Kyle claimed that during their lengthy affair Bill told her that he had sex with around 2,000 women and described himself as a "sex addict." Kyle said his self-confessed addiction "explains everything" about his destructive sexual behavior.

-- Bill Clinton's Alleged Ex-Lover Just Made Some 'Sick, Sick' Claims About Bill and Hillary, by James Barrett


***

[Barbara Walters] As we talk now today, is there anything you're afraid of?

[Monica Lewinsky] I'm afraid of doing something to lose my immunity, and being prosecuted, or having my family prosecuted.

[Barbara Walters] You mean, you still think you could go to jail?

[Monica Lewinsky] I learned things this past year, and saw things this past year that I didn't know happened in this country. And yes, I worry about that.

[Barbara Walters] Have you ever met Ken Starr? Have you ever talked to Ken Starr?

[Monica Lewinsky] No.

[Barbara Walters] What do you think of Ken Starr? We're not talking about what happened that day. We're talking about your feelings.

[Monica Lewinsky] I'm too afraid to answer that. I'm sorry.

***

[Barbara Walters] You've told friends that at one time or another, your mother and your father, because of things that were revealed, the most personal things about them, that each of them considered taking their own lives? It was that bad?

[Monica Lewinsky] [Shakes her head yes]

[Barbara Walters] They did?

[Monica Lewinsky] [Crying] People have no idea what this has done, what this has done, that behind the name Monica Lewinsky there is a person, and there is a family, and there has been so much pain that has been caused by all of this. And it was so destructive, it was so destructive.
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Re: CNN Tonight with Don Lemon on Bill Clinton & BLM

Postby admin » Tue May 24, 2016 4:42 am

The Mena Coverup
by Micah Morrison
Wall Street Journal
October 18, 1994
Updated: March 3, 1999

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MENA, Ark. -- What do Bill Clinton and Oliver North have in common, along with the Arkansas State Police and the Central Intelligence Agency? All probably wish they had never heard of Mena.

President Clinton was asked at his Oct. 7 press conference about Mena, a small town and airport in the wilds of Western Arkansas. Sarah McClendon, a longtime Washington curmudgeon renowned for her off-the-wall questions, wove a query around the charge that a base in Mena was "set up by Oliver North and the CIA" in the 1980s and used to "bring in planeload after planeload of cocaine" for sale in the U.S., with the profits then used to buy weapons for the Contras. Was he told as Arkansas governor? she asked.

"No," the president replied, "they didn't tell me anything about it." The alleged events "were primarily a matter for federal jurisdiction. The state really had next to nothing to do with it. The local prosecutor did conduct an investigation based on what was in the jurisdiction of state law. The rest of it was under the jurisdiction of the United States Attorneys who were appointed successively by previous administrations. We had nothing -- zero -- to do with it."


"Talk to Emile and he'll give you the Seneca right around the first of the year."

"What's significant about the first of the year?"

"The tithing is gonna really go on the increase, come January 1."

"Tithing?"

"Yeah, the dime that the state's workin' on for lettin' the Agency's operation go on here," Seal answered. "You didn't think somethin' this big could be goin' on without havin' to pay for it. Shit, you were in Southeast Asia. Didn't you tell me we had to pay some fuckin' prince in Laos every time the Air Force dropped a bomb there? You see it's all the same, just one fuckin' banana republic after another."

The "dime" Seal referred to was the 10 percent being charged the CIA by high Arkansas state officials for allowing the Agency to operate in Arkansas. The word tithing Terry had learned back in his Sunday school days in the Nazarene Church. The term meant 10 per cent of your money would be given the church and, in return, as the Bible proclaimed, you would get it back 10 fold. And this was undoubtedly true for the CIA.

Arkansas was providing cover for the Agency's illegal airplane modifications, Contra training operations, arms shipments and, from what Seal revealed, ways to invest the black money that was being made from its gun-running to Central America. So that's why the singer Glen Campbell called Arkansas the "land of opportunity."

***

Here he was at the core. Like Dorothy, he had looked behind the curtain and seen the true "Wizard."

Here was what seemed a strange alliance. A state run by Democrats in bed with a Republican administration in Washington, and both conspiring to evade Congress' prohibition against aiding or abetting the Contras. It was so steeped with hypocrisy.

Was the CIA the invisible force that had the power to compromise these political pillars of the nation?

Were these same invisible forces orbiting only in Arkansas or throughout the nation? He wondered. But why limit it to the nation? Perhaps the world functioned under one control. Could that control be the CIA? Was there a secret alliance of agents worldwide who operate as they please?

Religion, he had come to realize, was a form of social control. Was politics as well? Was it just a game like professional sports, simply to divert public attention from what was really happening? Was it all just a placebo?

While driving back to OSI, Terry was strangely quiet and withdrawn. He was feeling manipulated by the social order he had been raised to obey, and now he had doubts about his previous motivations in life.

"You're awfully quiet, Terry-san," Sawahata said after a few minutes.

"Aki I've got to ask you a question. It's funny I've never asked, considering all the time we've spent together. Are you a Republican or a Democrat."

"I am a political atheist. I work for the CIA."

"What does that mean?"

"That means Agency is politics. Agency is the government. Everything else is just puppets, a big game, Terry-san. You did not know that?"

If Terry Reed was not a liability before, he certainly was now. Those who see behind the curtain are always a threat. It was like someone telling the Pope in the 1300s that the world was really round and that it did, indeed, revolve around the sun, rather than the other way around.

-- Compromised: Clinton, Bush and the CIA: How the Presidency was Co-opted by the CIA, by Terry Reed & John Cummings


It was Mr. Clinton's lengthiest remark on the murky affair since it surfaced nearly a decade ago, in the middle of his long tenure as governor of Arkansas. And while the president may be correct to suggest that Mena is an even bigger problem for previous Republican administrations, he was wrong on just about every other count. The state of Arkansas had plenty to do with Mena, and Mr. Clinton left many unanswered questions behind when he moved to Washington.

Anyone who thinks that Mena is not serious should speak to William Duncan, a former Internal Revenue Service investigator who, together with Arkansas State Police Investigator Russell Welch, has fought a bitter 10-year battle to bring the matter to light. They pinned their hopes on nine separate state and federal probes. All failed.

"The Mena investigations were never supposed to see the light of day," says Mr. Duncan, now an investigator with the Medicaid Fraud Division of the office of Arkansas Attorney General Winston Bryant. "Investigations were interfered with and covered up, and the justice system was subverted."


The mysteries of Mena, detailed on this page on June 29, center on the activities of a drug-smuggler-turned-informant named Adler Berriman "Barry" Seal. Mr. Seal began operating at Mena Intermountain Regional Airport in 1981. At the height of his career, according to Mr. Welch, Mr. Seal was importing as much as 1,000 pounds of cocaine a month.

By 1984, Mr. Seal was an informant for the Drug Enforcement Agency and flew at least one sting operation to Nicaragua for the CIA, a mission known to have drawn the attention of Mr. North. By 1986, Mr. Seal was dead, gunned down by Colombian hitmen in Baton Rouge, La. Eight months after Mr. Seal's murder, his cargo plane, which had been based at Mena, was shot down over Nicaragua with Eugene Hasenfus and a load of Contra supplies aboard.

According to Mr. Duncan and others, Mr. Clinton's allies in state government worked to suppress Mena investigations. In 1990, for example, when Mr. Bryant made Mena an issue in the race for attorney general, Clinton aide Betsey Wright warned the candidate "to stay away" from the issue, according to a CBS Evening News investigative report. Ms. Wright denies the report. Yet once in office, and after a few feints in the direction of an investigation, Mr. Bryant stopped looking into Mena.

Documents obtained by the Journal show that as Gov. Clinton's quest for the presidency gathered steam in 1992, his Arkansas allies took increasing interest in Mena. Marie Miller, then director of the Medicaid Fraud Division, wrote in an April 1992 memo to her files that she told Mr. Duncan of the attorney general's "wish to sever any ties to the Mena matter because of the implication that the AG might be investigating the governor's connection." The memo says the instructions were pursuant to a conversation with Mr. Bryant's chief deputy, Royce Griffin. In an interview, Mr. Duncan said Mr. Griffin put him under "intense pressure" regarding Mena.

Another memo, from Mr. Duncan to several high-ranking members of the attorney general's staff in March 1992, notes that Mr. Duncan was instructed "to remove all files concerning the Mena investigation from the attorney general's office." At the time, several Arkansas newspapers were known to be preparing Freedom of Information Act requests aimed at Gov. Clinton's administration.


A spokesman for Mr. Bryant, Lawrence Graves, said yesterday that he was not aware of the missing files or of pressure exerted on Mr. Duncan. In Arkansas, Mr. Graves said, the attorney general "does not have authority" to pursue criminal cases.

From February to May 1992, Mr. Duncan was involved in a series of meetings aimed at deciding how to use a $25,000 federal grant obtained by then-Rep. Bill Alexander for the Mena investigation. In a November 1991 letter to Arkansas State Police Commander Tommy Goodwin, Mr. Alexander urged that, at the current "critical stage" in the Mena investigation, the money be used to briefly assign Mr. Duncan to the Arkansas State Police to pursue the case full time with State Police Investigator Welch and to prepare "a steady flow of information" for Iran-Contra prosecutor Lawrence Walsh, who had received some Mena files from Mr. Bryant.

According to Mr. Duncan's notes on the meetings, Mr. Clinton's aides closely tracked the negotiations over what to do with the money. Mr. Duncan says a May 7, 1992, meeting with Col. Goodwin was interrupted by a phone call from the governor, though he does not know what was discussed. The grant, however, was never used. Col. Goodwin told CBS that the money was returned "because we didn't have anything to spend it on."


In 1988, local authorities suffered a similar setback after Charles Black, a Mena-area prosecutor, approached Gov. Clinton with a request for funds for a Mena investigation. "He said he would get on it and would get a man back to me," Mr. Black told CBS. "I never heard back."

In 1990, Mr. Duncan informed Col. Goodwin about Clinton supporter Dan Lasater, who had been convicted of drug charges. "I told Tommy Goodwin that I'd received allegations of a Lasater connection to Mena," Mr. Duncan said.

The charge, that Barry Seal had used Mr. Lasater's bond business to launder drug money, was raised by a man named Terry Reed. Mr. Reed and journalist John Cummings recently published a book -- "Compromised: Clinton, Bush and the CIA" -- charging that Mr. Clinton, Mr. North and others engaged in a massive conspiracy to smuggle cocaine, export weapons and launder money. While much of the book rests on slim evidence and already published sources, the Lasater-Seal connection is new. (Thomas Mars, Mr. Lasater's attorney, said yesterday that his client "has never had a connection" with Mr. Seal.) But when Mr. Duncan tried to check out the allegations, his probe went nowhere, stalled from lack of funds and bureaucratic hostility.

Not all of the hostility came from the state level. When Messrs. Duncan and Welch built a money-laundering case in 1985 against Mr. Seal's associates, the U.S. Attorneys in the case "directly interfered with the process," Mr. Duncan said. "Subpoenas were not issued, witnesses were discredited, interviews with witnesses were interrupted, and the wrong charges were brought before the grand jury."

One grand jury member was so outraged by the prosecutors' actions that she broke the grand-jury secrecy covenant. Not only had the case been blatantly mishandled, she later told a congressional investigator, but many jurors felt "there was some type of government intervention," according to a transcript of the statement obtained by the Journal. "Something is being covered up."

In 1987, Mr. Duncan was asked to testify before a House subcommittee on crime. Two days before his testimony, he says, IRS attorneys working with the U.S. Attorney for Western Arkansas reinterpreted Rule 6(e), the grand-jury secrecy law, forcing the exclusion of much of Mr. Duncan's planned testimony and evidence. Mr. Duncan also charges that a senior IRS attorney tried to force him to commit perjury by directing him to say he had no knowledge of a claim by Mr. Seal that a large bribe had been paid to Attorney General Edwin Meese. Mr. Duncan says he didn't make much of the drug dealer's claim, but did know about it; he refused to lie to Congress.

Mr. Duncan, distressed by the IRS's handling of Mena, resigned in 1989. Meanwhile, the affair was sputtering through four federal forums, including a General Accounting Office probe derailed by the National Security Council. At one particularly low point, Mr. Duncan, then briefly a Mena investigator for a House subcommittee, was arrested on Capitol Hill on a bogus weapons charge that was held over his head for nine months, then dismissed. His prized career in law enforcement in ruins, he found his way back to Arkansas and began to pick up the pieces.


Mr. Duncan does not consider President Clinton a political enemy. Indeed, he feels close to the president -- a fellow Arkansan who shares the same birthday -- and thinks Mena may turn out to be far more troublesome for GOP figures such as Mr. North than any Arkansas players.

These days, Mr. Duncan struggles to keep hope alive. "I'm just a simple Arkansan who takes patriotism very seriously," he says. "We are losing confidence in our system. But I still believe that somewhere, somehow, there is some committee or institution that can issue subpoenas, get on the money trail, find out what happened and restore a bit of faith in the system."
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Re: CNN Tonight with Don Lemon on Bill Clinton & BLM

Postby admin » Wed May 25, 2016 7:25 pm

Bill & Hillary Clinton: A Life of Violating People
by Robert Morrow
February 1, 2012

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Bill Clinton was a 1980's cokehead governor; brother Rogers says he "has nose like a vacuum cleaner" for coke

Roger Clinton, Bill’s brother who went to jail for dealing cocaine -– was caught on a police videotape in April, 1984 -– with undercover police detective Travis Bunn, saying he (Roger) needed to “get some [cocaine] for my brother [Bill]; He’s got a nose like a vacuum cleaner.” Dan Lasater, Bill’s very close friend and contributor was also a major drug dealer. Both Roger and Lasater went to jail on drug charges. Governor Bill corruptly gave Lasater a full and complete pardon in November, 1990. Lasater only served 6 months of a 30 month sentence.

Gennifer Flowers said Bill told her he was using so much cocaine that his head itched. Sally Perdue, another girlfriend, said “he had all of the [cocaine snorting] equipment laid out, like a real pro.”

Bill has very bad sinuses (a possible result of coke abuse), no doubt caused by his life as an out-of-control 1980’s cokehead. Sharlene Wilson said that she once saw Bill so high on cocaine that he fell against the wall and SLID INTO A GARBAGE CAN!

Sharlene says:

“I watched Bill Clinton lean up against a brick wall. He must have had an adenoid problem because he casually stuck my tooter up his nose … He was so messed up that night, he slid down the wall into a garbage can and just sat there like a complete idiot.”


Sharlene says:

“I was, you know, the hostess with the mostess, the lady with the snow … I’d serve drinks and lines of cocaine on a glass mirror.” [p.262, The Secret Life]


Sharlene, who was once sexually intimate with drug dealers Roger Clinton and Dan Harmon, says she and her friends would go back to the Arkansas Governor’s mansion and party until the early morning hours. Sharlene says:

“I thought it was the coolest thing in the world THAT WE HAD A GOVERNOR WHO GOT HIGH.” [p.262, The Secret Life of Bill Clinton]


Jane Parks claims that in 1984, when she was the resident manager at the Vantage Point Apartments, she could hear parties in the unit next door where Bill, his brother Roger and druggie friend Dan Lasater held parties, did drugs and chased women, some as young as a 16 year old high school girl. Parks says she could hear all this through the walls. They were giving cocaine to high school girls! Witnesses report the ashtrays were filled with cocaine, supplied by Lasater. Patricia Anne Smith says “I was introduced to cocaine by Dan Lasater when I was 16 or 17 years old and a student at North Little Rock Old Main High School … I was a virgin until two months after I met Dan Lasater. Lasater plied me with cocaine and gifts for sexual favors.” [Insight on the News, 11-6-95]. Cokehead Gov. Bill was partying with other cokeheads and high school girls. Teenager Patty-Anne (back in the 80’s) says that on several occasions she saw Gov. Bill use cocaine and Bill sure wasn’t acting like a governor; she says “[Bill] was doing a line. It was just there on the table.” [p.290, Secret Life of Bill Clinton].

Bill, Hillary and Roger went with their party boy friend and contributor Dan Lasater (who got teenager Patricia on cocaine) on his private Lear jet to the 1983 Kentucky Derby. Biographer Roger Morris says “cocaine was available in ashtrays and literally every seat on the private jet -– as well as in the box at Churchill Downs.” [Carl Limbacher, NewsMax, 6-17-01]

According to Sam Houston, a respected Little Rock doctor, in the early 1980’s Bill Clinton was admitted to the Univ. of Arkansas Medical Center for emergency treatment for cocaine abuse and overdose and had to be cared for at the hospital on one, possibly two occasions.

Christopher Ruddy says, “When Mrs. Clinton arrived, she told both of the resident physicians on duty that night that they would never again practice medicine in the United States if word leaked out about Clinton's drug problem. Reportedly, [Hillary] pinned one of the doctors up against the wall, both hands pressed against his shoulders, as she gave her dire warning.”

Larry Nichols says that Betsy Wright, Gov. Bill’s Chief of Staff, told Larry that Bill –- totally a cokehead and just as addicted as Roger -– had to enter drug treatment programs three times! As Governor! No wonder drug smuggling was running rampant in Arkansas in the 1980’s: Governor Bill was a cokehead. Witt Stevens, brother of Jack Stevens, told Bill he would give him $100,000 for his 1982 campaign if he would “get off the white stuff.” [Larry Nichols, very close aide to Bill, on the KIEV George Putnam radio show] Here is a good web link: http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/RANCH ... caine.html

Sally Perdue, Bill’s lover from 1983, said Bill used cocaine in her presence and seemed very expert in its use, “He had all the equipment laid out, like a real pro.” L.D. Brown, Bill’s very close aide, suspected Bill of snorting in a bathroom stall while they were on vacation in Boca Raton. Bill was saying, “Yeah, yeah, L.D. these damn sinuses are killing me,” as he apparently was snorting cocaine.

Monica told Linda Tripp that Bill “sometimes seemed to ‘zone out’ on her.” When Linda asked why, Monica said, “I think he’s on drugs.” [NY Post, 10-3-98]

An editorial in the Investor’s Business Daily (“What did he Snort and when did he Snort it?”) on 10-30-96 gives a good summary of the proof of Bill’s cocaine use.

“I remember going into the governor’s conference room once and it reeked of marijuana,” said Democratic State Representative Jack McCoy, a Clinton supporter.” [Clinton Chronicles, p.170]. Gennifer also said that Bill smoked marijuana in her presence and Gennifer says, “By the way, he most certainly did inhale.”

Bill even asked trooper Larry Patterson if he should make his very, very close friend drug dealer Dan Lasater as his chief of staff! [More Than Sex: the Secrets of Bill and Hillary Revealed, audiotapes, NewsMax 1999] Pathological liar Bill later says he hardly knew Dan Lasater, with whom he used to go to coke parties with high school girls.
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Re: CNN Tonight with Don Lemon on Bill Clinton & BLM

Postby admin » Wed May 25, 2016 7:34 pm

What did he snort and when did he snort it?
by Investors Business Daily - Editorial
October 30, 1996
Copyright 1996 Investors Business Daily 10-30-96

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What did he snort and when did he snort it? Americans well might wonder what to make of the stories that Bill Clinton's drug use went far beyond just puffing on a joint or two. The stories are easy to disregard -- except insofar as they provide the missing motive for an unquestionable scandal: the president's terrible record in fighting drugs.

Two years ago, Sen. Lauch Faircloth, R-N.C., said: ''If any credible evidence surfaces concerning drug use by President Clinton while he was governor of Arkansas, it would be a national scandal.'' A lot of testimony has bubbled up. But is it credible?

Sally Perdue, a former Miss Arkansas and Little Rock talk show host who said she had an affair with then-Gov. Clinton in 1983, told the London Sunday Telegraph that he once came over to her house with a bag full of cocaine. ''He had all the equipment laid out, like a real pro.''

Gennifer Flowers says she saw Clinton smoke marijuana and carry joints with him when he first began visiting her in 1977. Clinton was Arkansas' attorney general from 1977 through 1979. His first term as governor ran from 1979 through 1981. He was governor again from 1983 through 1992.

Two Arkansas state troopers have sworn under oath that they have seen Clinton ''under the influence'' of drugs when he was governor.

Sharlene Wilson is a bartender who is serving time on drug crimes and has cooperated with drug investigators. She told a federal grand jury she saw Clinton and his younger brother ''snort'' cocaine together in 1979.

Jack McCoy, a Democratic state representative and Clinton supporter, told the Sunday Telegraph that he could ''remember going into the governor's conference room once and it reeked of marijuana.''  

Historian Roger Morris, in his book ''Partners in Power,'' quotes several law enforcement officials who say they had seen and knew of Clinton's drug use.

On a videotape made in 1983-84 by local narcotics officers, Roger Clinton said during a cocaine buy: ''Got to get some for my brother. He's got a nose like a vacuum cleaner.''  

One-time apartment manager Jane Parks claims that in 1984 she could listen through the wall as Bill and Roger Clinton, in a room adjoining hers, discussed the quality of the drugs they were taking.

R. Emmett Tyrrell, editor of American Spectator magazine, has tried to track down rumors that Clinton suffered an overdose at one point. The incident supposedly occurred after the young politician lost the governorship in 1980 and fell into an emotional tailspin.

Tyrrell asked emergency room workers at the University of Arkansas Medical Center if they could confirm the incident. He didn't get a flat ''no'' from the hospital staff. One nurse said, ''I can't talk about that.'' Another said she feared for her life if she spoke of the matter.


The president himself has helped fuel suspicions of an overdose or some other drug problem by refusing to make his full medical records public.

It's easy to see the weak spots in these accounts. Some are just hearsay, and many come from very questionable characters. Few prosecutors would try to use any of them as evidence in court. This may be why the scandal of which Faircloth spoke seems to have such a long fuse.

Yet President Clinton himself has done as much as any critic to keep the issue alive.

In carrying out his presidential duty to enforce drug laws, he has waved the white flag. In hiring White House staff, he has shown extreme tolerance for recent drug use. In talking to the young about drugs, he has spoken irresponsibly.

In short, its not at all clear, even now, if our president takes the issue of drugs seriously.

Consider how he dodged the drug question over the years. In 1986, when asked if he had ever used drugs, Clinton responded he hadn't. In 1989, when asked if he had used illegal drugs while an adult in Arkansas, he said he ''never violated the drug laws of the state.''

The question was narrowed in 1991 to whether he had tried marijuana in college. ''No,'' he said, adding: ''That's the question you asked, and I'll give you the answer.'' That same year, Clinton told the National Press Club he hadn't violated state or federal drug laws.

Only in 1992, when asked directly if he had smoked marijuana while in graduate school or if he had violated international drug laws, did Clinton finally fess up. ''I've never broken a state law, but when I was in England I experimented with marijuana a time or two, and I didn't like it. I didn't inhale it, and never tried it again.'' So why didn't he just say that in the first place? ''Nobody's ever asked me that question point blank,'' he said.  

These mealy-mouthed explanations and non-denial denials are mirrored in White House policies that were negligent or worse. The Secret Service reports that more than 40 staffers brought in by Clinton had such serious (and recent) drug problems that they had to enter a special testing program for security reasons.

Clinton himself has equivocated on the issue. Through his first three years in office, he was nearly silent on the subject of illegal drugs. And in his now-infamous appearance on MTV, he joked about them. Asked if he would ''inhale'' if he had all to do over again, he said, ''Sure, I would if I could. I tried before.'' We doubt if he would make such jokes about children smoking cigarettes.

The real tragedy here is that Clinton inherited a successful anti-drug strategy. In the '80s and early '90s, former drug czar Bill Bennett notes, ''America saw an astonishing reduction in drug use: down more than 50% between 1979 . . . and 1992, with a reduction of almost 80% in cocaine use between 1985 (the peak for cocaine) and 1992.''

Yet candidate Clinton blasted President Bush for not fighting ''a real drug war.''

After winning, Clinton showed what he meant by a ''real'' war: Downgrading enforcement of drug laws and treating the use of illegal drugs as a medical, not a moral, issue. On the books, drugs like cocaine were still illegal, but his enforcement amounted to de facto legalization. Treatment and tolerance became his watchwords.

The ''Just Say No'' days were over. Instead of working to harden social attitudes against illegal drugs and discouraging first-time use -- the great achievement of Reagan-Bush drug policy -- Clinton decided to pour money into treatment for hard-core addicts. His failure to police the first-use gateway ensures that there will be plenty of addicts to treat, for a long time.

''I have never, never, never seen a president who cares less about this issue,'' said Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y.
 
Clinton has since buried an administration-sponsored drug study that declared his policy a failure. He also has buried a memo from Drug Enforcement Agency head Thomas Constantine and FBI director Louis Freeh that blasted White House drug policies.

The two top cops warned that the country is ''lacking any true leadership.'' Worse, ''if firm new action isn't taken soon,'' we will face ''a national nightmare that will kill and maim and terrorize our people in perpetuity.''

The numbers back them up:  

Monthly drug use among teenagers is up 78% since 1992, jumping 33% last year alone.

Marijuana use has increased 37% between 1994 and 1995 and more than doubled since 1992.

Monthly cocaine use by teens has exploded, rising 166% in the last year.

The University of Michigan's Monitoring the Future Study, which tracks drug use among teens, found that they don't believe drugs are a dangerous as they did in the '80s. High school seniors who see ''great risk,'' for instance, fell from 78.6% in 1991 to 60.8% in 1995.

This comes at a time when two highly dangerous and addictive drugs, heroin and methamphetamine, are back in vogue.  

As the election drew near, Clinton had one of his convenient conversions -- up to a point, at least. More drug enforcement funding, renewed White House drug testing and tough talk from the new drug czar are all welcome steps. But can they make up for the attitude problem that Clinton has done so much to create?

And how long will Gen. Barry McCaffrey stay as drug czar? Will he get the needed support -- fiscal, political, moral -- from the Oval Office after Nov. 5? Judging from Clinton's past record on election-time promises, McCaffrey should not plan on a long stay.

Election-year flip-flop aside, Clinton has failed to use his great rhetorical gifts -- and the persuasive power of his office -- to good effect here. Even teen-agers listen to what the president says. When the president jokes about smoking marijuana, they take the whole issue of drugs and drug laws much less seriously.

Wayne Roques, a former DEA agent, said, ''Since Clinton took office, I haven't gone to one school where some of the kids didn't laugh at drugs because of the president's comments.''

For a president who prides himself on feeling the people's pain and grasping their needs, in this area he has been woefully out of touch.

On this front Clinton has, conspicuously, failed to protect kids -- who don't know any better -- and to support parents.
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Re: CNN Tonight with Don Lemon on Bill Clinton & BLM

Postby admin » Wed May 25, 2016 7:37 pm

USA JOURNAL ONLINE
by Jon E. Dougherty
July 23, 1998
©1998 USA Journal Online.

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WASHINGTON -- Information passed to a talk radio program by a reporter for the USA Radio Network late Wednesday night indicated that Secret Service agents testifying in a Grand Jury hearing separate from the Lewinsky hearings have alleged drug use within the White House.

According to USA Radio correspondent Jack Christy, the "bombshell" report was based on other information Christy and others had been gathering on the issue to the agents' testimony yesterday.

"We are hearing allegations that what the Secret Service is testifying about is drug use within the White House," Christy said during a phone call to the George Putnam Show on KIEV-AM in Seattle.

Christy indicated that Larry Cockell, the lead Secret Service agent in charge of protecting President Clinton until the White House reassigned him last week, was involved in the testimony.

During the on-air conversation, Putnam added that he had been told by Larry Nichols -- a former Arkansas State Trooper and guardian of Clinton while he was governor of Arkansas -- that the trafficking of cocaine into the White House was being carried out by "a select few" personnel who had special passes.

Both Putnam and Christy said that Monica Lewinsky, currently embroiled in a 'sexgate' controversy which may have involved Clinton, has one of the special passes.

Those passes, Christy revealed, "do not require the holder of that card to be inspected upon entering the White House."

"Monica Lewinsky had one of those passes," he said, "and she still has one today, by the way."

Putnam challenged Christy to verify the information during the interview "without giving up" sources. Christy said, "I can tell you, George, that this is the scuttlebutt here on the street in Washington, DC."

Christy added that he believes former White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta also knew of the drug use, which is "why he left the White House" and later chose not to run for a governorship.

"He did that for a reason," he said.

Christy also said that "Ken Starr knows" about the drug use, which is why "those Clinton supporters" who have been "asking Starr to let us go" are being so vehement in their criticism of the Independent Prosecutor.

They "want this stuff to come out so they can get on with their lives," he added.

At that point, Putnam said that "we also know" about the alleged drug use by Clinton and those close to him in Arkansas because of an expose about the Clinton administration written by former FBI agent Gary Aldridge. Aldridge's book charged, among other things, that the immorality in the Clinton White House was rampant. Those charges included lax security measures for who he described as dubious people.

Both Christy and Putnam cited a story which appeared in Investor's Business Daily on October 6, 1996, entitled 'What did he snort and when did he snort it.' That story also depicted alleged drug use in the White House.

During the conversation, Christy reminded listeners that the brief Starr filed with the Supreme Court, which sought to compel Secret Service testimony over the objections of the administration, "contained sensitive information." Christy appeared to be tying that description into the story regarding the drug use.

At one point, Putnam asked, "How high does it [the drug use] reach?"

"All the way to the top," Christy said. "I mean, we're talking about the President of the United States here."

Christy also said that the Secret Service agents which have been compelled to testify before Ken Starr's grand jury "are decent, honorable people, but they witnessed the president in a compromised position." That, he said, put them in a very delicate situation.

Christy suggested that Starr's final report to Congress regarding his four-year investigation will be "all inclusive," and that there may be nothing left for legislators to do "except impeach the guy, unless he resigns for medical reasons beforehand."
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Re: CNN Tonight with Don Lemon on Bill Clinton & BLM

Postby admin » Wed May 25, 2016 7:42 pm

Another Agent Speaks Out
by Micah Morrison
Wall Street Journal
October 4, 1996
Copyright © 1996 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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THE SHENANDOAH VALLEY, Va. -- For more than two years, Congress has been trying to get straight answers from the White House on drug-related issues. After Rep. Frank Wolf (R., Va.) complained in March 1994 that more than 100 White House staffers had failed to get final security clearances and permanent passes, the White House set up its own drug-testing program. This June, news emerged from congressional oversight hearings that the man in charge of issuing passes, White House personnel security chief Craig Livingstone, had his own FBI clearance held up because of past drug use.

Today "there are still many unanswered questions about the White House drug-testing program," says Ned Lynch, a spokesman for the House Civil Service Subcommittee, chaired by Rep. John Mica (R., Fla.), which has been probing White House compliance with the Drug-Free Federal Workplace order. "Evidence presented in recent testimony about the drug experiences of White House employees continues to give us great concern," Mr. Lynch adds.

None of this comes as a surprise to retired FBI Special Agent Dennis Sculimbrene, who was the senior agent at the FBI's liaison office in the White House from 1986 to April 1996. His job was to conduct the background interviews that provide information about the suitability of individuals to have access to the White House complex. He retired in August, citing "unjustified changes in my professional assignments and assaults on my career" after he appeared as a defense witness in the 1995 trial of former Travel Office head Billy Dale and testified this summer before House and Senate committees about White House drug use and Travelgate. The White House and its surrogates have denounced Mr. Sculimbrene as a mentally unbalanced liar, a man "whose hatred of the administration is well documented, as is his ongoing employment dispute with the FBI," in the words of White House Whitewater spokesman Mark Fabiani. Mr. Sculimbrene, for his part, has been unflinching in his congressional testimony, describing an atmosphere of moral squalor at the White House and alleging serious abuses of power by the Clinton administration and the FBI. This is his first conversation with a reporter.

"Drug use was an obvious problem from the beginning" of the Clinton administration, Mr. Sculimbrene said last week at his home in a remote stretch of the Shenandoah Valley, far from the Beltway wars he has left behind. "Because [the Clintonites] were younger than the previous administration, I expected we would have more people saying they used drugs more frequently, more recently. But what I didn't expect, and what I found personally intolerable - -though I kept my mouth shut -- was the superior attitude, the attitude that there was nothing wrong with it. Some of the people I interviewed said things like, 'Well, Bill Clinton used marijuana himself.' One of the first young kids I interviewed said something along the lines of, 'I can't believe you're asking me these questions about marijuana, because, heck, the president himself used it.' That's a total, 180-degree opposite viewpoint from the previous administration about the usage of drugs."

'No Big Deal'

Because of Privacy Act considerations, Mr. Sculimbrene often spoke in careful generalities and declined to identify individuals by name or specific position. But he clearly is troubled by the character of the Clinton White House. "It was not just young people who used drugs," Mr. Sculimbrene says. "There were senior people as well, senior aides and advisers to the president who used drugs recently -- people in policy positions, or, say, a director of an office. Some of them had the attitude: No big deal; it should be legalized. Some senior people even said they had used drugs as recently as the Inaugural."

Mr. Sculimbrene says that around June 1993 he reviewed his case files for an informal estimate of White House drug use. "I estimated that about 25% of the incoming administration, about one out of four cases, had a problem with illegal drugs. Not just casual experimentation, but a pattern of usage, which to me indicated a lack of good judgment and a disregard for the law. And not just marijuana, but cocaine, amphetamines, amphetamine-derived 'designer drugs' such as Ecstasy, hashish, mushrooms."

In January 1994, Mr. Sculimbrene, a former pilot for the Air Force and the FBI, suffered a severe head injury while working on an airplane. The injury resulted in some vision, hearing and balance problems, which were largely corrected through physical therapy, though some deficits remained. He returned to work in October. "The FBI rallied around me at the time of my accident," Mr. Sculimbrene says, "and for that I'll always be grateful. I wasn't ready for duty as a street agent, but I could and did perform my White House duties well. Things also had improved somewhat at the White House by the time I got back, though there still were problems. It was around that time that I heard about what was being called 'the Livingstone Rule'" -- presumably for Craig Livingstone. "The Livingstone Rule was: Drug use of more than 50 times was now a disqualifying factor for a permanent White House pass. It was around that time, as I recall, that several people called us and said they wanted to recant their previous interview; they hadn't used drugs 100 times, only 50 times. It's public information that Craig Livingstone lied during his FBI interview about drug use, and he wasn't the only one."

Drugs weren't the only problem Mr. Sculimbrene observed at the White House. He says he began to suffer severe career repercussions from both the White House and the FBI after he became entangled in the Travel Office affair. Travel Office head Billy Dale and five other employees were fired in May 1993, and Mr. Dale was charged by the Justice Department with embezzling funds.

Top White House officials had begun inquiring about the Travel Office staff, their lifestyles and political affiliations, "only a few weeks into the administration," Mr. Sculimbrene says. The officials were then-Deputy White House Counsel William Kennedy, then-Director of Administration Patsy Thomasson and presidential aide Jeff Eller. "I told them I thought Billy Dale was an upright, honest guy and that there was no trouble there," Mr. Sculimbrene recalled. "Those firings were strictly a fabrication."

During the FBI investigation of Mr. Dale, Mr. Sculimbrene says, he made his opinion known to an FBI supervisor. But despite Mr. Sculimbrene's familiarity with the case and the players, he was never interviewed by the FBI. "No one ever came to see me about the case," he says.

Within the FBI, tensions began to mount over the impending trial. "Around August of 1995, I had a shouting match with the supervising agent on the Dale case, David Bowie," Mr. Sculimbrene says. "Bowie told me Dale would have pled guilty long ago 'if it weren't for those rich Republicans giving him money.' I told him that was a wrongheaded remark and that I should have been interviewed for the investigation. Bowie told me I had nothing relevant to say, and then threatened me with an [FBI] Office of Professional Responsibility investigation. We were really going at it."

Shortly after that encounter, Mr. Sculimbrene says, he was told by the FBI that he had to take a random drug test. "I'd never had one before, and I'd never heard of anyone in my age group having to take a drug test -- I was 51 at the time. I thought that was quite a coincidence after my argument with Bowie."

In what Mr. Sculimbrene describes as another "coincidence," the possibility of a prestigious job lofted his way shortly before his testimony at the Dale trial. The incident raises questions about the nature and timing of an offer that could be construed as an attempt to buy his silence. Mr. Sculimbrene says that he was approached by a mid-level member of the presidential personnel office from Arkansas and encouraged to apply for a job as inspector general at the Department of Veterans' Affairs. "The official told me he had talked to Patsy [Thomasson] about the offer," Mr. Sculimbrene says. Ms. Thomasson, a Clinton intimate and former associate of Arkansas cocaine convict Dan Lasater, ran the personnel office. "After I testified at the Dale trial," Mr. Sculimbrene recalls, "I ran into the official again. He told me the job was out of the question, now that I had testified."

Mr. Sculimbrene had been subpoenaed as a defense witness at the Dale trial; he testified in October 1995. On Nov. 16, after deliberating less than two hours, a jury acquitted Mr. Dale of all charges. But Mr. Sculimbrene's troubles were just beginning.

In February 1996, he was notified that the FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility was investigating him for alleged misuse of a government parking pass. "I thought it was some sort of sick joke," Mr. Sculimbrene says. Within a few weeks, he was interviewed by OPR investigators and presented with a new notice of more serious charges: An anonymous letter had been received charging him with making racist comments, speaking to the media and "time and attendance fraud." Mr. Sculimbrene says the FBI rank and file is demoralized by the FBI leadership and its misuse of such OPR investigations. "The OPR process causes terrible injury and is a burning issue for agents," Mr. Sculimbrene says. "It's being used as a personal management tool to control agents. Sometimes a case can hang over an agent for years, causing terrible stress."

Mr. Sculimbrene eventually was cleared in the OPR probe. But behind the scenes, a dramatic clash was shaping up, one that eventually would lead to Mr. Sculimbrene's resignation. In January, Mr. Sculimbrene's former partner, Gary Aldrich, had submitted the manuscript of his book to the FBI for review. The FBI general counsel, Howard Shapiro, promptly shipped a copy to the White House, it was revealed at House oversight hearings this summer. Mr. Sculimbrene says that he was also notified to expect a visit from Mr. Shapiro, who in the end sent two agents to question him about Mr. Aldrich and the FBI's White House liaison office. "In January, I imagine right after learning of the manuscript, Director [Louis] Freeh ordered the liaison office shut down immediately. Cooler heads prevailed at the time, but not for long, as it turned out."

Largely True

Mr. Sculimbrene says that before the agents visited him at Mr. Shapiro's direction, "I had no idea that Gary was writing a book about the White House. But after reading it, I can tell you it is largely true." A scathing critique of White House mores, "Unlimited Access: An FBI Agent Inside the Clinton White House," became No. 1 on the bestseller lists and created a firestorm when it was published in June. It also probably spelled the end of Mr. Sculimbrene at the FBI.

In April, he was relieved of his responsibilities at the White House. His White House pass was revoked in May, his work assignments were taken away, and he was ordered to undergo a fitness-for-duty exam, prior to reassignment to street duty. Mr. Sculimbrene filed an administrative complaint with the FBI alleging he had been denied "reasonable accommodation" for his disability in his job transfer and new duty assignments. It later emerged in congressional oversight hearings that at the same time, Mr. Livingstone, still at the White House, had ordered Mr. Sculimbrene's FBI background file, saying it was required for a reinvestigation of the agent.

In July, after the Aldrich book appeared and Mr. Sculimbrene testified before House and Senate committee investigators, FBI Counsel Shapiro sent two agents to Mr. Sculimbrene's home to question him about notes he had taken in a 1993 interview with then-White House Counsel Bernard Nussbaum that suggested that Mr. Livingstone -- suddenly famous in the wake of Filegate revelations -- had been hired at Hillary Clinton's urging. "I viewed that visit as highly improper," Mr. Sculimbrene says. "Mr. Shapiro should have been taking no action in the matter, as it had been turned over to the independent counsel."

In late July, expecting to resume duties after medical exams, Mr. Sculimbrene says he was "stunned" to learn he had been ordered to go to Chicago for a psychiatric examination. "This seemed to confirm all I had learned from White House sources about ongoing efforts to discredit me," he says. In August, Mr. Sculimbrene quit the FBI. A few weeks later, the FBI liaison office at the White House was shut down. Agents conducting background investigations now work out of an FBI field office in Washington.

"That's a damn shame," Mr. Sculimbrene says. "The public is not well served by such a move. It's one thing to remove me; its another to shut down the whole office."

Mr. Morrison is a Journal editorial page writer.
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