End of the Melon Patch for Dan Burton?

January 5, 1999 --- New York (APJP) -- Is it the end of the melon patch for loopy Taliban Republican Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN)? If the Congressional Accountability Project (CAP) has its way, it will be.

The CAP, a bipartisan Beltway watchdog organization under the direction of Ralph Nader, has asked the House Ethics Committee in a letter dated December 28, 1998 to launch an investigation into charges that Burton defrauded the government and his own campaign committee, misused congressional money and committed extortion.

Until the last couple months of last year, Burton had been one of President Clinton's most shrill enemies on the right.

And it wasn't just his constant crusading against the President. Or his press appearances framing every groundless accusation in "guilty until proven innocent -- and there's no damn way we'll let that happen" rhetoric. Or the failure of his hearings into allegations of wrongdoing involving campaign money allegedly coming from China to "get Clinton." It was his collusion with dirty trickster David Bossie who was "digging dirt" on Clinton by "hiring" him in as a committee investigator, and his fanning hate against Clinton by playing to conspirawaco nuts using defamatory rumors that the President and First Lady had "murdered" Vince Foster.

And who can forget his attempts to "prove" that Foster was murdered by shooting at melons in hos back yard -- an oft-mentioned incident which speaks eloquently of the man's sanity (or lack thereof).

But Burton sure has been quiet of late, like a dog that's taken a real lickin' -- and it all started following his own revelation that he sired a son out of wedlock in a "preemptive" strike against an article by Russ Baker which reportedly was to appear in Vanity Fair.

The article never appeared there -- instead, a revised version was published last month in Salon, the online magazine that hard-right Clinton-haters regularly accuse of being in collusion with that Satan incarnate, the White House Spin Machine and ol' Mephistopheles himself, Sid "Vicious" Blumenthal. The Doc guesses Clinton bashers don't read it -- and haven't a clue that Salon has been as fierce as many conservative publications in their criticism of Clinton, and usually on stronger factual grounds.

For those of you who missed Baker's article, the reports of Burton's "Don Juan" days were the teases -- the real bombshells were allegations concerning financial funny business. Burton has been zip-lipped on the allegations, choosing instead to fire broadsides at Baker.

And, as it turns out, the Salon article was just the beginning of the new revelations and Burton's increased woes -- days later, The Washington Post ran an article detailing Burton's relationship with his campaign manager, Claudia Keller, who received nearly half a million bucks from Burton in simultaneous political and official capacities.

Here's the kicker -- the Post article went into further detail on Burton's strong-arming of campaign contributors.

An unnamed source told NBC News "...In this climate, no one is going to call for [an Ethics Committee investigation] unless there's pressure from an outside group. This whole Burton thing was threatening to go away because it was being overshadowed by the Clinton scandal, but the allegations against Burton are at least as serious as the ones against Clinton."

The letter to the House Ethics Committee from CAP Director Dan Ruskin names even more names -- in part, it reads:

This is going to be a story The Doc is going to watch with glee, for a few reasons:

First, will "Reverand" Denny Hastert get smart and use this letter to pressure Burton to quit? If he does, it'll prove a shrewd political move on hastert's part, providing him with the appearance of "fairness" when in fact the man is a hard-right Christian-Coalition-approved conservative.

Second, if there is an investigation, might it be expanded into Burton's conduct in investigations into alleged campaign misconduct by Clinton and Gore? The Doc doesn't think there's a chance of that, but would love to see it happen -- if only to watch David Bossie under oath.

Third, investigation or no, will it make Burton a poster boy for what happens to those who throw stones in a glass house? It already has, if only because it sends the message that sticking to issues is not only what the public wants, but probably a sensible thing to do if only to avoid the possibility of being hoist on one's own petard.

'Nuff said!

-- Dave "Doctor" Gonzo