"Damn the Constitution - I Demand a Scandal!"

Wednesday, July 23rd, 1997 -- What the heck is going on in America? Despite my own obvious distaste for Fred Thompson's hypocritical chairmanship of the Senate campaign finance hearings, I always thought he had at least a hint of an honest man. But choosing-off against the Attorney General because of her steadfast refusal to grant immunity from federal prosecution to witnesses Thompson wants to flaunt on television is just too much.

Thompson and his cohorts hope to call several witnesses whom they think will expose the White House and Democrats to scandal involving campaign fundraising. Yesterday, his committee met to vote on immunity for a few Buddhist nuns whom Thompson thinks will finger Vice President Al Gore as having known, all along, that he was taking illegal campaign contributions from a religious order. The Justice Department wants Thompson and fellow Republicans to hold off on immunity until they complete their investigations and decide whether to prosecute some potential witnesses for federal crimes. Thompson also needs two Democrat committee members to grant immunity despite Attorney General Reno's
opposition.

It's apparent that Thompson isn't going to get what he wants -- a total surrender of prosecutorial options by the Justice Department.

What Senator Thompson and his side-kick Arlen Specter are doing is setting us up for their irresponsible action to grant immunity to people who could be prosecuted for breaking federal campaign laws. But what's worse is their total disrespect for the law and the basic protections that the American justice system offers all people.

Topping this is the fact that calling witnesses as "immune" could also jeopardize related prosecutions -- including prosecutions of Democrats if Justice Department investigations reveal that crimes have indeed been committed.

Thompson, pretending to be outraged by the purposely-slow grinding of the wheels of justice, is, in reality, spinning the truth. He is asking us to give him imperial discretion to flaunt the law in pursuit of his own political ambition.

Republican senators also threatened to go to court to force the appointment of an independent counsel. Thompson said he had lost confidence in Reno, who he said had consistently thrown obstacles into his path.

"I do not have confidence any more in the Justice Department's ability to carry out a criminal investigation," Thompson said. "We have been slow-walked and deferred and had impediments raised to our investigation every step of the way."

"Our" investigation? Now Thompson is a cop.

Thank the Lord that Janet Reno and Justice Department officials stuck to their guns in oppositing the committee's grant of immunity from prosecution to the four Buddhist nuns. The officials said granting immunity might interfere with their own criminal investigation -- and they're right.

The committee, meeting secretly, put off the vote on immunity until Wednesday, ostensibly to give staff members the chance to clarify some points. But the truth is that the Republican majority needs to win support of two Democrats on the committee to grant immunity, and they may not get it.

Thompson is also trying to deflect public attention from upcoming testimony from Haley Barbour (see yesterday's Daily Comment) who is charged with setting up a sham "think tank" to launder foreign money for the Republican National Committee.

Even Pete Domenici and Orrin Hatch jumped on the "Dump Reno" bandwagon with Domenici complaining that Reno had silenced the FBI, forbidding it to share investigative information with the campaign finance investigation committee. Domenici seems to think that Senators are above the law and deserve to sit on the shoulders of law enforcement by some royal fiat.

Thompson can ignore Reno's quest for justice, and he's trying hard to do so. Hopefully America will wake up to the fact that this is a nation of laws and not dictatorial edicts.

© 1998, 1997, American Politics Journal Publications Inc.