Ehrlich on Washington column, August 16, 1998

NEWS FROM Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. Second Congressional District of Maryland 1 407 York Road, Suite 304 3 1 5 Cannon House Office Building Lutherville, Maryland 21093 Washington, D.C. 20515 EHRLICH ON WASHINGTON Week of August 16, 1998 By Congressman Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. BILL CLINTON: THE “PRIVILEGE" PRESIDENT President Clinton, in order to delay the Independent Counsel’s investigation into the Monica Lewinsky affair, has made repeated claims of “privilege" for several potential witnesses who happen to be federal employees. By doing so, he is setting a dangerous precedent that, if left unchecked, will further alienate a public already cynical about the efficacy and honesty of the federal government. To date, President Clinton has invoked privilege claims more than six times, more than Presidents Ford, Carter, Reagan, and Bush combined. For the most part, these sham privileges are so broad-based— such as a “protective privilege” covering Secret Service agents, and an attorney-client privilege for taxpayer-paid lawyers— they defy constitutional or legal reality. U. S. District Court Judge Norma Holloway Johnson rightly dismissed each of these privilege claims back in May. But the administration proceeded to pursue ceaseless appeals of the attorney-client privilege and Secret Service privilege claims. Bill Clinton’s claims of constitutionally-vital “privileges” to ban all Lewinsky-relevant testimony by federal employees is a delaying tactic that hurts the ability of future occupants of the Oval Office to claim legitimate privileges. It is distressing that President Clinton has invoked every available privilege claim in the presidential arsenal merely to delay the inevitable day of ( reckoning in the Lewinsky investigation.