Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!enterpoop.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.news From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Dole wants a look at Walsh staff list Date: Thu, 26 Nov 92 15:00:28 EST Message-ID: Lines: 120 \SE A \HD Dole wants a look at Walsh staff list \BY Jerry Seper \CR THE WASHINGTON TIMES Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole, keeping up pressure on independent counsel Lawrence Walsh, yesterday asked Attorney General William P. Barr for help in getting a list of Mr. Walsh's employees to see if they have been involved in any partisan "hanky-panky." The Kansas Republican, in a letter to Mr. Barr, said efforts by his office last week to obtain the names were refused by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, which maintains Mr. Walsh's personnel records. The Dole request came after he sought an independent counsel to look into charges that Mr. Walsh and his chief prosecutor, James Brosnahan, timed the release of an indictment against former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger to hurt the re-election chances of President Bush. The Oct. 30 indictment - four days before the election - questioned claims by Mr. Bush that he was "out of the loop" in the Iran-Contra arms-for-hostages deal. Mr. Dole and other Republicans believe the indictment was intended to stem a late surge by Mr. Bush and help the Clinton-Gore campaign. "This information belongs to the public, the taxpayers who have been footing the bill for Mr. Walsh's lavish, first-class partisan inquisition," Mr. Dole said. "We already know that the man handling the Cap Weinberger case, James Brosnahan, is a longtime liberal activist who, along with his law firm, has contributed $22,000 to the Clinton campaign. "Now, what about all the others who have been helping Mr. Walsh during his six-year, taxpayer-funded crusade to nail Republicans?" Mr. Dole asked. "We'll get these names one way or the other, because the American people deserve to know what's going on." Mr. Dole said he hoped to check the employee list against Federal Election Commission records and party affiliations to determine if those employed by Mr. Walsh were engaged in partisan politics. "Let's see if there is any hanky-panky going on," he said. Mr. Barr is considering the request for an independent counsel to investigate Mr. Walsh, and a decision is due by Dec. 11, as required by law. The two factors under consideration under Justice Department guidelines are whether there are specific allegations to investigate and whether the source of the request is "credible." Justice Department spokesman Frank Shults said yesterday that the Dole request for help in obtaining the names of Walsh personnel also is under review. He declined to elaborate. Mr. Dole, the outspoken leader of a GOP effort to investigate Mr. Walsh's office, said that when he raised concerns in a recent letter to the independent counsel that Mr. Brosnahan's employment "impairs the ability of the office to remain free of political influence," Mr. Walsh expressed no concern about Mr. Brosnahan's political activities. "Mr. Walsh seemed both unaware of and unconcerned with Mr. Brosnahan's political endeavors - even to the extent such activities clearly compromise the ability of the office to appear nonpartisan in the fulfillment of its responsibilities," Mr. Dole said in the Barr letter. Mr. Dole also challenged recent claims by Mr. Brosnahan that the timing of the Weinberger indictment was dictated by the federal court. "Despite Mr. Brosnahan's claim that he called for an extension that would have put the indictment past Election Day, a careful read of the court's transcript makes it clear that Mr. Brosnahan's statements about the same to the press on Nov. 21, 1992, are false," Mr. Dole said. Officials at the independent counsel's office did not respond yesterday to telephone calls for comment. Mary Belcher, a spokeswoman for Mr. Walsh, has said that allegations the Weinberger indictment was timed for political effect are false. Mr. Brosnahan has declined to be interviewed by The Washington Times. Mr. Dole and four Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee have asked Mr. Barr to appoint an independent counsel to investigate whether Mr. Walsh and his office were involved in "political, unethical or illegal activities" in their Iran-Contra probe. The request followed a report by The Washington Times that a Clinton-Gore news release outlining the Weinberger indictment was dated Oct. 29 - a day before the indictment was released. "I do plead guilty to a typographical error in the press release," George Stephanopoulos, the Clinton campaign's communications director, said at the time. "But anybody is welcome to go up and check our computers and see when it was produced. . . . There is no basis for this charge." When The Washington Times asked to check the computer, however, campaign officials said it could not be located because the campaign was closing its offices and moving to a new location for the transition. A spokesman for Mr. Walsh suggested at the time that the Clinton-Gore staff may have used "voodoo" in divining the timing of the indictment a day early. He denied any leak from the independent counsel's office. Critics of the independent counsel have questioned why Mr. Walsh recently added Mr. Brosnahan, a longtime liberal activist and Democrat, to the investigation six years after the probe started. Mr. Walsh has said the fact that Mr. Brosnahan contributed to the Clinton campaign and heads a law firm whose members donated to the Clinton-Gore ticket has no bearing on his ability to prosecute Mr. Weinberger. The special-prosecutor law expires Dec. 15. Under the law, first passed in the 1970s, Congress must reaffirm the act every five years. Congressional Democrats have said they will seek to reinstate the law early next year. Some Republicans have said they will oppose it. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM