European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 15, 1978, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 12 the stars and stripes Friday september 15, 1978 John Roche papal vote coverage a pathetic press Flop american Media coverage of these Lection of Pope John Paul i prompts the observation never have so Many owed so Little to so reporters must have outnumbered cardinals 10 to one every Knowle Gable Vatican source including the Sacristan must have made a for tune prelates with roughly my Chance of becoming Pope John p. The first were tipped As the hottest items since Gregory the great and characters who Haven t hit mass since they got married joined the in Cense circuit hoping that say Basil Cardi Nal Hume would drop a hint in the Middle of a in All an expense account orgy which produced absolutely no hard Only sound speculation reflected conventional Wisdom dad summed it up in1968 when i wondered who would replace column Sand comments Pius ii. Johnny there s Only one thing you i an count on. The italians and the holy spirit Between them have it More pathetic than the press s prophetic Flop was the desperate Effort to re coup As we say in politics every news Agency has a Book on the alleged favor ites of the holy spirit if the filipino Cardi Nal had been selected buttons would have Boon pushed and computers spewed out in terminable features on a third world the end of italian plus the usual Hagiography. How As a child of three he had a vision of St. Francis Xavier and stopped beating up his Brothers and stealing Candy. On the other hand if the dutch contender had sneaked in. The computer would suddenly develop a taste for modernist the ology. We would All be wallowing in ecu no Nie ism with potted interview in which leading protestants. Jews buddhists and animists praised the Church s new dynamic if this sounds Beer . It s no Accident 1 believe in a Umeru cism. But not in the common definition. Mutual desertion of belief. The doctrine that ail beliefs Are equal because they Are equally believed also is no ecumenical. Then of course had the cardinals cd tvs in a notorious hard liner like the Arch Bishop of Florence the. Computer would have sounded Battle As Bells Rarog. We would be deluged with reams of paper predicting a mum to the inquisition and the Council of Trent and. Perhaps the Eie aties of msgr Lefebre presently designated As schismatic As Cardinal archbishop of Paris. From a commentator s Vantage Point this worst Case scenario would have been Deal an fiend Day indeed several anticipated the worst. must have published a primer anon Law in Lesien easy lessons which served As a Missal for journalists deprived erf Sist Rise Chapel voting rights one Suzy predicted that in the event a hard Une Pope were chosen it would be Back to the bad old Days when All a axes lants were damned to perdition. The old Days had their drawbacks it was Chris Tian sea Ilal to forbid catholics to attend protestant or jewish sen faces. Even wed and , were not automat of ally Riv a a us feet to hell they Werwech rumbly if . Seen As living in i Vino Bie i or nce but if you had to Fie 1,500 w�n3s & Day on a none vent bush4eague theol say is one Good Way to fill space particularly if you think the dec Trine of the inv Niculaie tace proc referred to the birth Well the cardinals Well briefed on their choices by the press caucuses and picked a Man even Jimmy the greek had t listed. Chaos consternation then by chop per submarine horse and Gondola the press pack took off for Venice to find human interest items about patriarch what Sis name it resembled an old fashioned Indian Tiger Hunt beaters out looking for sources Flushing out a canny peasant who when encouraged with hard currency Swiss francs please no lira recalled vivid Yyoung Albino s love for the poetry of Dante. Or an elderly women who eyes cast Down timidly suggested that at age 8 Al Binette was the life of the party. The Glo poured out endlessly to paraphrase Kipling blah blah blah blah and there Sno discharge in the there should be some discharges especially when editors get the expense tabs. There is also a moral never play a game until you know the rules until you under stand the character of the players and the nature of the stakes. A Friend collected All the pontifical commentaries. He plans to top Peter Brestrup s the big Story about the press and tet with a Book. The non Story the press and the to features s a dictate Pope John Paol i Justice dept. A Ilca by appointing his Long time political guru. Atlanta lawyer Charles Kirbo to an informal overseer s role in the probe into the huge graft scandal at the general serv ices administration president Carter thought he might pick up a few Brownie Points for showing a personal interest in fighting crime instead he demonstrated How Little he or any of the Carter Georgia crowd Learned from watergate. Only five years ago. A White House politician named John Dean was assigned to represent presidential interests in what later became known As a cover up such White House Redd Hrog at Justice led Elliot Richar Soru. When he was appointed attorney general to refuse to divulge to anyone at the White he use details of the Spiro a new probe for fear of compromising investigation. Of course the Black hats of yesteryear now Wear White hats but the principle re Mains the same when evidence of crime in government appears the investigation and prosecution of that crime is first and Foremost the responsibility of the attorney general and his department of Justice. White House interference whether called direction interest or coordination is improper on its face whether its purpose is to cover up or claim the cred it. But Carter likes the Czar system Jim Schlessinger is his Energy Czar Robert Strauss is his inflation Czar and Charles Kirbo was to be his part time clean government Czar. Fortunately attorney general Griffin Bell a former Kirbo Law partner saw the Carter move for what it was not Only an insult to his department and a reflection on his integrity but a fundamental mis Reading of the criminal Justice procedure. No president can Send any private citizen do matter How trusted into a grand jury room or make him privy to the Progress or targets of such a probe. V it a that s Why a Justice department press agent put out a statement sharply contradicting the White House the Carter spokesmen backed off explaining that Kirbo would be merely an informal adviser to the Gas helping to coordinate the investigation and to keep Carter informed. What is this coordination business the extent of cooperation Between Gas internal investigators and Justice officials requires no decision at All if Gas gum shoes do not cooperate wholeheartedly with Law enforcement officials they should be prosecuted for obstructing Justice. Then they 11 coordinate. Kirbo ought to get All the Way in taking Over As attorney general or get out. The notion of a lawyer whose clients do Mil Lions of dollars in business with the Gas being a Middle Man Between the Gas chief the president and the cops reeks of conflict of interests. This Czar Kirbo episode vividly Illus trates the Depths to which the reputation for competence of the Justice department has sunk even in White House eyes and for Good reason 1. As the attorney general Globe trots his number 2 Baltimore Ben Civiletti politicized his staff. He has brought in Charles Ruff the Democrat whose protracted investigation into a maritime Industry smear of president Ford during the 76 Campaign helped elect Carter. 2. As if under instructions to postpone a Lance indictment until after election Day Justice s Tamarato Trio after nine Long months with an Atlanta grand jury has Only just now subpoenaed the records of the National Bank of Georgia s heavy Loans to the Carter Peanut business the Carter Campaign and the Rafshoon Adver Tising Agency. And not All the right re cords at that 3. When the highest Federal drug official broke a Federal Law by fraudulently pre scribing a dangerous substance Justice declined to investigate on the grounds Thater. Bourne s Law breaking was covered by competent local jurisdiction across the Potomac River in Virginia. But local authorities said they had no control of crimes committed in the White House. Result no investigation of or. Bourne at All. U new York time
