European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 1, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 a the stars and stripes William Safire mayoral race in wasrin6tom reuse of double Standard May entrap Thornburgh this is the Story of a double Standard in the great government Power called a prose tutorial Richard Thornburgh attorney general of the United states and the former governor of Pennsylvania was faced with a decision a few months ago. Should he permit the . Attorney in the nations capital to use sex As a lure in setting a trap to catch mayor Marion Barry using cocaine never had the Federal government stooped so Low to make a Case. But the mayor was widely suspected to be a user. The government had invested millions of dollars and thousands of hours in an investigation that would not otherwise result in a conviction. A seduction on videotape would help make valid All the other evidence. Tributino. Two Days later perhaps by coincidence Henry Barr not to be confused with William Barr the new Deputy actor Thornburgh gave the approval of the nations highest Law enforcement official to the a Laziest entrapment yet perpetrated on a suspect. The end he decided justified the unprecedented Means. Nay general resigned As Thornburgh a special assistant. In january of this year the target of the grand jury reportedly implicated Henry Barr alleging frequent cocaine use by the attorney general a Man. When this hit the Harrisburg newspapers the attorney general was faced with a decision about How to Deal with even the slightest suspicion of drug use in his office in three cities Over a couple of decades. Should he order the Fri to go after Henry Barr a a longtime Public servant with an unblemished record a with the full menu of surveillance harassment and if necessary a sting operation to test his aides Law abiding nature an attractive former Girlfriend of the mayor herself in trouble with the Law was transported from California to entice the suspect to her hotel room. She taunted and dared him to use crack cocaine. When he did Thornburgh a men banged on the door and nailed him for a Misdemeanour. Contrast this prosecutor Al discretion with another decision in a cocaine Case involving a Public official made by this same attorney general. Henry g. Barr was one of Thornburgh a closest aides for two decades in Public office. In Pittsburgh he was a top assistant to . Attorney Thornburgh. In Harrisburg he served As general counsel to gov. Thornburgh. In Washington he was appointed special assistant to attorney general Thornburgh. As reported by Neil Lewis of the new York times on May 10, 1989, a close Friend and Law enforcement associate of Barros was notified by a Harrisburg grand jury that he was the target of its investigation into countywide drug Dis or should he merely begin the preliminary investigation that if it turned up evidence of cocaine use by his right hand Man could then be turned Over to a special prosecutor As the Law provides if there is any a personal financial or political conflict Lor the attorney Thornburgh decided instead to stick his head in the Sand. He recused himself a that is said he wanted nothing to do with the matter a As did three Otner top aides in the clique of Pennsylvania Thornburgh cronies running the Justice department. That passed the Buck to the chief of the criminal division de Dennis also a former Pennsylvania Lawman. According to the times shoe leather reporter lawyers for Barr have been meeting with criminal division officials Over the Heads of prosecutors in Harrisburg. What kind of Justice is this i do not suggest that our attorney general should have set up a sex trap to lure his longtime aide into committing a crime on videotape. But i do suggest that he is guilty of the most egregious double Standard in prosecutor Al discretion. £>1990 obviously a special prosecutor is now needed not Only to take Over the Barr matter but to examine How much the a Pennsylvania mafia at Justice knew and when it knew it. Did nobody know Why Barr resigned when he did was the conveniently Craven four person act of recusal a As substitute for the obligation to launch a preliminary investigation a misfeasance malfeasance or dereliction of duty if the attorney general chooses to be a zealot in the Barry cocaine Case he cannot choose to be an Ostrich in the cocaine Case that May involve his right hand Man. Here a a prediction the mayor of Washington will be in office longer than the attorney general who approved the trap to bring him Down. C new York times Tom Wicker risk takers did no to risk As much As it appears in a Harvard lecture on what he called a the american Romance a Richard Darman recently declared that America a was founded by risk takers expanded by risk takers and led to the highest Standard of living on Earth by now the Bush administrations powerful budget director said a we must renew the risk taking capacities that historically have expanded so Many frontiers. We must counter the tendency to become a risk of Pho Bic Romance and risk of phobia aside Darmand a lecture did not mention that the risk takers who built the american railroads which made possible vast . Economic and geographical expansion in the 19th Century were underwritten by Federal subsidies and lucrative government land Grants. The risk out of risk taking. He did not explain that a nation having no positive Industrial policy nevertheless follows a negative Industrial policy its not so much whether it has such a policy but what kind. Some economic analysts and members of Congress idea and abetted by j no the White House chief of staff and Michael bos assert that Darman aided and abetted by John Sunu Kin the chairman of the Council of economic advisers has led the Bush administration into opposition to an Industrial policy that would Aid . Industrial and commercial competitiveness. As director of Darpa Fields supported sem tech a semiconductor manufacturing research Center and allocated $30 million to High definition television research which is touted As having dual potential. The administration diverted to other uses $20 million of the a div allocation. In april Fields was transferred out of Darpa after investing $4 million in a company developing a radiation resistant gallium arsenide Chip As a substitute for Silicon. They believe that As his Harvard remarks suggest Darman and the others consider such a policy to be unwise interference in the free Market. He did not Point out that the interstate Highway system a major Boon to 20th-Century Prosperity was built by the Federal government or that the commercial and private traffic on those highways has been subsidized by a Low Federal gasoline tax. He did not refer to the nations airports largely paid for with Federal funds or to its commercial aircraft developed with the Aid of Federal research investments. Nor did he recall that much of today a High tech Industry was spun off from federally financed military and space research. In sum Darman gave no credit at All to the unromantic Industrial policy a Federal Aid and encouragement to vital enterprises a that at most stages of american economic development has taken some of thus a letter signed by Republican sen. John Heinz of Pennsylvania and democratic sen. A1 Gore of Tennessee among other members of Congress criticized the recent a firing and silencing of or. Craig Fields from the defense advanced research projects Agency or Darpa As a at Best Short sighted at worst a major breach of our future economic Fields a a innovative use of Federal research funds to support a cutting Edge technologies had made him the letter said Symbol of the kind of Industry gov emment cooperation that will be crucial to revitalizing the . Industrial because of reduced administration support moreover Michael Sekora who headed a Pentagon project to accumulate data on competitive foreign technologies As a research tool for . Technological development has returned in frustration to the private sector. A by any measure the japanese system works much better than ours in building and maintaining National economic strength a or. William Schreiber an Mit engineering professor and a member of the Pentagon a engineering professor and a member of the Pentagon High Resolution systems task Force said in a letter to me. Darpa Over the years has directed such funds into seminal research in computer science the design of fast microprocessor chips ceramics and data transmission All of which had civilian As Well As military payoffs. A the belief that the Market always gives the right answer is a kind of economic religion based on Faith and not on others argue that sensible Industrial policy would measure National Security properly in terms of economic stability and Industrial wealth As Well As military prowess. As even Richard Darman conceded at Harvard a the Challenge. Is to manage risks More rationally and to select the appropriate that a risky of course but sound Industrial policy. C new York times
