European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 9, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse Monday May 9, 1994 commentary the stars and stripes Page 13 in sex Case William Safi re Paula Jones now 27, who was an Arkansas state employee in 3991, claims she was enticed into a hotel room in Little Rock where gov. Bill Clinton asked her to perform a sexual favor. She says she refused. A trooper who she says extended the governors invitation was later quoted As saying she indicated otherwise. Jones took umbrage at that damaging 1 suggestion and went Public a few a months ago at a i confabulation of 1 right wingers. Until now most of the american Media have shied away front this Story. Why the ostensible reasons Are that Jones chose a Par. Titan forum offered no evidence to Back her allegation and up to now has declined to take Legal action. The real reason is that few want to use belated sex accusations to bedevil a Man subsequently elected president. However her lawyer having failed to obtain her an apology or settlement front president Clinton last week filed suit to seek redress in court. Although the Federal sex harassment requirement to come Forward within six months has Long passed the statute of limitations for the loosey goosey Quot intentional affliction of emotional distress still has a few Days to run. Clinton who denies these charges then hired the attorney Robert Bennett brother of William Bennett the virtue maven to mount a defense. Instead of directly attacking her credibility the Clinton counsel characterized Jones As a person cruelly manipulated by Clinton a political foes. At that Point the Washington Post properly decided the time had come to front Page its carefully researched Story. So Here sits America with no appetite and in the wrong restaurant served up a costly tasteless warmed Over dish it did t order and cannot Send Back. But some of my ideological soulmates Are in razorback hog heaven. Accuracy in Media is triumphant the american Spectator Vanguard of Quot trooper at a is vindicated Rush Limbaugh has enough material for a summer Long Harangue the Wall Street journal could not resist citing the collected works of my colleague Anthony Lewis defending leaked charges by Anita Hill against Clarence Thomas a the possibility that a supreme court nominee who had had the Job of preventing sex discrimination in fact practice it demanded cognitive dissonance will be exploited. Feminists sided with Hill who waited a decade to accuse the conservative judge Thomas then they sided with women who waited up to 20 years to accuse the Republican sen. Bob Packwood of Boorish behaviour. Will they now react with equal Fervour to a charge three years later of an even cruder act against the democratic president who prides himself on empowering women if it comes Down to Quot who a telling the truth a most people will believe the woman complainant. Paula Jones cd pressed her Chagrin to six people at the time the troopers though warned by Arkansas politicians to shut up May be forced under oath to discredit their former Boss and Clinton has already admitted to having fallen Short of marital perfection. Why then is this hound unwilling to heed the huntsmen Scall because 1 mistrust sudden memories and late hits and lucrative victim Hood. There a a world of difference Between the Clin tons Complex cover up on Whitewater which bred doubt and Clinton a simple denial of a sexual allegation on which he deserves the Benefit of our doubt. If Jones v. Clinton goes to court who carries the Burden of proof although civil and criminal Law differ our sense of fairness places that Burden on the accuser the defendant need not prove himself innocent. I applied that principle to Thomas will apply it to Packwood and Clinton and would apply it to a woman officeholder accused by a Man. Sexual harassment is widespread wrong and unlawful and should be stopped. How do we Root out that evil while guarding against the potential blackmail of false accusations the Best Way for the harassed to get Justice is to file a complaint promptly As Laws require and not wait for a Lime when the target is politically ascendant or at risk. The Best Way to protect the rights of the accused is to hold fast to our presumption of innocence. A c new York Lmos a. Quayle s Book sets tone for run at presidency the message a Reader takes away from former vice president Dan Quayle a new Book standing finn is this he is running for president with the Christian conservatives against the press a and without the insignia of the Bush administration. Quayle told me in an interview that he will make no decision on entering the race for the 1996 Republican presidential nomination until he has completed his two month 36-City Book promotion tour and thoroughly tested the reaction to his possible candidacy. But among close Quayle friends Here and in Indiana there a a near Universal belief that he will take the plunge. It May seem implausible to those who remember Quayle As the butt of endless to jokes that he would contemplate such a Quick comeback. When he moved Back to Indiana in 1993, Many of his friends suggested that he set his sights on the governorship not the presidency in 1996, arguing that at age 47, he had years ahead of him to re enter National politics. But Quayle has never wanted to play the waiting game. He ran for the House of representatives a not the state legislature As his wife Marilyn had expected a in 1976 and won As an underdog challenger to an eight term democratic incumbent. He went for the Senate in 1980, when party elders in Indiana told him it was not yet his turn and As an underdog beat a three term democratic incumbent. In his Book he reveals that he discussed running for president in 1988, when he was Only 41. And he waged a systematic behind the scenes Campaign to get the sice presidential nomination from Bush that year. Many of the Quayle pals i talked to in recent Days say they think he retains support among grass roots conservatives. They Are doubtful however that major fund raisers outside Indiana or party pros will initially rally behind a Man who left office with the reputation Quayle carried. But As one intimate said Quot you never know until you ask _ if Quayle plans to run in 1996, his Book can be read As a Public invitation to adherents of the religious right to adopt him As their candidate. Time after time in standing firm Quayle expresses his Faith in Christ recounts How he was Quot saved a tells How religion sustained him against criticism. And links his own rough treatment to what he Calls the Quot prejudice and Quot bigotry All Christian conservatives face. None of this is inconsistent with Quayle a history but he is far More explicit in this Book than Ever before about his religious convictions. Quot As a practising politician Quot he told me in the interview a i never believed in wearing my religious Faith on my Why now Quot because this is a personal Book about How i took incredible abuse. And came Back. Faith and family got me the a a abuse of which Quayle Speaks came mainly from the press and this former general manager of his family a Huntington ind., newspaper gives it Back a in Spades naming names a to those he thinks jabbed him in their to interviews and newspaper profiles. His complaints Are in Many instances valid. The caricature of Quayle As a wide eyed child incapable of coherent thought or expression was just that a a caricature. But Quayle a own account while acknowledging blemishes manages to downplay his penchant for verbal gaffes and a Dps Over the passion for Golf that Davids. Broder caused some of his own aides to worry about his dedication to his Job. The counterattack he launches in his Book is not just an attempt to set the record straight. It is also a political ploy. As Quayle observed in the interview last week Quot one of the advantages you have As a Republican is that if the press pounds on you you can certainly turn it into an asset a a particularly in a Republican . A. What has stirred comment about the Quayle Book is not his attack on the press but the arrows he fires at so Many of his partners in the Bush administration and the 1988 and 1992 campaigns. He largely exempts Bush but few of those Arouri the former president come off unscathed. One of Quayle s targets told me that he saw this As a naked Effort by Quayle to scrub off his Bush Label a to say that he was never comfortable with Bush a concessions to the democratic Congress on the budget civil rights and other issues. He Wasny to because at heart Quayle is More of a Reagan Republican than Bush Ever was. Quayle said in the interview Quot it is no attempt at a Public divorce. It is an Effort to be very candid. We were at 91 percent and we ended tip at 37 percent. We have to learn from the lesson he takes away is that republicans must always offer an assertive conservative Agenda to the voters and never let the press or the democrats put them on the defensive. That is a message Republican primary voters will Likely cheer. Some Are suggesting that Quayle has damaged himself with this Book. But i suspect there is at least a Chance that he like Richard Nixon in 1968, May be Able to convince Republican voters that they should not let the press write a premature political obituary on his career. C Washington Post a a
