BY PETE YOST
The Cincinnati Enquirer
WASHINGTON - Kenneth Starr's ethics adviser, Watergate veteran Sam Dash, quit in protest Friday, saying the prosecutor "unlawfully intruded" on House impeachment proceed
ings by acting as an aggressive advocate for his report against President Clinton.
Democrats pounced on Mr. Dash's resignation as ammunition against Mr. Starr. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry Hyde defended the independent counsel, saying, "If he had not agreed to testify at our request, we would have been compelled to subpoena him."
In a letter to Mr. Starr objecting to the prosecutor's testimony Thursday before the Judiciary Committee, Mr. Dash said Mr. Starr had violated his obligations under the independent counsel statute. On Friday afternoon, Mr. Dash said in brief remarks outside his home, "I resigned because he used most of his opening statement not as a defense of his office but as an aggressive advocate in reviewing the facts and the law urging impeachment."
Mr. Starr disagreed with Mr. Dash's interpretation.
"I believe a fair reading of the testimony yesterday . . . is that I described what was in the referral" to Congress setting out the case against Mr. Clinton, Mr. Starr said. "If one reads the grounds that are set forth in the referral, one will see that what I was doing yesterday was explaining it."
Mr. Starr underscored that in a return letter to Mr. Dash, saying, "I believed . . . that it was thoroughly appropriate and worthwhile to provide an oral rendition of the key points of the written referral, to provide a general status report on the state of the overall investigation, and to discuss the process that went into the investigation and referral."
Mr. Dash, chief counsel to the Senate Watergate Committee a quarter-century ago, drew a distinction between Mr. Starr's Sept. 9 written referral to the House and his forceful testimony to the House Judiciary Committee.
In his letter, Mr. Dash said, "You have . . . unlawfully intruded on the power of impeachment."
Mr. Dash said Mr. Starr had "only one narrow duty," which is "to objectively provide for the House substantial and credible information that may constitute grounds for impeachment."
Mr. Starr said he respected the difference of opinion. "I love Sam. I respect him. I admire him. He's a total man of principle. I have really profited from his judgment. I think it was a matter of principle. It was so important to him," he said.
Criticism of Mr. Starr was immediate.
"Here's the final word from a giant of American jurisprudence on the methods, motives and ethics of Ken Starr," said Jim Jordan, spokesman for House Judiciary Committee Democrats.
"Ken Starr's willingness to make a case for impeachment just reinforces the concerns many of us have had about his judgment," said Rep. Marty Meehan, D-Mass.
In his testimony to the Judiciary Committee, Mr. Starr gave no indication that he had a serious disagreement with Mr. Dash. Mr. Starr hailed Mr. Dash's "great wisdom during my tenure." A registered Democrat, Mr. Dash has long said that if Mr. Starr didn't heed his advice, he would not stay on as Mr. Starr's ethics adviser.
