Ken Starr

Re: Kenneth Starr:

I would suggest that Mr. Starr is an individual who has deluded himself into thinking that he was ethical in his prosecution of Mr. Clinton, but who really lost his way because of an overpowering desire to be a Supreme Court Justice.

You will recall that Mr. Starr was appointed Special Prosecutor by the judicial panel headed by Judge David Sentelle who had removed Robert B. Fiske as Special Prosecutor after Mr. Fiske had not come up with anything on Mr. Clinton after several months of investigation. Mr. Starr's appointment came soon after a luncheon of Judge Sentelle with Republican senators Lauch Faircloth and Jesse Helms (about which Mr. Helms ridiculously later claimed they spent the entire time talking about his prostate.) You will also recall that Mr. Starr's investigation began during Mr. Clinton's first term.

I would suggest that the deal was that if Mr. Starr could tarnish Mr. Clinton badly enough that he would resign or lose the 1996 election, Mr. Starr would get the first Supreme Court appointment of the next Republican president. Unfortunately, when Mr. Starr’s efforts proved unsuccessful, Mr. Clinton was re-elected, and Mr. Starr became such a lightning rod that he realized that he would never be either nominated nor confirmed to the Supreme Court, Mr. Starr became bitter and vindictive, lost all sense of perspective, and expanded his investigation far beyond the original charge of Whitewater. The investigation proved so repugnant that the Congress did not renew the Special Prosecutor statute.

The closest Mr. Starr ever got to the Supreme Court was to write a book about it.