A Thankless Job, With Little Praise

WASHINGTON —  As the successor to Kenneth W. Starr, one of the most vilified public figures in recent times, Robert W. Ray harbors no illusions that completing all the Whitewater-related investigations is going to bring him a ringing chorus of praise.

But as independent counsel, Ray hopes that both friends and foes of the Clinton administration, and all those in between, will be satisfied with his final reports when he finishes his work early next year.

“I didn’t ask for this,” says Ray, 40, a former federal prosecutor from New York who reluctantly agreed to move up from a senior deputy’s job when Starr stepped down after five years last October. A panel of appellate judges almost immediately selected Ray over five others.

He regards his job as a thankless task, acknowledging that public opinion polls show that most Americans are eager to put the Whitewater investigation and its $50-million price tag behind them.

“But I hope the public will find that I conducted myself well under difficult circumstances and reached conclusions fairly and thoroughly as a responsible prosecutor,” he said in an interview.

Ray is keeping his own counsel on what his remaining investigations will conclude. Among the most serious possibilities are findings of criminal wrongdoing by one or both of the Clintons. The new independent counsel reported in March that prosecutors had found no crimes were committed by White House officials who obtained hundreds of FBI personnel files early in the administration.

Commonly called “Filegate,” that furor over confidential files of mainly Republican appointees in the hands of Clinton aides erupted in 1996 and led to investigations by Republican-led committees of the House and Senate.

Still to come is a report from Ray’s staff this summer on the so-called Travelgate controversy. It involves allegations of perjury and abuse of power in the firing of longtime employees of the White House travel office in 1993 and whether others sought to cover up the role of First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton in that episode.

A final report will come in the fall on the core inquiry that led to Starr’s appointment in 1994: the involvement of President Clinton, who was then Arkansas governor, and Mrs. Clinton in the Ozark real estate development known as Whitewater. That report will contain Ray’s conclusions about allegations of financial fraud by Clinton, as well as his findings on whether Mrs. Clinton obstructed justice by failing to turn over billing records from her work as a partner in the Rose Law Firm in Little Rock, Ark.

Ray realizes that any report on the Clintons’ dealings could have an effect on Mrs. Clinton’s U.S. Senate race in New York, but he insists that the circumstances are unavoidable.

Without disclosing his tentative conclusions, Ray observes that, “if I sit here and do nothing, that also has an effect on the campaign, and I could be accused of allowing a lingering cloud to remain that otherwise should have been dispelled.”

The most he can hope for, he says, is that his report will be viewed as a fair one and “will not have an improper effect on the electoral process.”

Ray speaks frequently of “my obligations” and his court-ordered mandate to finish the several investigations remaining under “the umbrella of Whitewater.”

“I am anxious to return home to my wife and family in New Jersey,” says Ray, who lives with his parents in suburban Virginia during the week, using the same bedroom he had as a teenager.

Ray views his job as more than ministerial, more than rubber-stamping some nearly finished inquiries begun by Starr. He suggests that his findings will contain new facts and insights into the conduct of the Clintons. In fact, since Starr left, Ray has hired several new prosecutors to help with the inquiry.

His most crucial decision, which he has spoken of previously, will be whether to seek an indictment of the president for perjury and obstruction of justice after he leaves office in January and no longer enjoys a presumed constitutional protection from grand jury indictment.

Although Clinton was impeached by the House on charges growing out of his affair with former White House intern Monica S. Lewinsky and was acquitted later in a Senate trial, Ray may reexamine the accusations from a prosecutorial viewpoint.

Ray says that such a decision “is not an exact science” in this instance because other factors come into play.

“The determination of whether a crime has been committed is only the first step,” he says. “You must also consider whether or not there is a substantial federal interest in bringing a case. There is a great amount of respect--appropriate respect--that should be placed in the office of the president.”

Indictment or not, Ray intends to report all the evidence to the public.

Under the now-expired independent counsel act, which still governs Ray’s office, his reports must be submitted under seal to the panel of U.S. appeals court judges that appointed him. Then, for a 90-day period, anyone mentioned adversely in the report, or their attorneys, may examine relevant sections and submit rebuttals or additional information.

Only then may the court publicly release the reports in whole or in part.