Watching Bill Clinton snap off a smart military salute to the celebrities attending his birthday party several weeks ago reminds one again of how self-absorbed this man is and how much he craves power. Even if Bob Dole could use his right arm, he has far too much class to insult the dignity and meaning of a military salute by using it before a bunch of liberals from Los Angeles.

A strong case can be made that Bill and Hillary Clinton have used and abused political and governmental power, both in Little Rock and now Washington to harass and violate the civil rights, the First Amendment rights and privacy rights of people who oppose them.

Just ask Cliff Jackson, Everett Ham Jr., and Robert Jones, long-time Clinton opponents, who, with a group of other Arkansans, formed a “Clinton Truth Squad” back in 1992 to advise the national media and the people of New Hampshire about Mr. Clinton. All three promptly got tax notices from the state of Arkansas. Mr. Clinton, through his spokesman, call the matter a “coincidence.”

Furthermore, in 1994, after helping Paula Jones come forward with her sexual harassment case against Mr. Clinton, Mr. Jackson’s offices in Little Rock were broken into, files rifled, but guns, ammo and other obvious targets of a typical hood were left behind. The Little Rock police characterized the break-in as “political.”

Another Clinton nemesis, former FBI agent and former director of the Arkansas state police, Lynn Davis, also tells of being “tailed” during his many meetings with the Arkansas state troopers who then went public over many issues including having to “get girls” for then Gov. Clinton. Mr. Davis got the license number of the car following him, which had Texas plates, and had it run through the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles. The car was not registered; and Mr. Davis was informed by the Texas DMV that this meant the vehicle was either being used by Texas state police undercover agents or by federal undercover agents.

But this is relatively small potatoes compared to the power that the Clintons and their friends now have to wield.

For instance, the National Rifle Association is going through a multi-year audit curiously ordered up by the IRS just months after the NRA took the leading role in defeating scores of anti-Second Amendment congressmen and senators in the 1994 elections, resulting in the GOP takeover of the 104th Congress.

Many pro-life organizations are currently undergoing IRS audits, or just plain harassment, as are many conservative individuals.

Last year, an agent for the IRS showed up one day, unannounced at a friend’s office, plopped himself down in a chair, and, noticing the pictures of Ronald Reagan, George Bush, Jack Kemp and Bob Dole on the walls, began making disparaging remarks about each of them. He then went on to lecture my friend about how “the IRS allows you to stay in business …” Although they owed nothing, this did not stop the IRS from a campaign of harassment that forced them to incur the costs of an accountant and a lawyer to clean up the matter.

The White House and its allies in the government including Howard Shapiro, chief counsel of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, have stopped at little to censor its political opponents. Mr. Shapiro brazenly admitted to giving a confidential copy of Gary Aldrich’s book, “Unlimited Access”, to Jack Quinn, Mr. Clinton’s White House attorney, months before the book was printed, thus violating Mr. Aldrich’s right of privacy. One wonders if Mr. Quinn, as Mr. Clinton’s lawyer, advised Mr. Clinton of the book. Although Rep. Bill Clinger has subpoenaed all material related to the Aldrich book from Mr. Quinn, Mr. Shapiro and the Justice Department, the deadline has passed with nothing turned over.

Clintonites used the review process to delay the publication of Mr. Aldrich’s book, thereby using good law for bad purposes and denying Mr. Aldrich his first amendment rights. And all this has taken place before the yawns and sometimes sneers of the national media. Clintonites, with the months of lead time available, orchestrated a campaign to attempt to discredit Mr. Aldrich with the national media.

As an example of the White House’s power, CNN’s Larry King and Lisa Meyers of NBC’s Dateline agreed, after being instructed by the White House, to cancel interviews with Mr. Aldrich. Nonetheless, Mr. Aldrich is the hottest guest in the “New Media” and his book, with over 350,000 copies in circulation, remains firmly at the number one spot on all the best sellers lists including that of the New York Times.

Mr. Aldrich’s FBI partner, Dennis Sculimbrene, quit recently in disgust after a distinguished 20 plus year career in the FBI because of repeated attempts, by Mr. Shapiro, to harass him (presumably with the knowledge of the White House), and a campaign to discredit him.

Mr. Sculimbrene had confirmed, along with Mr. Aldrich and with a Secret Service agent, that indeed, Hillary Rodham Clinton did direct the hiring of Craig Livingstone. Mr. Sculimbrene’s notes from 1993 confirm this, but some of the Clinton sycophants in and outside the media have suggested that Mr. Sculimbrene placed his notes into the files for 1993 only recently. In fact, once submitted, he would have no further access to these FBI reports.

Political opponents of the Clintons better pray that Bob Dole is elected president because even if Republicans keep the Congress, the GOP so far has proven itself inadequate to the task of finding the truth and rooting out the corruption of the Clintons or protecting the American people’s constitutional rights. And forget the sunshine civil libertarians of the national media. The Clintons ain’t Republicans.

Lest it escape anyone’s notice, the actions by George Stephanopoulos, Mr. Shapiro and dozens of other Clintonites to deny the Americans their civil rights are not what some would quaintly call a “pattern,” but instead a full scale campaign.

But mind you this, if the Clintons win re-election, stopping Ken Starr will be the first order of business. If Richard Nixon could do it to Archibald Cox (and when it comes to lusting for power, he was a piker compared to the Clintons), just imagine what these two characters will do to their political enemies in a second term.

Craig Shirley is a GOP consultant.

LOAD-DATE: September 5, 1996

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

GRAPHIC: Illustration, NO CAPTION

Copyright 1996 The Washington Times LLC All Rights Reserved