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As tobacco lobbyist Kenneth Starr pockets huge amounts of money from America's death companies while simultaneously wasting millions of taxpayer dollars apparently trying to achieve the political objectives of his right wing benefactors, opinion polls clearly show that his antics will bring political devastation to the Republican party this fall. Why does the Republican party continue to support someone so overwhelmingly rejected by the public? Confidential sources have for the first time revealed the secret goal of top Republican strategists: the gutting of the Independent Council law under which Starr was appointed. According to the sources, who spoke only on condition of anonymity, the statute has been a thorn in the side of big money Republicans since it was enacted in response to the Watergate scandal of the 1970s. Prior to that time, elected officials were free to accept huge bribes without fear of prosecution, as long as the Republicans controlled the appointment of all regular federal prosecutors. Repeal of the statute, which threatens the flow of billions of taxpayer dollars through rip-off federal contracts into the campaign coffers and pockets of elected officials, has long been a top Republican goal. Soon after the election of Bill Clinton in 1992, a few top party strategists concocted a long range plan to destroy public confidence in the Independent Council law, the sources revealed. By appointing Kenneth Starr, known by those closest to him to be completely amoral and willing to do anything for money, they reasoned that they could accomplish their goal by tricking the Democrats and the public into demanding the gutting of the statute. As Democratic congressional leaders now prepare legislation to repeal or severely cripple the statute, the strategy appears to be succeeding. The attack on Clinton provided the cover. As planned, the public and the Democrats have assumed all along that the goal of the Starr investigation has been to damage the President politically. As outrage builds over the fascist tactics of Starr, he will be dumped and disavowed by all but the most extreme Republicans, according to the sources. Congressional Republicans will then 'reluctantly' acquiesce to Democratic efforts, encouraged by an outraged public, to gut the Independent Council statute. The plan almost went awry last year, sources said, when Kenneth Starr finally figured out what was going on. As Starr discovered the secret Republican strategy, he realized that he was going to be sacrificed and would go down as one of the most despicable characters in American history. Feeling betrayed, he resigned his post, only to be forced to recant by several shadowy Republican operatives who threatened to expose certain facts from Starr's past. The press, to no one's surprise, has fallen for the plan hook, line, and sinker. With visions of Pulitzer prizes dancing through their heads, the bloated, lazy mainstream press took dictation from Starr and his cronies and tried to pass it off as investigative reporting. Reporters printed the most outrageous gossip as fact, based on unnamed sources whom they of course refused to identify. What they hadn't counted on was that Kenneth Starr would publicly reveal himself as their source. The problem, say the sources, is not the Independent Council law, which has worked well. The problem is with the individual appointed in this case, and with the three judge federal panel responsible for supervising him. People must recognize that twelve years of judicial appointments by Republican presidents have virtually eliminated the courts as defenders against outrageous government action. Why have these sources, who were involved in the initial planning of this entire scheme, now revealed it? Chalk it up to guilty consciences, if you will. |