Under a Cloud

Enough is enough. The United States has an attorney general, the top law enforcer in the land, who always seems to be one step ahead of the sheriff. Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III is like the L’il Abner comic-strip character, Joe Bfspltk, who had a cloud hovering over his head wherever he went.

Meese has not been indicted on any count. He may have violated no laws. Under our system a person is presumed innocent until he is found guilty by a jury of his peers. But that is not the point here. There is clear evidence that Meese improperly used his office to intervene in behalf of his long-time friend E. Robert Wallach on a number of matters, including federal defense contracts and Wallach’s appointment as the U.S. ambassador to the Human Rights Commission of the United Nations. Wallach currently is under indictment--but innocent until proved otherwise--on conspiracy and racketeering charges, accused of taking funds from a small Bronx defense contractor called Wedtech as part of a scheme to get Meese’s help in winning large government contracts.

Earlier, Meese was investigated by a special prosecutor for receiving loans from several persons who obtained high-level federal jobs. The special counsel found no basis for prosecuting Meese, but declined to rule on whether Meese’s conduct was proper or improper. Common sense, however, would tell the average American citizen that such behavior should not be tolerated from a high official of the U.S. government.

The latest investigation, which may go on for some time, involves Meese’s possible role in, or knowledge of, an alleged payoff scheme to win Israeli support for a proposed $1-billion Iraqi pipeline. Again Wallach was involved.

Also under investigation are Meese’s actions involving the regulation of the telephone industry at the time that he held stock in regional phone companies, and an investment made on Meese’s behalf by an adviser recommended to Meese by Wallach. Meese and his wife realized a profit of about $40,000 over two years on an initial investment of $50,000.

It is not enough that the attorney general of the United States has not been indicted on charges of committing a crime. The attorney general must be above suspicion of such things, particularly in an Administration that prides itself on being tough on crime and constantly berates “liberal” judges who allow criminals to go free on “technicalities.”

The fact that his old friend the President still has faith and confidence in Meese, and will not ask him to resign, is not surprising. The President always has had faith and confidence in his loyal aides who wound up resigning under a cloud. It is surprising, however, for White House Chief of Staff Howard H. Baker Jr. to say, “I see no reason on Earth for the President to take any action unless and until it’s made to appear that Mr. Meese has done something wrong.”

Meese clearly has done many things wrong that have compromised his ability to do a credible job as the attorney general of the United States. Not criminal acts, necessarily, but acts of incredibly poor judgment and absence of common-sense ethics--the sort of acts that cannot be tolerated from a member of the President’s Cabinet, let alone the attorney general. If the President will not fire Meese, and if it does not become clear to Meese that his continued occupancy of the attorney general’s office is an embarrassment to his old friend the President, the least that Meese could do is take a leave of absence until the current investigations have been concluded.