Probe Ordered Into Search of Files on Clinton’s Mother

Acting Secretary of State Lawrence S. Eagleburger ordered a thorough investigation Thursday of reports that State Department officials searched old passport files of Bill Clinton’s mother, an incident that Democrats cited as proof of illegal campaign tactics by the Bush Administration.

George Stephanopoulos, the Democratic presidential nominee’s communications director, charged that the search violated the federal Privacy Act and amounted to “proof of taxpayer-funded dirty tricks” reminiscent of the 1972 Richard M. Nixon campaign that spawned the Watergate scandal.

According to a report by the staff of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, three mid-level State Department employees spent more than 10 hours over two days last month combing through inactive passport records of Clinton and his mother, Virginia Kelley, that are stored at the Washington National Records Center in suburban Suitland, Md. The center was kept open for four hours after its normal closing time to accommodate the search.

Clearly embarrassed by the latest reports, Eagleburger ordered the department inspector general to investigate. He also told department personnel to refuse to discuss the incident. Department spokesman Richard Boucher said: “We don’t expect to have further answers for you on this until after the inspector general has completed his investigation.”

The State Department confirmed last week that it had conducted an “expedited” search of Clinton’s own passport records in response to a Freedom of Information Act request from news organizations, an incident that Boucher said was later determined to have been “a mistake.”

But the extent of the effort described by the House committee report, and the inclusion of Clinton’s mother, clearly goes beyond anything that would be required by the FOIA. Democrats accused the Bush Administration of conducting a fishing expedition for information that might be damaging to Clinton’s campaign.

The report quoted records center employees as saying that the State Department officials indicated they were searching for correspondence that they thought might have been in the files. The officials expressed extreme disappointment when they were unable to find what they were looking for, the report said.

Campaigning in Seattle, Clinton complained that the State Department was “not only rifling through my files but investigating my mother. . . . It would be funny if it’s not so pathetic.”

Clinton’s running mate, Tennessee Sen. Al Gore, accused the Bush campaign of using “despicable . . . smear tactics.” He demanded that President Bush apologize personally to both Clinton and his mother.

The White House kept its distance from the controversy.

“I don’t know a thing about it,” White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater said in Trenton, N.J., where Bush spoke at an airport rally. He suggested that official comment “should come from the State Department.”

In Los Angeles, Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City) and Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), chairmen of the House and Senate subcommittees on international operations, called for the General Accounting Office to investigate.

“The appearance of pervasive political influence in this case casts doubt on the department’s ability to investigate itself,” Berman and Kerry said in a joint statement. “In our view, an independent investigation is needed, and needed now.”

Eagleburger ordered the department’s inspector general to investigate the handling of the Clinton passport file Monday. Boucher said the acting secretary called for an expansion of the probe Thursday morning after the Washington Post reported the investigation of Clinton’s mother.

Boucher declined to say whether Eagleburger realized the extent of the Clinton search before the newspaper account.

The House committee report said State Department officials Carmen DiPlacido, acting director of the passport office; Steven Moheban, a special assistant to the assistant secretary for consular affairs; and Richard P. McClevey, chief of program support for the passport office, arrived at the records center as it was about to close on Sept. 30. They ordered the center to remain open until 10 p.m.

They returned the following day at 10 a.m. and worked until the center closed at 4:30 p.m. The second day they were accompanied by Michael Brenan, chief of public affairs of the office of consular relations.

“According to the center’s staff, the nature of the State Department visit was unusual for several reasons: . . . the search was conducted after normal business hours; the State Department employees joined in the actual search . . . rather than simply requesting that a box or a file be retrieved by the center staff . . . (and) the employees sent by the State Department were of relatively senior levels in the consular bureau,” the House report said.

“Center staff commented to us that the State team appeared to be under pressure,” the report said. “It is estimated that up to 50 boxes were pulled and examined.”

DiPlacido, Brenan and McClevey could not be reached for comment. Reached by telephone, Moheban said: “I would like to be able to say something, but it just isn’t proper.”

Times staff writers Douglas Jehl in Trenton, N.J., and Edwin Chen in Macon, Ga., contributed to this story.