Starr to Speak at Event Tied to Pat Robertson

Whitewater independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr plans to speak today at an event co-sponsored by Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network and a Virginia law school founded by the conservative religious broadcaster.

Mark D. Fabiani, an associate counsel at the White House, said Thursday that Starr’s decision to deliver the keynote address at the 10th anniversary of Regent University law school in Virginia Beach shows his ties to President Clinton’s political enemies. Robertson, who ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 1988, has strongly criticized Clinton on Whitewater and other matters, saying at one point that Clinton’s inauguration amounted to “a repudiation of our forefathers’ covenant with God.”

Aides to Starr defended his speech on judicial decision-making as entirely proper, saying his topic is apolitical and the appearance similar to others he makes at law schools around the country. “You’re trying to make it political and partisan and it’s not,” Starr spokeswoman Debbie Gershman said.