Starr Defends Speech at Pat Robertson-Run School

Whitewater independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr on Friday defended as “entirely appropriate” his speech to a law school run by religious broadcaster Pat Robertson, who has been highly critical of President Clinton on Whitewater and other issues.

Starr addressed an audience at Robertson’s Regents University at a time when he is under fire from the White House and other critics for participating in what they say are partisan activities that compromise his role as an impartial investigator.

Starr refused to respond to those criticisms when asked about it during a news conference after his speech. He called the law school address “an entirely appropriate thing to do” and added: “If I were asked to attend a political event, I would decline.”

He said that his investigation of allegations against Clinton have entered “an important phase” but refused to discuss it. The inquiry centers on allegations that Clinton may have improperly benefited from his joint investment with a savings-and-loan owner in an Ozarks resort known as Whitewater.

“This is my day off from Whitewater duties,” Starr added.

Robertson, who introduced Starr to an audience of several hundred law school students and professors, occasionally has suggested that Clinton’s presidency and personal behavior is contrary to Christian values. He also has broadcast on his cable television Family Channel an interview with Paula Corbin Jones, who alleges that Clinton solicited her for oral sex while he was governor of Arkansas.

Although Starr did not mention Whitewater in his speech, Robertson tried to make a joke of it in his introduction. He quipped that Starr “assured me in his remarks he will not mention the name of Susan McDougal”--a reference to Clinton’s former investment partner who recently went to jail for contempt of court rather than cooperate with Starr’s investigation.

Starr has pledged not to take any action before the election that would influence the outcome, but attorneys familiar with the case said that he is investigating whether the president and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton have perjured themselves in testimony about Whitewater.

White House officials noted that this was not the first time that Starr’s activities have drawn fire. White House spokesman Mark D. Fabiani said that since becoming the Whitewater independent counsel, Starr has acted as a lawyer for a variety of the president’s opponents, including conservative groups and the tobacco industry.

“Americans will make up their own minds about whether they can trust Mr. Starr to be fair under these circumstances,” Fabiani said.

Clinton himself recently criticized Starr for allegedly conducting an investigation motivated by partisanship.