WASHINGTON INSIGHT

SCOUT’S HONOR: Last month, Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) and two other Republican members of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee introduced S. 1409, an unusual piece of legislation that could be called the “Sheila Heslin Relief Act.” The bill, pending before the Judiciary Committee, seeks to reimburse Heslin for tens of thousands of dollars in legal costs she incurred as part of her Sept. 17 appearance before the panel investigating campaign finance abuses. Senators sat transfixed as Heslin described how officials of the CIA, the Department of Energy and the Democratic Party applied intense pressure to get a $300,000 donor--international oilman Roger E. Tamraz--an audience with President Clinton. Heslin, a former National Security Counsel aide who left the agency after having a baby, said one Energy Department official told her she shouldn’t “be such a Girl Scout” because “this would mean a lot of money.” At the time, senators hailed Heslin as a “hero” for resisting the lobbying effort on Tamraz’s behalf. Of the 70 witnesses who testified before the committee, Heslin is the only one in line to receive Justice Department funds to cover her attorney fees.

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WITNESS PROTECTION GOES ONLY SO FAR: Executives of Lippo Bank California, already operating under an ongoing order to “cease and desist” various unsound practices, have a new balance-sheet blemish to explain to federal regulators: $18,000 of expenses incurred in connection with a Senate committee’s probe of the campaign-finance controversy. The bank is owned by James T. Riady, the Indonesian financier and friend of Clinton’s who for years employed John Huang, the former star Democratic fund-raiser. Now Riady’s bank is demanding that the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee reimburse it for costs associated with document production and travel to Washington by two top bank executives who were questioned under oath. “We’ve asked and we’ve asked, and we’ve not gotten a response,” said bank Chief Executive Officer James Per Lee. “We expect to be paid. It’s been over six months.”

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‘TIS THE SEASON FOR GIVING: Snow is dusting the nation’s capital, Southern California is awash with El Nino and the Department of Housing and Urban Development is greeting winter with an all-new plan to help the homeless. The “Take 10” campaign encourages people to “take 10 minutes, hours, weeks or months” to help people obtain housing, jobs and services. On wallet-sized cards imprinted with HUD’s new homeless-aid hotline (800-HUD-1010) the department suggests 10 ways to be helpful. Mentoring and donating food make the list. The generous might try tip No. 9: “Pay a month’s rent or security deposit on behalf of a homeless person.” And for those with only 10 seconds to spare, tip 10: “Give this card to others!”

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GIVE AND TAKE: The conservative Rutherford Institute is promising those who respond to a fund-raising appeal from Paula Corbin Jones that such contributions are fully tax-deductible. The Charlottesville, Va.-based institute, better known for its advocacy of religious rights, has agreed to pay the legal and court expenses of Jones’ lawsuit against Clinton, who she says exposed himself to her and asked for a sexual favor. The fund-raising approach could indirectly involve the government in the case: To the extent that contributions to the institute on Jones’ behalf are deducted from donors’ taxes, the Internal Revenue Service would be subsidizing her case against him.