Clinton Probe

I must dispute Ellen Goodman’s position in “Why Linda Tripp Is No Woman’s Friend” (Commentary, July 5). While Linda Tripp violated Monica Lewinsky’s confidence, I applaud the motives and the results of her coming forward with the truth. The vile act in the Lewinsky case was not the sexual relationship with the president, but the administration’s (alleged) attempt to suborn Lewinsky’s perjury and Lewinsky’s (alleged) complicity in attempting to suborn the perjury of Tripp.

In my scale of values, this is an attack on our legal system equivalent to treason, and Tripp behaved honorably and admirably by coming forward to expose the conspirators rather than, by silence, becoming one of them. We are not a government of men (or women), but a government of laws. Tripp showed greater allegiance to the law than to a woman, and administration, of lesser integrity.

T.L. BRINK

Redlands

* Goodman has it backward. No person who asks another person to lie under oath could be called a friend. There are certain moral standards implicit in friendship, regardless of the genders or political persuasions of the individuals involved.

MARTHA HARTLEY

Arcadia

* An aging, experienced wolf in sheep’s clothing, Tripp, sets out to entrap her victim, poor little naive Red Riding Hood, Lewinsky. Can she escape the wolf’s widening jaws?

BARBARA S. HERMAN

Los Angeles

* William F. Buckley Jr., drowning in his own acid bath of anti-Clintonism, has been buoyed up for years by four twigs: Whitewater, Paula Jones, Webster Hubbell, and now, Lewinsky. One by one the twigs have slipped away. He is sustained only by the hope that Monica can be somehow used to bring down the president (Column Right, July 5).

It seems to me that, no matter how l’affaire Monica turns out, Buckley and others of his ilk, scores of reporters and newspapers (including The Times), owe President and Mrs. Clinton a lot of apologies.

Will these enthusiastic members, knowingly or unknowingly, of the right-wing conspiracy to sabotage the president actually apologize? I don’t think they have the courage or the character.

Clinton will soon be universally regarded as one of our best presidents. I believe and hope that most of his detractors who have compiled a reputation for mean-spirited, self-serving bigotry and hypocrisy will be around to see it.

DAVID DART

Los Angeles

* This is a sad Fourth of July holiday. I am appalled upon reading that President Clinton has decided to bypass the balance of powers guaranteed by our Constitution to create a monarchy. If the judicial branch has any chutzpah, it should review all of the existing and future executive orders and invalidate any and all of those that are not strictly powers allowed to the executive branch.

PAUL D. BLUMSTEIN

Rancho Palos Verdes