Dirt-Digging on Clinton Leaves Critic in a Hole

In the universe of Clinton critics, who makes Newt Gingrich seem mild, Paula Corbin Jones forgiving and Kenneth W. Starr downright tolerant? He’s David N. Bossie--the congressional Republicans’ chief Clinton dirt digger--and as of Wednesday, he was out of a job.

Bossie was sacked for editing potentially exculpatory remarks out of former Associate Atty. Gen. Webster L. Hubbell’s prison tapes and then pushing for his boss’ fund-raising investigating committee to release them--a tactic some of his party’s supporters consider beyond the pale.

Bossie’s mishandling of the audiotapes was by no means the first time the colorful young staffer had upstaged the elected officials he works for. In his vigorous years-long crusade to stick it to the president, he has been accused of stalking, hounding, strong-arming and bad-mouthing.

As one newspaper profile put it: “Not since Roy Cohn--the bare-knuckled chief counsel for Sen. Joe McCarthy in the Red-hunting hearings of the 1950s--has a congressional staffer been so thoroughly demonized by his enemies.”

As is custom, the official line on his exit was this: Bossie submitted his resignation, which Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.), chairman of the House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, accepted with thanks for Bossie’s “hard work and dedication.”

The reality was full of intraparty intrigue: Speaker Gingrich (R-Ga.) and his top brass, frustrated by their party’s bungling of the campaign fund-raising probe, ordered Burton to ax his controversial head sleuth if he wanted to keep his own job.

“The speaker wanted him gone a long time ago and this [tapes fiasco] was the final straw,” said one well-placed GOP insider. Gingrich confirmed as much in a hallway conversation with reporters in which he said Burton had “fired the one person he should have fired.”

Democrats clearly relished the turmoil, although it was Bossie’s boss they were really gunning for. House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.) almost defended the fallen Bossie as he announced plans to force a vote next week on Burton’s removal as head of the investigation.

“A committee staff member should not be made the scapegoat for Chairman Burton’s mistakes, missteps and misdeeds,” Gephardt said. “After all, it wasn’t a staff member who said he was ‘out to get’ the president. It wasn’t a staff member who made the decision to release the edited tapes. The buck should stop with Chairman Burton, not his fall guy.”

Bossie first locked onto Clinton during the 1992 presidential campaign as a field investigator for Citizens United, a conservative outfit that shares his disdain for the former governor. Turning Arkansas into a second home, Bossie co-wrote a paperback called “Slick Willy: Why Americans Can’t Trust Clinton.”

“He really believes that the president is a crook,” said conservative activist Floyd Brown, who worked with Bossie on the book. “Dave is one of these guys who is committed to his country. It’s about truth and honesty for him, not politics.”

That last point some might quibble with.

After soaking in the minutiae of Whitewater financial dealings, Bossie joined the staff of Sen. Lauch Faircloth (R-N.C.) during the ill-fated Senate Whitewater hearings. Before long, his name came up during testimony when then-Deputy White House Counsel Bruce R. Lindsey accused Bossie of having “stalked” former Arkansas Securities Commissioner Beverly Bassett Schaffer, a key witness.

Bossie later explained that he had been escorting a network camera crew, not stalking. When Bossie was not acting as journalistic tour guide, chasing down camera-shy officials, he was whispering juicy tidbits in reporters’ ears. Bossie’s reputation was that he didn’t just leak information, he poured.

After the Whitewater hearings went belly up, Bossie moved on to the campaign fund-raising probe, where he became chief investigator and Burton’s alter ego. His salary soared well above $100,000--not bad for a college dropout in his early 30s who lives rent-free in the suburban Maryland firehouse where he volunteers.

“Bossie works 19 hours a day. He’s nonstop,” said a fellow investigator who did not want his name injected into the back and forth. “He’s great at poring through documents and following money trails. But he has such a hard-charging, bare-knuckles style.”

Burton relished that quality while others found his tactics tough to take.

John Rowley, the committee’s chief counsel, complained about what he called Bossie’s unprofessionalism and self-promotion. But Burton declined to fire him, and it was Rowley who found himself looking for another job.

“He had a certain engaging quality if you were not in his cross hairs,” said Richard Ben-Veniste, who was the chief Democratic counsel during Whitewater. “But he plays hardball, and I can understand why those who were [his targets] would have a personal dislike for him.”

On Wednesday, Bossie backers were hard to find.

“This gives us a good opportunity to redouble our efforts to make this as professional, legitimate and bipartisan an effort as we can,” said Rep. John L. Mica (R-Fla.), a member of the investigative committee who had defended Bossie in the past.

Although he has returned abruptly to private life, few believe Bossie will stop digging.

“If they are breathing a sigh of relief at the White House, they are premature,” said Brown, who spoke to Bossie after his firing and portrayed him as raring to go. “David Bossie is as committed to exposing the White House as he’s ever been.”

Bossie said as much in his resignation letter to Burton: “For more than six years I have fought to uncover the truth about this administration for the American people and I will continue to do so.”