Vocal Critic of Clinton Says He Too Has Strayed

One of President Clinton’s harshest congressional critics, Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.), confessed to constituents this week that he also has wronged his wife during nearly four decades of a rocky marriage.

Burton’s surprise announcement is precisely what many analysts and lawmakers fear could become an orgy of accusations and mea culpas concerning personal conduct as independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr prepares to send his report on the Monica S. Lewinsky controversy to Congress.

Burton, an eight-term congressman, made his disclosure to blunt what he called an impending “scandal story” in Vanity Fair magazine.

His remarks came during a town hall meeting with about 50 citizens in Frankfort, Ind., on Monday. Burton’s comments were reported by the Indianapolis Star on Tuesday.

Although he offered no details or specifics, Burton left little doubt that he had strayed.

“Now I want to tell you: If something comes out that you read about, that you think Danny shouldn’t have done, I will own up to it. I won’t lie about it. I will tell the truth,” Burton was quoted as saying.

“It’s not illegal, anything I’ve done. But my wife and I--and I hate to tell you this--but my wife and I were separated three times in our 38-year marriage,” Burton said.

He also said he and his wife, Barbara Jean Logan, who have three children, nearly divorced at one point.

John Williams, Burton’s press secretary, confirmed the gist of Burton’s remarks as reported by the Indianapolis Star.

“He told his constituents that, as we’ve known for a while, a reporter from Vanity Fair has talked with over 200 people . . . and dug very deeply to try to find some dirt,” Williams said.

In New York, a Vanity Fair spokesman, Beth Kseniak, confirmed on Tuesday that the magazine has in the works an in-depth article on Burton by freelance writer Russ Baker. But she said it will not be in the new issue, due out next Wednesday.

“As of now, we don’t know when it’s going to run,” Kseniak said.

As chairman of the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee, Burton has presided over months of contentious public hearings that have focused mainly on the campaign finance practices of Clinton’s 1996 reelection bid.

At the town hall meeting, Burton, 60, suggested that Clinton backers are spreading rumors about him as an intimidation tactic. He then declared: “I want you to know that I’m not going to back down on this investigation half an inch.”

Clinton’s former press secretary, Dee Dee Myers, is now Vanity Fair’s Washington editor. But Kseniak called any insinuation that the White House had orchestrated a piece attacking Burton “totally ludicrous.”

The Indianapolis Star also has been looking into Burton’s past, according to the paper’s political editor, Janet Williams. But she declined on Tuesday to discuss its findings or when it might publish its own report.

The Star quoted Burton as telling his supporters in Frankfort: “They’ve talked to women I’ve known in my life. They’ve talked to friends and relatives, kids I went to grade school with.’

Despite broaching the subject in advance of any articles, Burton declined to answer specific questions about his private life.

He told a Star reporter: “When you start talking about people, and start mentioning names . . . you ought to be concerned about how their lives are going to be impacted and affected by what you write.”

Indiana state Rep. Woody Burton said he was incensed by what he called a “witch hunt” against his brother.

“Dan’s 60 years old,” the Star quoted Woody Burton as saying. “Dan may have done things that were not right in his younger days. He’s preparing himself and the public for a real smear campaign and saying: ‘If this comes, I’ll be honest.’ ”

Dan Burton, first elected in 1982, represents a safe Republican district and his disclosure is unlikely to hurt his reelection chances this November. Additionally, his Democratic opponent is a convicted felon from whom many party leaders have disassociated themselves.

Burton came under heavy criticism earlier this year for using a pejorative word to describe Clinton. He later admitted to a poor choice of words, but he continued to insist that he does not believe Clinton is “a man of integrity.”