THE CHRISTIAN VS. BUBBA — KEN STARR/BILL CLINTON…AND BEYOND
Wow. Kenneth Winston Starr.
Ken.
Kenny.
Former Federal Judge and United States Solicitor General.
To quote Wikipedia, “The United States Solicitor General is the third-highest ranking official (co-equal in ranking with the United States Associate Attorney General) in the U.S. Department of Justice. The United States Solicitor General is the person appointed to represent the federal government of the United States before the Supreme Court…”
Kenneth Starr, former Independent Counsel Appointee investigating the Clinton Administration focusing first on the death of Deputy White House Counsel Vince Foster (suicide?) and then the Whitewater real estate investments of Bill Clinton.
The controversial inquiry expanded to include Clinton’s amorous extramarital trysts, specifically his dalliance with Monica Lewinsky, receiving unprecedented coverage and culminating in the Starr Report which found that Clinton had lied while giving sworn testimony.
Impeachment proceedings followed — he was impeached by the House of Representatives on the charges of perjury and obstruction of justice and subsequently acquitted, joining Andrew Johnson as the only 2 sitting US Presidents to suffer this dubious distinction — and Clinton’s law license was suspended for 5 years.***
Kenneth Starr, former President of Baylor University, “a fine Christian university,” stripped of his presidency by the Baylor University Board of Regents last Thursday (05/26/2016).
As Michael Powell so ably points out in his NYTimes expose, “in a profound act of Christian charity, the Regents nonetheless allowed Starr to retain his law school professorship and remain as chancellor for an as-yet-to-be-determined but perhaps munificent salary.”
Starr is alleged to have participated in covering-up rapes and sexual harassment cases on campus, thought to be perpetrated by members of the school’s nationally ranked football team.
Is it just me or is payback a bitch?
And how does this man look in the mirror without hurling to death?
Here is a highly-educated fellow — Duke University School of Law; George Washington University; Brown University; Duke University; Harding College — and a real up-by-the-bootstraps American success story, not unlike Bubba — besmirching his own reputation and legacy by looking the other way in spades, if you will.
Doing irreparable harm by seeing himself as someone bigger than the system.
Also not unlike Bubba.
How in God’s name can Ken Starr reconcile his behavior and the woeful aftermath it engendered with his personal, professional history preceding it?
The magnetic and intoxicating pull of ego has made these differences irreconcilable.
As a lawyer, he should know something about ‘irreconcilable differences.’
He looks like a cartoon character, a caricature.
He looks like a fool.
Shame on him for that, but it’s not about him.
It’s not about the successful football coach, the now unemployed Art Briles (related to Nelson?) either.
It’s not about the fortunes of the football team, the athletic program — do remember the travails of the Baylor basketball team several years ago — or even this esteemed “Christian” university.
It’s about the victims of these sex crimes whose lives have been changed forever.
What about them?
Addendum #1: Less than a week after Kenneth W. Starr was stripped of his Baylor University Presidency, he announced that he would resign as chancellor of Baylor, explaining that it was a “matter of conscience,” the NYT’s Marc Tracy reported (06/02/2016). Though “the captain goes down with the ship” he stated, Starr will retain his position as a tenured professor at Baylor’s law school.
What better way to demonstrate strong Christian values and highlight a clear conscience?
Good luck with that Ken.
Addendum #2: Out at law school.
Addendum #3: No sign of written report of investigation — oral presentation only, delivered.
This raises questions as to both the impartiality of lawyers hired by Baylor to conduct the investigation, and whether or not Baylor is withholding information publicly in an effort to protect itself from further criticism, lawsuits or both.
Addendum #4: WOW!!! WOW!!! WOW!!!
[Editor’s Note: This piece was written by Mr. Kaplan in May 2016.]
*** Donald Trump became the third sitting US President to be impeached when the House of Representatives approved articles of impeachment on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The proceedings were initiated on December 18, 2019 and the Senate acquitted Trump of these charges on February 5, 2020.
POSTSCRIPT: On January 16, 2020 Starr was announced as a member of President Donald Trump’s legal team for his Senate impeachment trial. He argued before the Senate on Trump’s behalf on January 27, 2020 urging strongly not to remove Trump as president, contradicting various arguments he made in 1998 to justify Clinton’s impeachment.
