In January of 1994, Robert B. Fiske was appointed to act as Independent Counsel in investigating what became known as “Whitewater.” He was replaced in August of 1994 by Kenneth Starr, who ran amok until October of 1998, when he was replaced by Robert Ray. Ray produced two reports, neither of which sold as well as the exercise in soft-core erotica and middle-aged pathos known as the Starr Report. Ray resigned in March of 2002, turning the keys over to Julie F. Thomas, who was ordered in November of 2003 to close the office within twenty weeks. On March 25, 2004, more than ten years after the investigation was inaugurated, the lights went out.
Less widely known but more individually peristent is the Independent Counsel appointed to torment Clinton Housing and Urban Development secretary Henry Cisneros.
David M. Barrett was appointed on May 24, 1995, to look into a number of allegations against Cisneros. In 1999, four years and $8 million later, Cisneros pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor charge. He was done, but Barrett rolled on. And on. And on. And on again.
Despite increasing irritation on the part of the federal judges assigned to monitor his investigation, Barrett routinely asked for extensions of his appointment. Finally, on March 17 of 2003, the judges ordered Barrett to “continue his work to the extent necessary or appropriate to perform the noninvestigative and nonprosecutorial tasks remaining as required to conclude the functions of his office.”
As of the most recent Government Accountability Office audit, covering the period from September, 2003, through March of 2004, Barrett’s office remains open. During the year following the order to conclude his investigation, Barrett racked up expenses totalling about $1.7 million: $871,204 in the most recent reporting period, the six months ending March 31, 2004, and $839,085 for the six months ending September 30, 2003. During the six months prior to that, Barrett spent more than $900,000.
More on Barrett later, but for now: the man reminds me of no one so much as the main character in Herman Melville’s eponymous tale, “Bartleby the Scrivener.”
Great analogy.