Chairman Henry Hyde of the House Judiciary Committee won't be emulating Newt Gingrich and loudly criticizing President Clinton for stonewalling and worse. But Clinton should not take heart. Hyde is as appalled as Gingrich at Clinton's effort to cover up the truth, obstruct independent counsel Kenneth Starr, and hamper congressional investigations of White House wrongdoing. And Hyde will be playing a major role, soon.
Hyde hasn't talked to Starr, but Republican leaders expect the independent counsel's report early this summer. And that raises a problem. How can Republicans handle the report without playing into the hands of Clinton's agents on the committee, John Conyers and Barney Frank?
If the report is kept under lock and key because it contains sensitive grand-jury testimony), Conyers, Frank, and other senior Democrats will still be among the handful with access. This means they'll pass on whatever's incriminating to the White House. And so even before any evidence is released publicly, the president's men will be spinning away and steering the news with their well-known panache.
What to do? THE SCRAPBOOK has heard several ideas. Here is the cleverest so far: Starr would first dispatch a one-page letter of referral, notifying the committee that the Clinton case is in its lap. That would be followed by the full body of evidence, probably truckloads.
Of course, this material would not be publicly released. But Starr would also send a thorough executive summary of the evidence, leaving out only material that might compromise the secrecy of the grand jury. The committee could vote to release this summary almost as soon as it arrives. Thus, the public would know the basic narrative and many details of the case before Sid Blumenthal, Paul Begala, and Rahm Emanuel had a chance to begin marathon spinning. Nothing in the independent-counsel statute bars Starr from providing such a summary. And with only Republican votes, the committee could make it public instantly.