In time, the allegations of influence peddling and campaign finance law violations against Labor Secretary Alexis Herman may be proved. But Atty. Gen. Janet Reno’s decision to seek a special prosecutor is–at this point–more a reflection of a flawed law than Herman’s guilt.
The bar set in the Independent Counsel Reauthorization Act of 1994 is so low that the attorney general is obligated to seek a special prosecutor if she is presented with “specific evidence from a credible source of wrongdoing by a top official.”
After a six-month preliminary inquiry, the Justice Department turned up no direct evidence of Herman’s guilt. But there was enough there to warrant further investigation, according to Reno, and the law requires her to seek an independent counsel if the matter cannot be resolved within a specified time frame.
Laurent Yene, a Cameroon businessman living in the U.S., charges that Herman, as White House liaison director, gave her friend Vanessa Weaver special access to the White House in exchange for kickbacks from Weaver’s company and helped funnel illegal campaign contributions. Yene claims he once delivered a cash-stuffed envelope to Herman.
Yene’s credibility is an issue here. He is an ex-boyfriend and business partner of Weaver. Still, the preliminary investigation turned up information that is “potentially corroborative” of his charges, and he was thus deemed to be a “credible source.”
But that is a far cry from proving Herman’s guilt. Reno emphasized the investigation has “developed no evidence clearly demonstrating (her) involvement in these matters and substantial evidence suggesting that she may not have been involved.” Given time, the Justice Department could well have resolved this case on its own. Given the independent counsel law, Justice won’t have the opportunity.
Instead, there will be one more special prosecutor. Herman becomes the fifth Clinton administration official to be the subject of a special prosecutor. The president and first lady are the subjects of a special prosecutor. Another special prosecutor, predating the Clinton administration, has been in business for eight years, and is still going.
If Herman is guilty of the allegations, of course, she should be removed from office and punished. But the larger outrage here may yet turn out to be the overly fine trigger point in the independent counsel act.
