WHITE HOUSE BLOT

Disturbing revelations from Washington last week draw serious questions about the veracity and intentions of the Clinton White House. After more than two years of categorical denials concerning possession of key Whitewater documents, the president's lawyers on Friday released copies of a portion of the missing files. It was further revealed that the copies had been found in the first lady's wing of the White House, a place that the president's lawyers had previously testified as having been "exhaustively searched." The release of the documents follows a week of intense speculation about the first lady's involvement in a number of politically damaging episodes in the Clinton White House.

In another startling development last week, a memo by the former White House head of management and administration, David Watkins, was turned over to the Associated Press, recounting how the first lady directly pressured the firing of several White House officials for the financial benefit of her friends and family. The White House travel office scandal was a political nightmare for the Clintons during the administration's first few months. The only saving value was that investigations by the White House and Justice Department exposed no direct connection between the affair and the first family, in part because both the president and first lady swore they were unaware of any particulars.

This all changes now, however, with the release of the Watkins memo, in which the Arkansas friend of Bill and Hillary Clinton describes a vengeful and directly involved first lady. Written sometime in 1993 to White House Chief of Staff Mack McLarty, the memo is described by Watkins as "my first attempt to be sure the record is straight, something I have not done in previous conversations with investigators -- where I have been as protective and vague as possible." Watkins describes how "there would be hell to pay if, after our failure in the Secret Service situation earlier, we failed to take swift and decisive action in conformity with the first lady's wishes."The revelations are significant for a number of reasons. They add credence to charges by several news organizations and the congressional majority that the White House has been stonewalling on these issues for several months, if not years. Charges of cover-up also gain legitimacy. But even more damaging is that the documents reveal a pattern of White House deception committed on the public. Time after time, the documents show that distorting the actions and true motives of the Clintons is the modus operandi of this White House. The released documents also raise several new questions: Why was Vincent Foster's handwriting on the documents, and were the files removed from his office in the days directly following his death? Why did it take so long for the files to be discovered? And where are the remaining files.

Curiously, the past two weeks have marked some important deadlines for Clintons. The statute of limitations expired for civil lawsuits that might have been brought against Mrs. Clinton for her role in advising the Rose Law Firm concerning Whitewater. Second, the Resolution Trust Corp., the agency that originally questioned the Clintons' role in Whitewater, closed down. Just a week previous, the RTC issued a report announcing its decision not to bring a lawsuit against the president or first lady, and the Clintons cited the report as evidence of "complete exoneration." But investigators said their investigation was made impossible by their inability to find specific documents. It was a portion of these documents that were "suddenly" discovered by the White House five days after the RTC closed. Finally, the deadline for qualifying for the Democratic primary in New York was reached last week, along with several other deadlines for Democrats who may have wanted to challenge the president.

The past few weeks were good for the president politically. Until this weekend, his polls were improving and a majority believed he had their interests at heart in the budget battle. Unfortunately, the Whitewater and travel office revelations indicate a first couple more interested in their own gain than in the good of the country. As the nation is confronted with serious questions about whether it truly wants to reach a balanced budget, it is important to remember what has driven the Clinton family and ask: Is their goal the good of the country or is it, once again, their own political and personal gain? We're concerned that "the good of the country" isn't the correct answer.