SEN. BOND HAS RIGHT TO CONTINUE TO SEEK ANSWERS ABOUT DOWD

Former Sen. Jack Danforth chose U.S. Attorney Ed Dowd, a Democrat and member of a distinguished St. Louis family of attorneys, as his chief deputy in Danforth's role as special investigator into the Waco debacle of April 1993. We have no special quarrel with the choice, but were more than a little disappointed earlier this year when Dowd used his official letterhead to write law enforcement personnel statewide opposing the right-to-carry initiative on the April ballot.

At the time, Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., joined by U.S. Rep. Kenny Hulshof, R-Columbia, objected by writing to Attorney General Janet Reno and requesting a review of Dowd's actions. The serious issue involved is the misuse of taxpayer resources to lobby against a state ballot measure.

In the patented Janet Reno manner, the Clinton Justice Department simply failed to answer Bond's legitimate concerns in whitewashing the Dowd behavior. So Bond, to his credit, is persisting. A bland statement from Reno's Justice Department that Dowd broke no law and violated no department policy won't do. Bond should continue to demand answers, and we hope, against all prior experience with Reno, that he sticks with it until he gets them.