WASHINGTON WATCH: ANOTHER WHITE HOUSE HEADACHE

Should a cabinet member resign because he lied to the FBI? According to Henry Cisneros, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, the answer is "No."

Should he resign if he lied to the president of the United States? Again, Cisneros answers "No."How about if he lied to the American people, their representatives, his staff and his wife? "No again," says Cisneros. Instead, he argues, personal indiscretions are one thing, public indiscretions another.This week, Attorney General Janet Reno asked a three-judge panel to appoint an independent counsel to determine whether Cisneros criminally concealed information from the FBI about payments he was making to a former mistress. She has also asked the counsel to determine if Cisneros conspired with others "to conceal information concerning his payments during the confirmation process." After her own investigation, the attorney general concluded that Cisneros deliberately misled the FBI when he was interviewed for the job he now holds.

Cisneros responds by saying, "I have at no point violated the public trust."

While it is hard not to guffaw at this assertion, to a degree Cisneros may be correct. Reno's four-month investigation found little evidence that he had abused his position as Housing Secretary, although questions do remain about his relationship with a Texas housing company that paid him substantial sums of money in the past, which his ex-mistress alleges he then paid to her.Whatever the denouement of this latest investigation, however, the matter means more ethics headaches for the Clinton White House. Already, this administration has proven to be the most scandal-ridden since Richard Nixon resided at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Cisneros now joins former Agriculture Secretary Michael Espy and President Clinton under investigation by a special counsel. Commerce Secretary Ron Brown and Transportation Secretary Federico Pena remain under investigation by the Justice Department. Several other White House officials have already resigned or been indicted, including Webster Hubbell, Bernard Nussbaum and Roger Altman. Hillary Clinton and Ira Magaziner have also come under court censure for making false statements regarding the make-up of their health care task force.

The specific case involving Cisneros relates to a three-year affair he had while mayor of San Antonio during the late 1980s. Both he and his mistress were married at the time, and when the affair became public she lost her husband and her job. To make amends, Cisneros promised to pay her $4,000 a month until her daughter graduated from college (he later broke the promise). During an FBI background investigation, however, Cisneros said he made payments to the ex-mistress in individual amounts totaling no more than $2,500. He also said he never paid her more than $10,000 a year."In fact," the attorney general discovered, "Cisneros paid the ex-mistress more than $2,500 at various times, and his total annual payments to her were between $42,000 and $60,000." Reno also noted that one of the payments -- "substantially larger than $2,500" -- came just before the FBI interview. Since becoming Housing Secretary, Cisneros has also repeatedly said that he stopped payments. But bank records show otherwise.Not all false statements to the FBI are considered a criminal offense, says Reno. They must be of "material" importance. But she suggests that Cisneros' misleading statements could have had a significant impact on the FBI background report and on advisers to President Clinton who relied on it to make final recommendations for Cabinet positions. If the special counsel agrees, Cisneros could face jail time.President Clinton seems undaunted by Cisneros' problems. He told reporters that he "admires" the Housing Secretary and that his service "has been outstanding.""I know him to be a man of integrity and character," the president said in a statement. "Secretary Cisneros is a good man and an effective public servant." Which begs the question: Does President Clinton, who's had his own honesty problems, even know what integrity and character are?

Republicans Should Shelve Tax Cut Plan

After much heated debate, the House of Representatives passed $17 billion in budget cuts. It is the first step in what will necessarily be a long and torturous process if Republicans are serious about balancing the budget. The new majority in Congress would help their cause, however, by deciding to hold any tax cuts until all spending reductions are in place. While the Republicans' recent unveiling of a middle-class-tax-cut plan is consistent with the Contract With America, these cuts only distract the Congress from more important ones: cutting government spending.President Clinton, Newt Gingrich and Dick Gephardt have all announced the importance of cutting taxes at this time. Unfortunately, until the budget is under greater control, their ideas represent better politics than policy.Jon K. Rust is a Washington-based writer for the Southeast Missourian.