Selective memory over Clintons?

I usually don’t respond to letters to the editor, but in the case of James Kerr’s letter in the Aug. 5 Reporter, (“Nightmare is here; it’s Obama”) I feel I must.

In his rush to demean Democrats, Mr. Kerr said, “The truth was told about the Clintons; remember the 900 FBI files they got the FBI director to give them on their enemies? Well, I don’t have selective memory and I do remember.”

Perhaps Mr. Kerr does have selective memory. Ken Starr’s final report (submitted by Robert Ray), after a $60 million investigation, absolves the Clintons of every charge that was leveled at them, including what was known as “Filegate.” The report shows that “There was no criminal activity by anyone in the matter, and that there was no credible evidence that senior White House figures or the First Lady had requested the files or had acted improperly or testified improperly regarding Livingstone’s hiring.”

In fact, if you read the final report on that five-year investigation, you will realize that the Whitewater question was answered by the Pillsbury report long before any partisan investigation was even begun. The first Whitewater special counsel, Robert Fisk (Republican) also reported that the Clintons were innocent of wrongdoing in Whitewater. Republicans shouted that report down because Republican Fisk was appointed by Janet Reno. Thus the $60 million investigation that ended with no charges was begun only to completely absolve the Clintons.

Clinton did have encounters with Monica Lewinsky, but he was aquitted of any related crime by the Republican-controlled Senate. The Lewinsky matter was not in the scope of the original investigation.

Mr. Kerr’s memory also seems to fail him about recent news. George Bush’s NSA was recently discovered illegally accessing the private e-mail accounts of millions of Americans; the report specifies that they accessed the private e-mails of Bill Clinton.

Mark Thompson

Duvall (works in Kent)