Chat with Chic, March 6, 1987

Chat with Chic A Report from Washington FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: CONTACT: Mike Miller March 6, 1987 (202) 224-6244 By U.S. SENATOR CHIC HECHT There seems to be a great m i s u n d e r s t a n d i n g in the aftermath of the impeachment of Federal District Judge Harry Claiborne. Let me set the record straight. Last O c t o b e r , following a lengthy hearing before a special panel of 12 of my c o l l e a g u e s , the full Senate voted to convict Judge Claiborne on three of four articles of i m p e a c h m e n t . The Nevada jurist was removed from the bench and officially cut-off from his $78, 7 0 0 - a - y e a r salary. Judge Claiborne was acquitted on the third article which would have used his conviction as a case for i m p e a c h m e n t . Senator Laxalt and I both felt that there was already a c o n v i c t i o n , there was no need for an impeachment; t h e r e f o r e , it is a dangerous p r e c e d e n t . We felt he should be removed from o f f i c e , n o n e t h e l e s s. In my v i e w , the Claiborne case boiled down to two things: F i r s t , Judge Claiborne was indeed guilty of income tax evasion, and it was very likely that federal agents had acted improperly in seeking to indict the J u d g e . In fact, the full Senate felt so strongly about the misconduct resulting in an alleged vendetta by the FBI and IRS, that a resolution was unanimously approved calling for a full-blown investigation by the Senate Judiciary C o m m i t t e e . One of the members of the 12 member committee that heard the Claiborne testimony was Senator David Pryor, (D-ARK), who says he is certain Claiborne was the victim of overzealous FBI and IRS agents. "Without their intimidation of w i t n e s s e s , without their h o u n d i n g , without their targeting of Judge Harry C l a i b o r n e , I have great doubt he would ever have been convicted in the first place." Senator Pryor told reporters that the FBI was not only after Judge C l a i b o r n e , but that Chief Agent Joe Yablonsky was out to get Paul Laxalt as w e l l . Although Senator Laxalt and I both voted to remove the Judge from o f f i c e , we were very concerned by the methods the federal agents employed. On January 13, 1987, in a letter to Mr. David Dorworth of the U.S. Parole C o m m i s s i o n , I wrote: "Regardless of the propriety of Harry Claiborne's underlying convictions for false statements on his tax return, I believe there is at least an a p p e a r a n c e that he was unfairly singled out for investigation and that agents of the Executive Branch may have seriously abused t h e ir authority in pursuing him. The Senate was so concerned about this aspect of the prosecution that it resolved by unanimous consent to establish a committee to inquire into such abuses . I am concerned that Harry E. Claiborne may have been punished more harshly than another similarly situated taxpayer." That is the key. Most c i t i z e n s , after running afoul with the IRS are audited and asked to pay up. Judge Claiborne was merely i n d i c t e d , with some important evidence withheld from his trials. E v i d e n c e of government misconduct surfaced later in the United States Senate. The Parole Commission received a similar letter from Senator Harry Reid but turned down Claiborne's request for an early release from prison. I wonder how other first offenders would have fared. Sometimes there are no easy a n s w e r s . Sometimes you have to make a value judgement based on all the information available. That is what happened in the Claiborne case. The Senate acted w i s e l y . It found Judge Claiborne guilty of tax evasion but raised serious questions about how the conviction was obtained. If Judge Claiborne had been treated like any other c r i m i n a l , he would win early release based on good behavior. Public officials should not live above the law, but when prosecuted for a crime they should be afforded the same due process of law that everyone should receive.