yet more hillary baggage: abuse of power/the Barrett report: GET LAWYERS, yet more hillary baggage: abuse of power/the Barrett report

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THE BARRETT REPORT By Mark Goodman January 31, 2007 The bell has just rung on the 2008 presidential sweepstakes and already more entries have crowded into the gates than the American grandstand can count, much less account for. That's all to the good, as the only winners over the past two decades have been named either Bush or Clinton. Still, since nothing less than the fate of the nation seems to be at stake, it is imperative that all candidates be measured as closely as possible for merit and accountability, beginning with the most visible pretender, Senator Hillary Clinton. The disturbing problem is, neither the Democrats nor Republicans on Capitol Hill are disposed to brace Mrs. Clinton, even though it is immediately within their power to do so. Let's return one year to the yellowing Barrett report. In February 2006, after nine years of hard labor. Washington lawyer David Barrett, the Independent counsel appointed to investigate the Henry Cisneros scandal, finally published his 684-page report. His study provoked commentary mainly for what was missing,120 pages of evidence, reportedly devastating to both Clintons, which Democratic congressmen, led by Senators John Kerry, Dick Durbin and Byron Dorgan, had redacted by attaching a rider to another bill. Deeply frustrated by nine seasons of blockading by Clinton lawyers and Democratic congressmen, Mr. Barrett issued a statement saying, "An accurate title for the report would be, 'What We Were Prevented from Investigating ...

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