T A B L E+T A L K Wouldn't you like to be at Clinton's deposition in the Paula Jones lawsuit? Join the "Rutherford Institute and Paula Jones" discussion in Politics D A I L Y+Q U O T E Chris Farley: Dead man binging R E C E N T L Y Lord of the dance By William O Beeman The Iranian president's carefully choreographed interview with CNN carried a large message to the U.S., and to his own people (01/12/98) Slaughter of the innocents By Erik Marcus The killing of 1.3 million chickens in Hong Kong is child's play compared to the massacres that occur on American farms every day (01/09/98) The new anti-Christ By Jonathan Broder Republican right gears up to fight human cloners (01/08/98) Taps for Sonny Bono By David Corn He came in to Washington as a joke and went out a mensch (01/07/98) The army of the right By Jonathan Broder An embittered U.S. military is embracing hard right ideologies (01/06/98) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Browse the Newsreal Archives - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
		The court of St. Paula PAGE 2 OF 2 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Whitehead disputes the charges -- "I'm not political," he insisted -- and says he has nothing personally against President Clinton. "I think he's been a good president," said Whitehead, praising Clinton's backing for greater religious activity in schools and his support for Christians persecuted in foreign countries. But a look at Whitehead's record suggests a fondness for right-wing Christian politics. A year before Whitehead and fellow lawyer Jerry Nims founded the Rutherford Foundation, Whitehead worked as an attorney for the legal defense fund of Rev. Jerry Falwell's fiercely conservative Moral Majority. Nims served as the chief executive officer for Falwell's organizations and later took over from Falwell as president of the Moral Majority. After the Moral Majority disbanded in 1989, Falwell said the group's work would be taken over by several conservative groups, including the Rutherford Institute. In 1994, Falwell used his "Old-Time Gospel Hour" television show to sell two now-infamous anti-Clinton videotapes -- "The Clinton Chronicles" and "The Circle of Power" -- which allege that Clinton was addicted to cocaine, that he was involved in drug smuggling, that Vince Foster and Hillary Clinton were having an affair and that Foster was murdered, rather than the victim of suicide. In June 1995, the Rutherford Institute's monthly magazine, Rutherford, repeated many of the charges contained in the two videos and echoed Falwell's charge that the mainstream media had covered up Clinton's alleged actions. In the same issue, Whitehead wrote a column excoriating Clinton over the Paula Jones affair, the alleged Whitewater scandal and the president's character. "Even a short inventory of Clinton's waffling, gaffes and poor judgment calls raises serious questions about the President of the United States," Whitehead wrote. "I was more critical of Clinton in the early days," Whitehead now says. "But as he has progressed, I have become much less critical." He said he became involved in the Paula Jones lawsuit last September when he read a newspaper report that her lawyers were dropping out of the proceedings because she had refused to settle. Concerned she would not have her day in court, Whitehead said he contacted Jones through her spokeswoman, Susan Carpenter MacMillan, and offered the institute's legal services. Whitehead said he convinced conservative Dallas lawyer Donovan Campbell Jr., a member of the Rutherford Institute board, to handle the case. "Yeah, I suppose you could say his firm is pretty conservative," Whitehead allowed. That's an understatement. A few years ago, Campbell tried to have a Texas law forbidding oral sex between two consenting adults reinstated after it was found to be unconstitutional. He also picketed a gay performance at a Dallas theater and helped, along with the Rutherford Institute, to provide legal support for a group that wanted Christian nativity scenes to be permitted in public buildings, a violation of the separation of church and state. "Sure, his credentials open me up to accusations that this is all political," said Whitehead. But the question is: Do you pick the best person for the case, or do you play politics and chose someone who is a bit more moderate? What lawyers believe politically is not that important. We're there to win the case." Whitehead said it was his same concern with constitutional rights that moved him to defend Ralph Forbes, a former member of the American Nazi Party who sued Arkansas Public Television in 1992 after it excluded Forbes, then running for Congress, from a televised candidates debate. Arkansas Public Television noted Forbes had no campaign office, no cash and minuscule support, all suggesting there was little interest in his views, which included public statements like "Clinton hates me and Hillary has tried to roast me with her eyeballs." But Whitehead won in both the federal district court and the court of appeals. The Supreme Court is now weighing the case, which could have far-reaching implications for the future of political debate on public broadcast stations nationwide. "We take just about everything that comes in the door if it touches on civil liberties, First Amendment rights and human rights," Whitehead said of the Forbes case. "It's the same thing with Paula Jones. It's not the person involved; it's the principle." That sounds like something Samuel Rutherford would admire, but given Whitehead's record, the Rutherford Institute's absence in civil liberties cases involving liberals and leftists and the legal screen he has tried to throw around his institute, it's unclear whether that principle is equality before the law or the not-so-secret politics of his donors. SALON | Jan. 13, 1998 Jonathan Broder is Salon's regular Washington correspondent. Go to Table Talk and join the discussion of "The Rutherford Institute and Paula Jones" in Politics.