Veni, Vidi, Vindicated?

By Richard Stengel

Vindicate. vt. To free from any question of error, dishonor, guilt, or negligence.

-- Webster's Third New International Dictionary

When Independent Counsel James McKay delivered the results of his 14-month investigation of Attorney General Edwin Meese to a three-judge Washington panel last week, it was clear he would not seek a criminal indictment. A few hours later in Sacramento, the Attorney General declared that the result "fully vindicates me" and announced that he would resign by the end of this month or early August to "accept opportunities in the private sector." Meese had not yet read the 830-page report, which will probably not be released before July 15, but in making his announcement he followed the historic dictum of cagey generals engaged in losing battles: declare victory and leave the field. Whether the chief law-enforcement official of the U.S. is thereby "vindicated," that is, absolved from any question of error, dishonor or negligence, is still very much unresolved.

After months of high drama and low comedy, marked by recurrent accusations of impropriety and the highly publicized defections of several top Justice Department officials, Meese's announcement was something of an anticlimax. As soon as the Attorney General's name began to crop up in the Wedtech scandal 15 months ago, cries for Meese's resignation were as regular as congressional quorum calls. During the ensuing months, Meese became a cumbrous liability for the presidential campaign of George Bush and a living symbol of what Democrats like to call the "sleaze factor."

As pressure for his departure increased, Meese decried the accusations as media mugging and "partisan politics," vowing that he would not be forced out of office. His about-face, therefore, caught the White House off guard. Only two weeks ago Meese had told top Reagan aides that he would stick around to rebut McKay's report and attend the Republican Convention, finally packing his bags in September. Reagan had not put any resignation pressure on Meese, his longtime friend and aide and the last of the Californians that the President brought with him to Washington in 1981. Other White House officials, however, did not share the President's reluctance. "We all knew the report would not be kind to him," said one aide, "so the sooner the exit, the more dignity could be retained."

Just how unkind the McKay report is will not be known for sure until it is publicly released, along with a rebuttal prepared by Meese's lawyers. Although McKay did not elect to indict, his report is expected to cite a number of examples of questionable ethical conduct by the Attorney General. Among them: his relationship to San Francisco Lawyer E. Robert Wallach, who has been indicted on influence-peddling charges; assistance Meese gave to the New York City-based Wedtech Corp., which helped the company win a $32 million Government contract; a financial partnership that Meese had with W. Franklyn Chinn, in which the Attorney General earned an 80% profit in 18 months; and his connection to a plan to make secret payments to Israeli officials in return for their promise not to disrupt a proposed Iraqi oil pipeline.

According to portions of the McKay report that were leaked to the New York Times last week, the Iraqi pipeline project was considered virtually moribund until Meese, at Wallach's insistence, made a telephone call to then National Security Adviser Robert McFarlane. Says the report: "It was highly unusual for a Cabinet officer to request Mr. McFarlane to meet with the Cabinet officer's friend about a matter of commercial interest to the friend."

The McKay report is likely to claim that Meese violated various provisions of the federal Standards of Ethical Conduct for Government Officers and Employees, which all officials and staff members must abide by or face administrative action. Meese is likely to have violated the requirement that officials avoid any action that creates the appearance of "using public office for private gain" and "giving preferential treatment to any organization or person." McKay is also expected to refer this list of lapses to the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility, which may then launch an investigation of its own. Some Justice officials suggested that Meese's abrupt resignation was designed to pre-empt or at least blunt such an embarrassing in-house probe. But the Justice Department inquiry can go ahead even after Meese's departure.

The Attorney General's resignation was greeted with barely concealed glee by the Bush campaign. Although Bush himself had stoically refrained from publicly criticizing Meese, Bush advisers had warned Meese that the Vice President would have to go on record with an opinion once the McKay report was released. One Bush emissary had confidentially informed Meese that it was unlikely that his ethical conduct would satisfy the high ideals of the Bush presidential campaign. As it turned out, the resignation allowed Bush to confine his public remarks to a simple, noncommittal phrase: "Ed did the right thing, and I wish him well."

Meese decided to get out while the getting was good. As a past master of White House spin control, he knew he could soften the sting of McKay's report by characterizing it himself before anyone else knew what was in it. Moreover, Meese realized that his effectiveness at Justice was crippled. The department is operating with three of its four top officials having been there only a short while, and morale is such that U.S. attorneys joke that the nation's highest law officer is barely staying a step ahead of the sheriff.

Meese's self-proclaimed vindication suggests that the ethical conduct of the nation's chief law-enforcement official should be measured by an absurdly narrow criterion: managing not to be charged with a crime. In fact, says Humorist Mark Russell, Meese's "resignation statement set a new standard for Government service -- 'I am unindicted; therefore I succeeded.' " Ultimately, whether or not Meese succeeds in being vindicated will be left to the court of public opinion.

With reporting by Steven Holmes and Elaine Shannon/Washington