April 14, 2006

A Brief History of Counsels and Leaks

By James Lewis
Who remembers Sam Dash? If you were transfixed by the Watergate hearings, the bloodsport initiation of today's drive—by media, you may remember him as the "highly respected Counsel to the Senate Watergate Committee." Sam Dash's name is now iconic, celebrated as a model of a principled lawyer. When Kenneth Starr was appointed Special Prosecutor in the Monica Lewinsky impeachment, he hired Sam Dash to be his ethics advisor. One reason, according to Starr, was that Sam Dash was such a principled Counsel for the Watergate prosecution. Dash would never, never leak to the press. Or, as Mr. Starr said on the PBS News Hour:  KENNETH STARR: "Let me say this. Sam Dash is a man of total principle. And I love Sam Dash." Stanley Kutler, however, recently has revealed that ole principled Sam leaked like the Titanic to the Watergate media. So did the US Attorney, Earl Silbert, and the Senate Watergate Committee itself. So did the passed—over J. Edgar Hoover contingent at the...(Read Full Article)