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HenchPAC NewsLITTLE ROCK, Ark. (Reuters) - President Clinton on Tuesday requested a 30-day extension of the July 31 deadline for responding to a lawsuit in Arkansas seeking his disbarment. Clinton's lawyers said the President had been too busy with foreign policy matters to consult properly with his attorneys, who had themselves been out of the country in recent weeks.
``In addition to the other duties which occupy his time, the President has been in attendance at the Camp David Middle East Peace Talks every day but one since the talks began on July 11, except for the time he was traveling to and from Okinawa and attending the G-8 summit there, from July 20-23,'' Clinton's lawyers said.
David E. Kendall of Washington, one of Clinton's lawyers, said in the court filing at Little Rock that he had been out of the country from the time the disbarment suit was filed on June 30 until July 15.
A second Clinton attorney, Stephen Engstrom, said he had been overseas from July 18 through July 27.
The request for an extension, filed in state court, noted that Clinton does not practice law in Arkansas and that the disbarment lawsuit does not allege a danger of ``imminent harm to Arkansas consumers of legal services.''
It also said there was no danger that evidence in the case would be lost or compromised should a judge grant the delay. The disbarment case was brought by the Arkansas Supreme Court Committee on Professional Conduct, which charged that Clinton's misstatements in the Paula Jones sexual harassment case made him ``unfit'' to be a lawyer.
During a deposition in Jones' case in 1998, Clinton denied a sexual relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Clinton acknowledged such a relationship eight months later.
The judge in the Jones case found Clinton in contempt and fined him $90,000, and referred the matter of his testimony to the Arkansas Supreme Court's conduct committee. Clinton's testimony was the basis of his impeachment by the House of Representatives in 1998. He was acquitted by the Senate the following year.
In arguing for a ``reasonable'' delay in the disbarment case, Clinton's lawyers cited a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the Jones case. The Court ruled, in 1997, that a president could be sued in civil court during his term of office but also said the duties of the office should be taken into account in scheduling the trial.
HENCH adds: What does it mean? If Clinton wants to delay, it's because he thinks he's going to LOSE!
MORE.......
The conservative group that for two years has sought to strip President Clinton of his Arkansas law license on Wednesday denounced the president's request for more time to respond to the disbarment lawsuit that was filed against him by the state's lawyer-discipline committee.
Southeastern Legal Foundation President Matthew Glavin said the motion for a 30-day
extension filed Tuesday by the president's lawyers is just another example of the delaying
tactics practiced by Clinton. The motion cited Clinton's busy schedule and said his
lawyers have recently been out of the country for extended periods.
"Here we have a president who said on national television that he was not
going to be involved personally at all in contesting this action," Glavin said.
"If the president's not going to be involved, what does his schedule have to do with
anything?"
David Kendall of Washington, Clinton's personal lawyer, said Wednesday that he
had "no response" to Glavin's statements.
Marie-Bernarde Miller of Little Rock, one of the lawyers representing the
Arkansas Supreme Court Committee on Professional Conduct in its disbarment suit against
Clinton, declined to comment Wednesday on whether a response is planned to the motion for
an extension.
No response to the motion had been filed as of 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, the closing
time for the Pulaski County circuit clerk's office.
Lynn Williams of Hot Springs, litigation counsel for the committee, was out of
the office Wednesday and unavailable for comment. Both he and Miller signed the disbarment
lawsuit on behalf of the committee.
Pulaski County Circuit Judge Leon Johnson of Little Rock, who agreed July 11 to
hear the Clinton case after four of his colleagues stepped aside, didn't immediately
return a telephone message. If Johnson grants Clinton's motion, the president will have
until Aug. 31 to respond. If he doesn't modify the current situation, Clinton's response
will be due Monday.
Johnson was appointed to the bench in June to serve the remaining seven months
of ousted Circuit Judge Morris Thompson's term through Dec. 31. Lawyer Willard Proctor Jr.
of Little Rock, who won this year's Democratic primary for the post, is unopposed in the
Nov. 7 election and takes office Jan. 1.
Proctor, who was appointed by then-Gov. Clinton in 1992 to the state Commission
on Law Enforcement Standards and Training, has declined to comment on whether he would
hear the case if it's not resolved by the time Johnson leaves office.
The foundation in September 1998 filed a complaint seeking Clinton's
disbarment. The complaint contended that the president lied under oath about his
relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Clinton was served in
February with two formal complaints by the professional conduct committee -- one based on
the foundation's complaint and the other on a 1999 referral from Chief U.S. District Judge
Susan Webber Wright of Little Rock.
Citing "serious misconduct" on the president's part, a six-member
panel of the professional conduct committee on May 19 voted to initiate disbarment
proceedings against Clinton. The vote came after Clinton had argued in a response to the
complaints that his actions didn't merit disbarment, and his years of public service
should act as a mitigating factor.
The disbarment lawsuit filed June 30 in Pulaski County Circuit Court by the
professional conduct committee is based on an April 12, 1999, memorandum opinion and order
from Wright that she referred to the committee.
Wright's order found Clinton in civil contempt of court for giving
"intentionally false" testimony about his relationship with Lewinsky in a Jan.
17, 1998, deposition in the Paula Corbin Jones sexual-harassment suit.
Though Clinton has said that he disagreed with Wright's decision, he did not
appeal her April 1999 order that found him in civil contempt of court. The president in
September 1999 paid a $90,686 fine assessed by Wright for the contempt.
The committee's disbarment complaint notes Clinton's lack of an appeal of the contempt
finding.
Glavin contended Wednesday that the request for more time to respond indicates
that the president wants to delay proceedings in the case until he leaves office. Glavin
said he doesn't accept the arguments made in the motion.
"Those are all ridiculous arguments," Glavin said. "The issues are very
narrow and don't require a lot of in-depth research. It's been ongoing for two years, and
clearly they could have answered it in 30 days."
Glavin said the foundation won't get involved unless any extensions beyond the
initial 30-day request are filed by Clinton's lawyers.
"If there are other futile attempts at delay, the Southeastern Legal
Foundation will make our feelings known to the court," Glavin said. The foundation
would file a friend-of-the-court brief to oppose it, he said.
Clinton, a former law professor at the University of Arkansas School of Law in Fayetteville, has been licensed to practice law in Arkansas since Sept. 7, 1973, but has not done so since 1981-82.
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