A Lot of Explaining Is Due From the Clinton Camp

A lot of people anxiously await what President Clinton has to say today. It’s going to be interesting to me what Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove) has to say about it all.

She’s the only Orange County congressional delegate from the president’s political party, and I’m wondering whether she feels a little kicked in the teeth by her own party leader. If independent prosecutor Kenneth Starr makes any kind of case against the president, we’re all going to ask our representatives in Congress--where Clinton will need support--what they think of this scandal. Sanchez happens to be mine.

Most in Congress are tight-lipped so far, and as I suspected, my district’s representative is no different. On Monday, Sanchez declined, through her press spokesman Lee Godown, to talk about it. But Godown said Sanchez will likely answer questions today.

“Everybody and his granny has been trying to get her to comment on this,” Godown said. “It’s the first thing she’ll get hit with when she walks into Statuary Hall on Tuesday, and I think she’ll probably answer questions then.”

There won’t be a shortage of subjects.

Almost lost in all the brouhaha over Monica Lewinsky were the published reports that Clinton admitted for the first time in his Paula Jones deposition that he did indeed have an affair with Gennifer Flowers when he was governor of Arkansas. If he had admitted that on “60 Minutes” six years ago, would he have even won the nomination of his party to run for president?

I heard a radio talk show commentator ask Monday morning, is there anybody out there who ever believed Clinton was telling the truth about Gennifer Flowers?

Well, I’ll confess. I believed him.

Flowers was making money from a tabloid for tattling, and Clinton’s denial on “60 Minutes” sounded so adamant (a lot like his denial on Monday). When he admitted then causing pain in his marriage, I was willing to assume he meant he had spent too much time on the golf course.

What’s most interesting now is the doublespeak from presidential press secretary Mike McCurry, that Clinton’s statements about Flowers in 1992 are not in conflict with his admission in his deposition. Explain that one. So far no one has.

Does it bother me that he had sex with Gennifer Flowers? It bothers the heck out of me that he lied about it right before the New Hampshire presidential primary. If I’d known the truth, maybe I would have thought, “Here’s a guy who would sell tickets for a night in the Lincoln bedroom at the White House.”

Did you hear Clinton’s denial on Monday about an affair with Lewinsky? His spokesman McCurry said Clinton “addressed it very squarely.” What, because Clinton pounded the podium when he said it?

Seems to me the president left out a whole lot. Why has he played us for suckers for six years on the Flowers question? What exactly was his relationship with Lewinsky? If it were so innocent, did the First Lady help pick out those gifts he gave the young woman? What did he tell Lewinsky about her deposition? Why is his secretary asking power broker Vernon Jordan to help find her a job?

It’s going to be interesting to see which people in Congress start calling for more candor if this drags on. To be effective, it will have to come from the Democratic side. We’ll see then whether Loretta Sanchez is bothered by all this as much as I hope she is.

Getting Involved: Speaking of civic duty, this Friday is the deadline for applying for Orange County Grand Jury service for 1998-99. You’ve got as good a shot as anyone. But you have to make yourself available full time for one year, which rules out a lot of people.

If you’re interested, you can pick up an application form at the jury commissioner’s office on the first floor of the County Courthouse in Santa Ana. You can also apply by the Internet: www.oc.ca.gov/superior/

The term begins July 1, but if you’re selected, there’s a mandatory orientation Feb. 19.

The qualifications sent out by Superior Court were interesting. There was the usual--you must be 18, a U.S. citizen, a county resident for one year and have no criminal record. But the court adds a candidate “must be of ordinary intelligence, must have sound judgment and fair character and possess sufficient knowledge of the English language.”

Civil Rights Right Here: Here’s another deadline you might think is worth your time. The Orange County Human Relations Commission is seeking nominations for its annual awards for local people who have made outstanding contributions in areas of human or civil rights. You’ve got until Feb. 12 to nominate someone. You can pick up a form at the Human Relations Commission office at 1300 S. Grand Ave., Building B, Santa Ana. The emphasis, I’m told, will be placed on nominees who are seldom recognized.

Mini Look: If you’re interested in what the new Santa Ana Freeway improvements will look like--between the Garden Grove Freeway and Beach Boulevard--there’s a huge new photographic display at the main library in Anaheim depicting it all. Next to the 12-foot long display are brochures explaining all the improvements and the deadlines for each phase.

If you can’t make it to the library to see it, you can find the same thing on the Internet: www.octa.net

Wrap-Up: A presidential crisis often adds new words or phrases to our language. Since Watergate, we’ve heard countless times that someone was left to “slowly twist in the wind.” Another standard phrase: “What did he know and when did he know it?”

Now comes the word “parse.” How many of you use “parse” in everyday conversation? Clinton spokesman Mike McCurry last week used it five times. “I will not parse the statement,” he said, meaning he would not elaborate on or delve into detail about what Clinton had said. Later I heard Sam Donaldson of ABC news talking about “parsing” as if he used that word in his news reports all the time. Then, radio commentator Rush Limbaugh talked about a need to “parse” something.

It’s one word I hope will parse away when all this is over.

Jerry Hicks’ column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Readers may reach Hicks by calling the Times Orange County Edition at (714) 966-7823 or by fax to (714) 966-7711, or e-mail to [email protected]