A L S O+T O D A Y One big happy family By Alan Wolfe The election was a referendum on morality, after all, but Americans voted for tolerance, not vengeance (11/25/98)   T A B L E+T A L K What would be the Republican dream ticket for the 2000 election? What about the Democrats? Play pundit in Table Talk's Politics discussion area   R E C E N T L Y Letter from San Francisco By Lisa Margonelli Twenty years after Dan White murdered George Moscone and Harvey Milk, his old neighborhood is still spawning leaders who divide by race -- but these days they're Asian, not white (11/24/98) Why "Birthright Israel" can't work By Samuel G. Freedman Diaspora in America is better than physical danger and religious infighting in Zion (11/23/98) Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Starr By Gary Kamiya When the real Kenneth Starr finally stood up before the House, he turned out to have a split personality (11/20/98) Starr Wars By Joan Walsh The Democrats strike back (11/20/98) Nothing has changed Compiled by Lori Leibovich and Fiona Morgan The consensus of political experts is that no minds were changed by Starr's day in court (11/20/98) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Browse the Newsreal Archives - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - S A L O N E M P O R I U M FREE! 12-ounce bag of Salon Blend with a purchase of $30 or more. While supplies last.
		The "young lady" who got under Kenneth Starr's skin   U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren is pressing the independent counsel to think harder about when he learned of Linda Tripp's tapes. BY JOAN WALSH | U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., the Silicon Valley congresswoman who rattled independent counsel Kenneth Starr last week with questions about when he learned of Linda Tripp's tapes, has followed up her House Judiciary Committee performance with a letter asking Starr to explain in a sworn affidavit whether he learned of the tapes in November 1997, rather than January 1998, as he has previously stated. Lofgren startled Starr and Republican committee members by asking whether he discussed the tapes' existence with anyone last November. At first Starr said he didn't understand the question, and when Lofgren repeated it, Starr replied, "I'm not recalling that. The specificity of your question suggests that there may be information, and I'm happy to respond to information." After U.S. Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R.-Wis., and committee chair Henry Hyde cut Lofgren off, repeatedly calling her "young lady" -- Lofgren is 50 -- Starr conceded: "I am happy to now search my recollection and to go back, in light of the specificity of your question, and to provide the committee with information." On Tuesday Lofgren followed up on that offer with a letter to Starr. "Now that you've had sufficient time to 'search [your] recollection' -- and anything else you may have found necessary -- I repeat my request that you answer [my] questions, and that you do so in a formal affidavit." Lofgren also repeated her request, first made at the hearing, that Starr release journalists from pledges of confidentiality in order to expedite an investigation of alleged illegal leaks by members of his staff to the media. Lofgren's letter to Starr noted the existing contradiction between his first account -- that he'd heard about Tripp and her tapes about Monica Lewinsky's affair with President Clinton on Jan. 12 -- and his committee testimony that he'd learned about Tripp on Jan. 8. In an interview with Salon, Lofgren would not reveal her reasons for believing that Starr had spoken about the tapes last November. But Salon has reported that conservative activists who are friendly with Starr say they heard the tapes much earlier than Starr acknowledges knowing about them. "It's a logical hop," acknowledged Lofgren special counsel John Flannery, to assume those friends may have informed the independent counsel of the tapes. Flannery would not divulge the information behind Lofgren's questions to Starr. "All I can say is, these are thoughtful, reasonable questions." According to Flannery, Starr deputy Paul Rosenzweig called him upon receiving the letter to say he wasn't sure Starr would answer Lofgren's questions, since the request had not come from either the full Judiciary Committee or the Democrats on the committee. Rosenzweig did not return a call to Salon. Rosenzweig has himself been a conduit of information between conservative activists and the independent counsel. Last month, the New York Times revealed that Philadelphia attorney Jerome Marcus, who had worked on the Paula Jones case, connected Tripp agent Lucianne Goldberg with Rosenzweig to inform Starr of the tapes. According to the newspaper the Hill, Marcus and Rosenzweig were students together at the University of Chicago Law School, and Marcus later represented Rosenzweig in a 1993 House investigation of the Justice Department Environmental Crimes division, where Rosenzweig worked as a prosecutor. House Democrats alleged that some prosecutors had intentionally bungled certain cases in order to go easy on corporate polluters. Flannery says Lofgren will push to get answers to her questions, despite Rosenzweig's reaction. "We expect a response to the letter," Flannery says. "Mr. Starr said to the congresswoman, 'Send me a letter,' and we've done so." N E X T+P A G E+| "Sexism in the House of Representatives is not a complete surprise."