On the recordJanuary 25, 1994
with the public release of the Iran-Contra final report, the Lawrence Walsh witch-hunt is officially over. But it will never be over for the innocent people whose reputations were nonetheless recklessly, and irreparably, damaged by Mr. Walsh in his final report. Apparently, Mr. Walsh spared no one, trashing Cabinet Secretaries and personal secretaries alike. As an article appearing in yesterday's Wall Street Journal explained: ``Dozens of examples from the * * * final report show Mr. Walsh stomping on his victim's rights. Publishing the report itself is profoundly unfair * * * the final report contains hundreds, perhaps thousands, of * * * unproven allegations, even including excerpts of grand jury testimony.'' And, Mr. President, that is the point: When the ``Not Guilty'' verdict is read or indictments are not brought, a prosecutor normally picks up his briefcase and moves on to the next case. Unlike Mr. Walsh, he does not spend 8 months, at taxpayer expense, memorializing his own efforts and smearing the very people he failed to convict or even indict. Last year, during the Senate debate over the Reauthorization of the Independent Counsel Act, I offered an amendment restricting the scope of final reports issued by future independent counsels. This amendment, which was designed to ensure that future independent counsels will not resort to Walsh-style smear tactics in their final reports, was adopted by the Senate on a bipartisan basis.
