THE COLONEL JOHN R. STINGO AWARD

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TODAY'S AWARD goes to goes to David Segal of the Washington Post, given
in memory the late New York columnist who, as AJ Liebling put it, never
permitted "facts to interfere with the exercise of his imagination."

Segal's piece on the marriage problems of Richard Mellon Scaife included
this passage:

"Scaife owns a handful of newspapers and newsweeklies, including the
Pittsburgh Tribune Review, a conservative answer to the Post-Gazette.
When he isn't tending to this modest publishing empire, he's
underwriting what Hillary Clinton once called "a vast right-wing
conspiracy." His highest-profile expenditure is the $2.3 million he gave
the American Spectator magazine in the mid-90s, to try to unearth
prurient and embarrassing details about Bill Clinton's years as governor
of Arkansas. (The magazine came up virtually empty-handed.)"

In fact, Scaife's investment in the American Spectator was one of his
better,  as the conservative publication produced important information
about the Clinton scandals. The reference to coming up "virtually
empty-handed" suggests that Segal did his research by checking only the
archives his Clinton-coddling employers.

In an accompanying box, the Post reveals where Scaife spent some of his
other funds and it turns out that the American Spectator was a minor
beneficiary. For example, his recipients included:

- Heritage Foundation, $23 million

- Hoover Institution, $9.7 million

- Center for Strategic and International Studies, $8.8 million (Trustees
include Henry Kissinger and Zbigniew Brzezinski)

- American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, $6.7 million

We can't recall the Post ever ridiculing these organizations' connection
with Scaife and the Post staff probably enjoyed some CSIS functions
partly funded by him, as the group is very much on the paper's approved
list. Nor do we recall the Post commenting on the Pew Foundation during
that period pouring more than twice the amount Scaife gave the Spectator
into the Jim Lehrer Show to foster its extreme centrist views.

Segal's misrepresentation is worth noting as another example of the
media running interference for the Clintons. In fact, the American
Spectator:

- Published an article by L.D. Brown, a former member of Clinton's
Arkansas State Police security detail, in which he described
participating in two secret flights from Mena in 1984, during which M-16
rifles were traded to Nicaraguan Contra rebels in exchange for cocaine.
Brown also claimed that Clinton knew of the activity.

- The Specator also interviewed other state troopers who told it that
their
"duties included facilitating Clinton's cheating on his wife. . . They
were instructed by Clinton on a regular basis to approach women and to
solicit their telephone numbers for the Governor, to drive him in State
vehicles to rendezvous points and guard him during sexual encounters; to
secure hotel rooms and other meeting places for sex." Speaking of the
Spectator's coverage, Clinton biographer Roger Morris noted, "We often
forget that they also talked to reporters from the Los Angeles Times who
did a very similar series. For whatever one thinks of the American
Spectator, the LA Times did much the same thing. They were roundly
attacked, of course, personally as well as professionally by the Clinton
camp."

- The Spectator, along with Investor's Business Daily, revealed that the
Arkansas state teachers' fund had put large sums into four companies
with strong links to Chinese intelligence and the People's Liberation
Army, including the China Ocean Shipping Co., China North Industries,
China Resources Enterprises and China Travel. Some of these firms were
also linked to Indonesian Clinton crony Mochtar Riady. Said Charles
Altmon of the highly rated Growth Stock Outlook newsletter, who manages
portfolios worth $130 million, the pension fund investments were
"downright foolish."

- The American Spectator also played a critical role in revealing the
Paula Jones story which, thanks to Bill Clinton's lying in her case,
helped lead directly to his impeachment.

Not only was there nothing empty-handed about all this, the Clinton
machine didn't think so either. The Spectator was among conservative
groups targeted improperly for tax audit along with the National Review,
The Christian Coalition, Citizens for a Sound Economy, Oliver North's
Freedom Alliance, The Heritage Foundation, The National Rifle
Association, The Western Journalism Center, The National Center for
Public Policy Research, Fortress America and Citizens Against Government
Waste. Others targeted included Billy Dale (fired in travel office
imbroglio); Bill O'Reilly (Clinton critic on Fox News channel); Kent
Masterson Brown (brought lawsuit compelling Hillary's health care task
force to reveal members); Paula Jones (wrecked Clinton presidency).
Paula Jones got her audit letter from the IRS not long after she beat
Clinton in the Supreme Court.

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