Rogue Informer
As the charges evaporated, so too has Brock’s acknowledged involvement in the phony story.

May 16, 2001 9:05 a.m.

ast Thursday's tissue-thin Washington Post story about Solicitor General nominee Ted Olson's alleged involvement in The American Spectator's anti-Clinton investigative efforts, dubbed the "Arkansas Project," prominently featured allegations by reformed Clinton scourge David Brock, but as the charges evaporated, so too has Brock's acknowledged involvement in the phony story. By the following Tuesday, the Washington Post's story on the "Brock Project," designed as both payback to his former allies and as book promotion ("new title from the man who brought down a top Bush nominee"), made no mention of its instigator. The Post has wisely stepped away from its biased source, and later this week we'll learn whether Judiciary Committee Democrats are sensible enough to do the same.

Since David Brock leveled his charge that Olson misled the committee by failing to acknowledge his work on the "Arkansas Project," everyone who was involved in it has confirmed Olson's non-involvement. James Ring Adams, the lead writer for the project over a four-year period, explains that on the single occasion he spoke briefly with Ted Olson, after the project ended, and he had the impression that Olson had no idea who he was. In his own thorough review of the "Arkansas Project," which led to its cancellation, the American Spectator's former publisher, Terry Eastland, says that he had found no evidence that Olson was involved in its creation or conduct. Bob Tyrrell and Wlady Pleszczynski, the Spectator's top editors, confirm that Olson had nothing to do with their "Arkansas Project," and explain that Olson's law firm could not have known that a payment to them for legal analysis was drawn from project funds.

Democratic staff on the Judiciary Committee advanced the "Brock Project" by failing to inform their colleagues in the majority about his furtive contact with the committee, an "apparent violation of this Committee's tradition and practice," Sen. Orrin Hatch protests. Had those staffers valued credibility over crass politics, they might have learned what a wobbly witness they were building their case on. Interestingly, Ted Olson and David Brock have a common experience with respect to the "Arkansas Project." According to those who did conceive and execute the project, neither one of them had anything to do with it.