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n a step that marks a significant escalation of his attacks on top
White House adviser Karl Rove, Rep. Henry Waxman, ranking Democrat
on the House Government Reform Committee, is now calling for a Justice
Department investigation of Rove's stock holdings.
In a nine-page letter to the White House, Waxman complains that
Rove did not fully answer earlier inquiries about allegations Rove
met with executives of two large corporations, Enron and Intel,
at a time when he held significant amounts of stock in each. Addressing
White House counsel Alberto Gonzales, who had answered Waxman's
questions on Rove's behalf, Waxman wrote, "Your letter fails to
respond to my requests for specific information about whom Mr. Rove
met or talked with, what Mr. Rove said, and whether Mr. Rove participated
in other meetings or discussions regarding policies affecting these
companies."
"If the news reports of Mr. Rove's conduct are accurate," Waxman
continued, "Mr. Rove discussed federal policies with senior executives
of companies in which he had substantial interests. This is exactly
the type of conflict of interest that the ethics laws are designed
to prevent."
Waxman pointed to the cases of senior Clinton administration officials
Anthony Lake and Sandy Berger as precedents for a Rove investigation.
In 1997, Lake, the national-security adviser who was nominated to
be CIA director, paid a $5,000 fine for failing to sell stocks that
the White House counsel's office told him to sell to comply with
conflict-of-interest laws. That same year, Berger, who took Lake's
place as national-security adviser, paid a $23,000 fine for failing
to sell stocks after a similar opinion from White House lawyers.
The fines were levied after the Clinton White House referred both
cases to the Justice Department for investigation. "I am not aware
of any reason why Mr. Rove should receive special treatment that
would exempt him from the independent and impartial investigation
envisioned by [federal ethics laws]," Waxman wrote in Tuesday's
letter to the White House. "For this reason, I believe you have
an obligation under the law to refer Mr. Rove's case to the Public
Integrity Section at the Department of Justice."
In the White House response, spokeswoman Anne Womack said, "We are
confident that Karl Rove has followed all ethical guidelines and
acted appropriately in his role as senior adviser to the president,
and the White House counsel's office stated those assertions in
response to Congressman Waxman's first request. Unfortunately, it
appears that Congressman Waxman is continuing to put the politics
of personal destruction first. This is the same old finger-pointing
that does nothing to change the tone and achieve bipartisan results
on behalf of the American people."
Privately, White House officials contend that Rove's case differs
from those of the Clinton administration. They point out that Lake
and Berger received advice from the White House counsel's office
to sell their stocks, and then did not do so. Rove, they contend,
was following the advice of the White House counsel when he waited
for a certificate of divestiture, and then sold the stocks immediately
when he received it. Beyond that, White House officials argue that
Rove did not participate in matters that could have had a material
effect — a specific legal term in the world of government ethics
— on his financial holdings.
Waxman has asked for a formal White House response by July 24.
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