President seeks delay until he leaves office

Thursday, March 16th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) -- President Clinton asked a court committee to wait until after he leaves office next year to consider disbarring him for his testimony in the Monica Lewinsky
scandal.

On Thursday, the deadline for Clinton to respond to complaints against him, his private lawyer David Kendall asked for more time
under Arkansas Supreme Court rules that allow extensions of a "reasonable length."

Kendall said in a statement he asked that the president be given until next Feb. 19, 2001 -- 30 days after he leaves the White House -- to respond to the complaints.

Ordinarily an extension is 30 days, but Clinton is asking for more time because of the unique responsibilities of a sitting president. Kendall made his arguments in sealed court papers.

Signaling his intention to fight the complaints, the president renewed his law license Feb. 29 for a $100 fee.

A complaint before the Arkansas Supreme Court's professional conduct committee arose automatically under state law when U.S.
District Judge Susan Webber Wright found Clinton in contempt of court last April 12 because of his testimony in the Paula Jones
sexual harassment lawsuit.

Wright said Clinton gave "false, misleading and evasive answers that were designed to obstruct the judicial process."

She cited 10 specific instances in which Clinton denied that he had sexual relations with Ms. Lewinsky and said he could not recall
being alone with her. Wright specified civil, not criminal, contempt in order to preserve the independent counsel's option of prosecuting Clinton after he leaves office.

An earlier complaint on similar grounds was filed in September, 1998, in the midst of the impeachment drama in Congress, by the
conservative Southeastern Legal Foundation of Atlanta.

"The president wants to delay the process for protecting the public and that is unconscionable," said Matt Glavin, head of the
legal foundation. "This is not reasonable by any measure."

Glavin said if the committee grants the extension, he will complain to the state Supreme Court.

James Neal, executive director of the professional conduct committee, did not act on the complaints until this year, after the
state Supreme Court ordered him to do so on Jan. 27.

Glavin argued the White House could not use the excuse that Clinton was too busy as president to deal with the case because he
had attended seven fund-raisers in the past two weeks.

"That doesn't pass the straight-face test," Glavin said.

But Bruce Fein, a former Justice Department official and conservative writer, said such a request from Clinton would likely be honored.

"It is preposterous to think that the disciplinary panel would not grant Mr. Clinton a post-White House delay," Fein wrote in a newspaper column before Thursday's court filing. He said the case is not urgent because Clinton isn't practicing law in Arkansas and earlier court rulings in the Jones case said the needs of his
office should be taken into consideration.