Loose lips

When this endless inquisition into real estate and sex ever ends and some of the mighty fall and some of the meek get buried in the rubble and the folks in the truth business have to explain their descent into rumor, at least one name will stand for reason and perspective.

That name is Norma Holloway Johnson. It belongs to the federal judge who last week ordered independent counsel Kenneth Starr to prove he hasn’t been leaking to the press what he should be keeping to himself.

A particularly interesting aspect of Judge Johnson’s ruling is that, although it was released Friday, it was written back in June, at a time when only bit players were testifying before this Washington grand jury and when Starr was openly granting interviews to select, friendly reporters on the content of pre-testimony interviews.

But by a marvelous coincidence, Friday was the day after Monica Lewinsky testified, it was the day front pages and anchorpersons throughout the land told the nation what she said. To a secret grand jury. According to a “lawyer close to the investigation.”

Grand jury proceedings are secret for good reason — to protect innocent, or presumed innocent, people who might be unfairly accused of a crime under investigation; people who, at the grand jury stage, cannot refute evidence or testimony, confront their accusers or have benefit of legal counsel present in the room. For a grand jury to do its job of determining whether there are grounds for an indictment without ruining reputations and thwarting justice in the process, secrecy must be absolute.

Yet somehow everyone knows what Ms. Lewinsky said. Someone blabbed, someone broke the law, and it shouldn’t be that hard to find out who. The cast in this closed-door drama is not large: 23 jurors, a judge, a witness and the Starr team. If a breach such as this occurred at a lower level in the justice system, say at the county superior court level, an investigation would be initiated and it would not stop until the tattler was caught. If the loose lips belonged to a juror, jail would a likely prospect. If to a member of the prosecution, it would be jail followed by disbarment. But, of course, investigations at the county level are conducted with something not found in the independent counsel’s office — professionalism.

In the past, Starr has defended the leaks coming from his office by splitting hairs over the difference between grand jury testimony and pre-testimony interviews, as if those called in for the latter do so willingly. He has not even tried to defend the interviews he’s given to his reporter pals on condition of anonymity or his uncanny ability to comment on leaks before the leaks even occur because those things are indefensible.

It was just about a year ago that Starr turned down the job of his dreams teaching law at Pepperdine University so he could finish whatever it is he’s up to. While that no doubt was a blow to the White House, it was a major break for the rest of the county, which at least was spared the prospect of having this flawed legal mind training a whole new generation of legal minds. If Pepperdine still has that job opening to fill, it might want to give Judge Johnson a call.