WHITEWATER . . . THERE'S SMOKE, BUT FIRE?

After winning the battle to see notes of a crucial White House meeting on Whitewater, Republicans on the Senate Whitewater Committee spent Friday poring over the 12 pages of barely legible handwritten notes taken by White House lawyer William Kennedy and an inch-thick package of documents the White House says is meant to prove that nothing in Kennedy's comments was confidential at the time. According to Kennedy's papers, there was discussion at a White House meeting in 1993 that included Clinton, several aides and Clinton's personal attorneys, about the coincidence that Vincent Foster killed himself on the same day that subpoenas were issued to raid the office of David Hale, a former judge who accused the President of wrongdoing. "July 20th: FBI issues subpoena and took records of municipal judge named Hale," read the notes. "Also day VF killed himself. Factor." At another point Kennedy writes: "Vacuum Rose Law Files . . . Documents -- never go out quietly." The Rose Law firm, where Hillary Clinton and Foster were both partners when the Whitewater land deal was falling apart, claims to have lost its Whitewater files. While the White House and the Judiciary Committee haggle over what all this means, Committee chairman Alfonse D'Amato promised to issue additional subpoenas.