Welcome Back, Starr

WASHINGTON, D.C.: A contrite Kenneth Starr announced today that his stewardship of the Whitewater investigation would not, after all, end in August. "It has become clear that for the sake of continued public confidence in this investigation, it would be inappropriate to set any arbitrary date upon which to terminate my role as independent counsel," Starr said, reading from a prepared statement. "I made a mistake," he told reporters afterward. "Setting an arbitrary date was unwise and incorrect. . .an unwise judgment on my part." Starr's announcement Monday that he would be stepping down Aug. 1 to become dean of two graduate schools at Pepperdine University had drawn a chorus of boos from Republicans and happy hoots from the White House, while also prompting rampant speculation that Starr's investigation, which cost millions and prompted Senate hearings last year, had finally run out of steam. While Starr insisted repeatedly that his decision had nothing to do with the state of the investigation, nobody was buying. "If a message has been inadvertently sent, he said hopefully, that message has been corrected." Maybe not. Starr sounded desperate to quash any hopes that the investigation was winding down, answering one reporter's question about "the people's right to know" with a thoughtful promise to "seriously consider" what he called "the public information function." How could a Washington denizen like Starr so grossly underestimate his own significance as the head of the Whitewater crusade? Starr protested his innocence, saying it had taken "consultations with my professional colleagues" to show him the error of his ways. There are times when Malibu just has to wait.