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What Goes Around, Comes Around

Growing up, my parents often tried a number of ways to convey the message of the title of today’s narrative. Sometimes they would tell us that we couldn’t get away with behavioral transgressions because “God is watching,” or “God will always know,” or they would try and tell us that things “will all come out in the wash.” They wanted us to believe that things we may do and think we get/got away with, would always come back to “bite us” sooner or later. They wanted us to remember to “be nice to those you meet on the way up, because you will probably see them on your way down.” Their best line though was, “What goes around, comes around,” and most often, way more than not, they were right when they made that prediction.

Ken Starr, a former Solicitor General of the United States under George H. W. Bush and who served as an independent counsel during the Clinton Administration, was called upon back in the ’90s to investigate the suicide death of Deputy White House Counsel Vince Foster and the Whitewater investments of Bill Clinton. Later, his investigations expanded to the alleged affair between President Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, which resulted in a report alleging that President Clinton lied about the affair during a sworn deposition, which then led to the opening of the door to impeachment proceedings of the president, and the suspension of his law license for five years.

Starr’s investigation and the subsequent written report of the committee’s (which he chaired) and titled “The Starr Report” did, in fact, bring about the second impeachment of a president of the United States, though the result of the impeachment was acquittal, as was the case with President Andrew Jackson, the first president to be impeached during his term.

Starr’s work attempted to oust President Clinton from office amid shame and immorality, and his work found favor with many people in this country, though not all. The bottom line was that Bill Clinton remained as president, he finished two terms of office and is back in politics today campaigning for wife, Hillary, who is running for president of the United States herself.

And what became of Ken Starr? In 2010, Mr. Starr became the president of Baylor University and held that position until May of 2016, when it came out that several athletes from Baylor, though names were not given at first, were involved in several incidents of sexual assault over the past seven or so years. This scandal has resulted in the ousting of Head Football Coach Art Briles, the resignation of Athletic Director Ian McCaw and the termination of Starr’s tenure as university president and his subsequent demotion to chancellor, to which he resigned, but he was to remain at the university in the Louise L. Morrison Chair of Constitutional Law in the Baylor Law School.

It is ironic that in many of the interviews following some of the allegations of sexual conduct, and rape, of which two former football players have already been convicted, Starr either denied, failed to answer or address, or claimed he had no knowledge or recollection of any wrongdoings at Baylor University. This is the same man who claimed President Clinton was a liar when he denied that he did not have sexual relations with Ms. Lewinsky.

I am not saying I believed Mr. Clinton, and as later testimony was heard, it was pretty evident that he did have relations with her, but Mr. Starr’s role in that investigation was to sift through the denials, the refusals to answer, the smokescreens and twisting of the truth, and get to the actual truth of the matter. I, in absolutely no way, shape, or form am defending Mr. Clinton’s behavior or dishonesty, but if you are going to dance to a tune that someone else put money in the juke box for, you better be ready to dance to the same music if it is played with your quarter. (Quarterwho am I kidding?) It appears now that Mr. Starr is sitting on the other side of the table and someone is trying to sift through witness testimony and Mr. Starr’s denials, or lack of knowledge, or failures of recollection, or naivety, in saying these things couldn’t and didn’t happen at Baylor University.

There seems to be a huge double standard with regards to who can get away with what based on who you are or what you do. It is on kids’ levels, as there are some who receive special treatment maybe because of certain talents academically or athletically, or musically, or whatever talent they may have that others want to use or take advantage of in daily life. It goes higher up as well, maybe in the employment world, or in professional sports, or the entertainment world, or the world of politics and government. There seem to be some who can get away with more than others, or some can claim ignorance, or misunderstanding, or their own naivete, or whatever other excuse they may give to not have to face consequences for their actions.

I do not accuse all who succeed, or get to high positions, or climb the “corporate ladders” at a fast pace, of lying or cheating to get there, or to stay on top, but in certain situations that have come to light there seems to be some selective amnesia or a huge difference in the meaning of sexual assault coming from those who may have been involved or had privy to incidents that fall under that categorical crime, and some seem to get off with a slap on the wrists, while others are punished more harshly. Last I understood, the laws of this country were, and are, supposed to fall under the premise that “all men are created equal,” and that same premise should apply to the enforcement of those laws, and the handing out of consequences, too.

And so my mom and dad were right as it pertains to Mr. Starr’s situation as he sought justice in regard to Mr. Clinton’s alleged affair and expected accountability for the president’s dishonesty during that investigation, and here he finds himself sitting in Mr. Clinton’s seat with others in charge and seeking the truth to win out over the lies and cover ups, and looking for justice for the victims of the alleged assaults at Baylor University which allegedly happened on Mr. Starr’s watch.

He was in the driver’s seat searching for truth in the ’90s and he now sits in the back seat at the mercy of another person driving toward the truth. What went around then, is coming around now, but the view is a little different for Mr. Starr.

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