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WASHINGTON (July 29, 1997 01:27 a.m. EDT) -- If you weren't watching closely, you probably missed the report that Johnny Chung apparently has had his fill of White House dissembling about the $50,000 check he presented to Hillary Clinton's aides.
The White House maintains that Margaret Williams, the first lady's chief of staff, merely accepted the check from the California entrepreneur as a courtesy and passed it on to the Democratic National Committee.
Not so, according to Chung, who says Williams actually solicited the money in exchange for access to the White House mess by a Chinese delegation being hosted by Chung. The money, Chung alleges, was to be used by Hillary Clinton to help defray the costs of White House Christmas receptions billed to the DNC.
This startling contradiction, broken by the Los Angeles Times, was ignored or buried in the Sunday editions of many newspapers and didn't fare much better among so-called national media outlets, causing Republicans to charge anew that the investigation into the campaign funding scandal is being sabotaged by media bias. Certainly, such an important development in past Republican administration scandals would have received much more prominent treatment, both in the newspapers and on television. One need not doubt for a moment that this story would have been on page ones across the nation had it been about the Nixon, Reagan or Bush administrations -- and rightfully so.
Chung, who kicked in some $366,000 to the DNC over a two-year period and received favorable White House treatment in return, isn't exactly a hostile witness. He also doesn't have anything to gain by lying, which is more than can be said for the White House. The DNC recently returned his money because it wasn't certain of the source.
Williams, who is no longer in the White House, is being investigated for possible violations of the Hatch Act which bans solicitation of campaign contributions on government property.
Whatever Williams did, the example was set by the president and vice president. They personally led the almost hysterical effort to build up a war chest for the 1996 presidential campaign.
The harm done to the image of the presidency caused by all this has been masked by extremely high Clinton approval ratings mainly based on the stunningly good economy. He is not highly regarded as a person and even a minor recession could change his fortunes dramatically.
Chung is quoted as having compared the White House to the subway where one puts in a coin and the gate opens. He should know.
Senate Democratic leader Thomas Daschle called the characterization "very unfair" on national television Sunday, but his defense of the entire scandal was weak and, at one point, he refused to commit to support a bipartisan House measure to outlaw so called soft money from campaigns.
Chung has said that while waiting for Hillary Clinton in a reception room, he asked whether she had been told of his donation, and he was informed that she definitely knew of it.
The White House denies all this, of course, but the damage has been done -- that is if we don't hide the news.
(Dan Thomasson is the vice president/news for Scripps Howard and editor of Scripps Howard News Service)