ACCURACY IN MEDIA: CHAIRMAN CRITICIZES CLINTON COVERAGE

The media are not asking tough questions of presidential candidate Bill Clinton, says Reed Irvine, founder and chairman of the board of Accuracy In Media (AIM), an organization which serves as America's media watchdog.

"The media are covering up for Clinton," said Irvine during an address before a large audience at the Rotary Club of Cape Girardeau meeting Monday. "Clinton has a favorable press, which is cutting him a lot of slack."

Irvine, who made the trip from AIM's Washington, D.C., office for Monday's appearance at the Holiday Inn in Cape Girardeau, said Clinton was clearly lying concerning charges of marital infidelity and draft avoidance, which have been leveled against him.

"There is solid evidence that Clinton is not telling the truth," said Irvine. "This is a time bomb which will eventually destroy Clinton's presidential plans. There are too many flaws in his stories, and I think all this will blow up."

Irvine, a former official of the Federal Reserve Board, Fulbright scholar at Oxford, and founder of AIM in 1969, said he was not "picking" on Clinton, but was chiding the media for not pressing him with "tough questions."

"I have investigated allegations against many political candidates, both Republican and Democrat," he said.

Despite some things in Clinton's personal life that cannot bear scrutiny, much of the media feel he will make a great president, said Irvine. "With this thinking, the news media are overlooking some things."

He explained his reasoning.

"Remember the name of Charlotte Perry." Irvine told the Rotarians. "You may be hearing it again as the campaign progresses."

Clinton, Irvine contended, intervened to get Gennifer Flowers a state job held by Perry.

"The job title and description had to be changed to do this because Perry, a black woman on the staff, was supposed to get the job," said Irvine. "Although Perry filed a grievance and won, the decision was overruled by Clinton appointee Donald Barnes.

When charges of "womanizing" were leveled against Clinton after he entered the presidential race, Clinton denied them.

"Flowers had also denied having an affair with Clinton, but she later decided to tell all," said Irvine. "Flowers had tapes of telephone conversations she had recorded from December 1990 to January 1992, which she sold to the Star, a tabloid newspaper."

Again, the news media played it down when Clinton denied the affair, said Irvine.

"The media reasoned that the transcripts proved little or nothing," said Irvine. "Many newspapers ran only a few words from the transcripts. The Washington Post quoted only 59 words from the tapes and the Associated Press quoted only 24 words from the tapes."

Irvine said that contrary to that thinking the tapes make it clear Flowers was more than a "friendly acquaintance" and Clinton conspired with Flowers to cover up their relationship."

"It takes guts to lie like Gov. Clinton," said Irvine. "But Clinton has that kind of audacity. My question now is can one who lies with such audacity ever be trusted to tell the truth."

Irvine said there were other skeletons in Clinton's closet that will come back to haunt him.

"One of them is the draft-dodger allegations that he avoided the draft by getting a deferment based on a commitment to enroll in the ROTC," said Irvine. "Another concerns the relationship of his wife's law firm in handling a savings and loan case at Little Rock, Ark. that could be a conflict of interest."

Irvine, who was returning to Washington following his address, told the crowd that he was a fan of native Cape Girardean Rush Limbaugh III, a national radio talk show host. He met Limbaugh's grandfather, attorney and Rotarian Rush H. Limbaugh Sr., who is observing his 100th birthday.