WHITE HOUSE WATCH-DEBATEGATE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP85M00364R002204260006-3
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 5, 2007
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: July 18, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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THE NEW REPUBLIC
l Es g 25 July 1983
WHITE HOUSE WATCH
DEBATEGATE
~?~_~ v=aiu1; ~n me ossime actions or
IT seems virtually certain that a crime was committed motivations of those who transferred, received, and'used
when Carter campaign briefing documents were trans-
ferred public polls
to the Reagan campaign prior to the 1980 Presider- showed the Presidential race tightening nationally and in
tial debate. What's not at all certain is whether the crime
constitutes grand theft or petit larceny. Just how seriously key states. Most commentators called the race too close
"Debategate" should be taken depends on answers not to call. Reagan's polster, Richard Wirhlirt, was showing
yet available. Did these documents include vital strategy his candidate in better shape than the public polls did-
memos as well as routine position papers? Were they sent Reagan ahead 43 to 37-but even he reported that 11 per- -
to the Reaganites unsolicited, or were they procured?Was cent of the electorate was still undecided. Fearing that an
the transfer part of some continuing espionage operation? "October surprise" (such as a hostage release in Iran)
What use did the Reagan campaign actually make of the would dramatically help Carter, it was the Reagan cam-
documents? Were they.important to the outcome of the Paign which decided to debate. Wirthlin told Elizabeth
debate and the election? On most of these points, there is Drew that "given the political. environment, the election is
massive disagreement between Carterite suspicions and going to hang or fall on that debate."
Reaganite claims. There is also considerable disagreement So the stakes were high and the temptati
on was great to
on details among some Reaganites, not to mention a trip- do anything possible to ensure a victory. As columnist
si- Mark Shields has pointed out, there was a special motiva
pling case of memory failure. among some of the Pre
dent's sharpest aides. tion for success on the part of those in charge of Reagan
Debategate cries out for official investigation by authori- debate strategy and preparation. James A. Baker Ill, David
ties who can issue subpoenas, put witnesses under oath, Gergen, and David Stockman; were all Reagan outsiders-
and focus people's recollections with the threat of perjury former associates of George Bush, Gerald Ford, and John
indictments. Such an inquiry may be conducted by a Anderson-for whom this was an opportunity to shine-
'House subcommittee headed by Representative Don Al- They did their work well and they were well rewarded:,
bosta of Michigan, but one would guess that the Reagan Baker is now White House chief of staff, Gergen is com-
Administration would want the Justice Department to in- munications director, and Stociman is chief of the Office
vestigate (not just "monitor") the case, too, with a view of Management and Budget.
toward appointing a special prosecutor (or "independent The Carter briefing materials alone did not make Reagan
counsel," as it's now more neutrally called). In 1974 Presi- a success in the debate. Reagan's dosing argument (writ
dent cord took the dramatic step of volunteering to testify ten by Gergen) asking voters,, "Are you better off than you
before a House subcommittee to deny allegations that his were four years ago?" was a powerful way to frame the -
pardon of Richard Nixon was part of a "deal." In 1979 the election decision. Yet it seems clear that the briefing docu-
Carter Administration appointed a special prosecutor to ments did provide Reagan with precise advance warning
investigate charges (later shown to be unfounded) that of what lines of attack Carter was likely to take, rendering
White House Chief of Staff Hamilton Jordan had used him more, confi dent and at ease. The Carterites were pray-
cocaine. If Reagan's aides areas innocent as they claim to mg that Reagan, under pressure, would make a major
be, they would offer to-in fact, insist upon-pursuing gaffe, but of course he. didn't. To the contrary, he had a
similar procedures, wouldn't they? retort for every Carter thrust,. Al] polls indicate that voters
President Reagan, campaign aides, and Administration saw Reagan as the debate winner, and the victory presum-
officials involved in the affair-not to mention some ably made millions of voters secure about voting for Rea-
Democrats, including House Speaker Tip O'Neill-all gan. No one can ever prove that the Carter briefing docu-
downplay the importance that the documents could have ments actually altered the course of history, but a
had on the outcome of the debate and the election. It's a thorough investigation could establish how much they
fair surmise, given the size of Reagan's electoral vote victo- were relied on by the deb
n?, that Reagan indeed would have won the election even
if those who prepared him for the debate had not had
~-_-
access to Carter briefing papers. Also, Reagan is a
skilled enough stage performer that he probably would
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f the Carter Ad trtih res o
minis a on w o are p nsi- could remember practically nothing at all about any docu-
ing Debategate into national prominence, no- meats except that they couldn't have been important
Press Secretary Jody Powell and pollster cum Then he unearthed a ream or two of Carter documents,
trick Caddell, are convinced that whether or which the White House released, but then Stockman said
d papers cost the election, nevertheless put- the material he saw in 1980 might have been more de-
rs from the White House constitutes a crime. tailed, rather than less. The material released by the White
Carter aides have suggested to reporters the House mostly concerned foreign policy, but Stockman ob-
o White House secretaries they suspect might viously used domestic papers, too. The Carter people, by
e culprits, along with elaborate theories about the way, have repeatedly claimed that they prepared one
s and methods. Reporters have contacted the and only one briefing book for the debate, but obviousy'
o denied involvement, and fortunately no one that's not entirely true either, in view of the variety of
or broadcast their names. But there is ample documents that have turned up. There is also a basic dif-
e women to be interviewed by the F.B.I. and ference of opinion about what constitutes a "strategic"
al investigators. And White House aides document. The Reaganites pretend a:300-page notebook is
terrogated under oath as well. Someone did, too detailed to be vital, but they have a President who likes
e documents from the White House on .an to be briefed briefly; Carter was a detail man.
d basis. Someone in the Reagan Administra- There is one more reason for a thorough probe: to settle
the stolen goods, and others have known for the doubts and unrest affecting the Reagan White House. !
bout the event and kept it secret. Inside the White House, thereseems to be both fear and-
President Reagan also repeatedly. dodged in his press con-
ference. It's been fairly common practice in campaigns for
officials on one side to send student volunteers over to.the
other to collect publicly available speeches, schedules, and
position papers without saying whom they are for. Ob-
taining internal briefing materials represents a .step to-
ward sleaziness, at a minimum. The evidence shows that
James Baker, at least, felt guilty about the use of the docu-
ments. Laurence I. Barrett, whose book, Gambling With
History, launched Debategate, records that Baker, "fastidi-
ous about propriety . . . looked the other way when [the)
dirty trick was perpetrated. He was grateful not to know
the mechanics of it," and was "still sensitive" when Bar-
rett questioned him about it months later. One good rea-
son for a. thorough probe of Debategate is to ensure that
future campaign managers not only will be sensitive and
guilt about dirty tricks, but will eschew them. Evidently
...the ethical inoculations of Watergate have begun to wear
off. Debategate could be a booster shot.
As Reagan aides point out, there may have been some
ethical lapses in the Carter White House, as well-to wit,
the use of government clerks and equipment (in other
words, money) to serve campaign- purposes. A Debate-
gate fuss might make Presidential staffs more fastidious
about proper accounting of political expenses.
Meanwhile; there are significanf questions of fact that
f heed to be cleared up by investigation. James Baker said in
his. letter 'to Representative Albosta that he remembers'
receiving a black-bound looseleaf notebook with Carter
:.`material inside from William J. -Casey, then. campaign
manager and now C.I.A. director. Casey's letteir, brusque
and brief, says he recalls nothing of the kind. Stockman
recalls getting material in unbound forth: At one point,
reason for th
has printed
women, wh
have been th
their motive
Who did it?
names oftw
Joining pap
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strategist Pa
not purloin
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some time a
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..~1 ~.o, ucuaic~ate wits not --goaway?''The fear.lies%!
Be~~ond the question of legality is that of ethics, which
Stockman said the documents were mere position papers,
not in question-and-answer format. Frank Hodsoll, an-
other former member of the debate team, remembered
that they were in Q and A form. David Gergen at first
among those dose to Casey; Bake Stndmzen; and Ge -
gen, who do not knowhow much troublethe case wt'11==? i
should-cause to their friends:: Tlie h?' lies vvit ideo-
logical and bureaucratic rivals of the four principals, who
seem to enjoy the prospect of their suffering, even their
resignation. For example, White House counselor Edwin
Meese joked to reporters aboard Air Force One that "Ger-
gen is not a crook," slashing at the flesh of someone Meese
obviously feels did him damage'in previous White House'
struggles:' White House aides who don'tlike CaseyIeaked
to Lou' Cannon of The Washington Post'a devastating` ac-:;?-
count of how the C.I.A. director mwnbled his way `-
through a lecture on protecting classified information-- -
and proceeded to reveal some to officials not authorised to
.receive it. The column also revealed jokes making the
rounds in the White House, including one that if Casey
had received the Carter book, he would have placed it in a
blind trust--a reference to Casey's failure to stop playing
the stock market even though he hasaccess to-sensitive -
economic intelligence.
Other White House aides report encountering "dead
silence in the corridors" about Debategate, not even mvs-
tified whispers. Stockman, Gergen:,. and Baker are said to
have spent considerable time preparing their letters for
Albosta, some of it in collaboration with White House
counsel Fred Fielding and his deputy, Richard Hauser.
None of the three has hired a personal lawyer-
NE
'ATE ADMINISTRATION aide who is dose to the
House actors and had a key role in the cam-
paign said it's his impression that the 'presence of the
briefing book was purposely kept secret by the debate
coordinating team. "It never came up at the 8 amt. senior
staff meeting in the campaign, which tended to last half of
every morning. Everything got discussed at those meet-
ings, which says to me not that this was too unimportant
to mention, but that people were keeping it secret. Getting
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congression
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a briefing book from the other campaign is not trivial. It
was naive and stupid to think that it could be kept secret.
Those involved should have understood the danger and
sent the book back. How, could they not suspect that this
was some kind of setup by the Democrats?"
This official thinks that his colleagues' pleas of failed
memon "is what a good lawyer suggests as a defense to a
guilty client." He recommends that "everyone come dean
now, before the press and the Democrats have a field day
and it hurts the President." If necessary, he says, they
should resign. "All of us are expendable," he said.
Other White House aides say such talk is preposterous
because no illegality or unethical behavior has been dem-
onstrated. But this argument requires a resort to high legal
technicality and utter belief in the story told by Reagan
officials. The argument goes that the document dealt with
policy positions, not high strategy, and was worked on by
a hundred or more Carter Administration employees, in-
duding secretaries. Even reporters could have obtained it
under the Freedom of Information Act, according to one
high-ranking official, so its transfer would not be a crime
unless it was procured. Since there is no evidence of that,
this official said, there is no cause for the Justice Depart-
ment to open a full-scale investigation.
Why not demand an investigation to dear matters up?
This official said, 'That gives credibility to something,
which we're reluctant to do, but maybe we'll do because
we are forced to do it." But if that is the tack this Adminis-
trat ion takes, doing only what it is forced to do, that will be
the undoing of its credibility.
MORTON KoNNDRACKE
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