Clinton should come clean on Huang

It has been hard for voters and reporters to get a straight answer about what John Huang, the mysterious Democratic fund- raiser who allegedly solicited money from foreign sources, did and when he did it.

So far, the Commerce Department, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the White House have spoken erroneously about the work Huang did at Commerce and the committee. The White House has revised upward from three to at least 65 the number of times Huang was in the White House this year. It now turns out that initial explanations that Huang's visits were merely social or ceremonial were incorrect. He was there "both in his capacity as an administration staffer and a DNC fund-raiser," according to the latest White House update on Huang's activities while serving first as a Commerce official and then as a DNC vice chairman.

The evasions of his minions creates an opportunity for President Clinton in his speech on Friday on campaign financing. Clinton has access to records that the White House has declined to release. Those records show who authorized Huang's visits. That information, in turn, could lead to individuals who can help Clinton answer important questions about the legality of Huang's activities.

Did he carry messages about any quid pro quo commitments or policy matters between campaign or White House officials and the contributors who gave Huang hundreds of thousands of dollars? Such discussions could be a violation of federal law. Was he involved in coordination of political spending between the Clinton campaign and the DNC? Legally, the two efforts have to be independent.

No person in America should be more interested in answering these questions than Clinton. They are threshold issues if he is reelected and wants to lead the nation toward a clean system of campaign financing. Moreover, the speech on Friday needs to be the first step toward building a new foundation of public confidence in the integrity of his administration. That confidence has always been shaky, and the disclosures of the past two weeks about the flood of foreign money into the DNC has made it shakier.

Clinton has to be looking toward the composition of his staff and cabinet in a second term. He can use this speech to tamp sniping by his aides at Attorney General Janet Reno, who seems ready to ask for a special prosecutor to look into Huang and his dealings with Indonesia's powerful Riady family and other foreign contributors. Clinton should support Ms. Reno on this issue and make clear that even if she leaves, any future attorney general will be someone with no conflicts of interest when it comes to examining Huang and his fund-raising activities.

If history is a guide, the search for answers about Huang will last a long time. Clinton cannot play defense for four years. He might as well use his speech on Friday to start getting beyond past errors and ahead of the growing public demand for clean campaigns.

-- The New York Times