CLINTON'S NEXT KATHLEEN WILLEY? by
Carl LimbacherOYSTER BAY - Last Thursday, Boston Globe writer Lynda Gorov tried her best to explain why smart, independent, long-suffering career women were still standing by their man. Four days earlier Kathleen Willey, who could have been their White House delegate, had told an intimate gathering of 27 million Americans in the most graphic of terms about what it was like to have Bill Clinton's hands pawing her in the Oval Office study. How Gorov must have winced when Willey explained to Ed Bradley of "60 Minutes", "And then he took my hand and placed it on his genitals." Was the president aroused, Bradley inquired? "UmHum", came the reply.
And so the feminist Maginot line of defense protecting Mr. Clinton had to be moved back some. The new rationale has devolved into something like this: Clinton may be an harasser, he may have even have sexually assaulted Kathleen Willey in the workplace, but at least he knows when to stop. "Clinton? He knows 'No"' explained the headline above Gorov's Boston Globe thinkpiece:
They are dismayed, of course. Disgusted even. But many women across America continue to stand by President Clinton, saying that at least he seems to understand that no means no .... Even in their worst version, they noted, Clinton backed off when refused by his accusers ...
Well, there may be more bad news on the horizon for Ms. Gorov and other women who aren't quite ready to hang up their intellectual presidential knee-pads. The first hint came two days before Willey's television debut, buried in the 700 page argument filed in Little Rock by Paula Jones' lawyers. And according to testimony they gathered, "No" didn't always stop Mr. Clinton's roving hands and raging libido.
That seems to be what Judy Ann Stokes told lawyers for Jones in a sworn deposition. While having no personal relationship with Mr. Clinton herself, she happens to be a friend of 1982's Miss America, Elizabeth Ward. Ward, now 37, has since married and her name appears in court papers as Elizabeth Ward Gracen. Her post beauty queen achievements include a plum role in the television series, "The Highlander." But the limelight has had it's drawbacks. And one of those drawbacks, according to Gracen's friend Judy Ann, was what sounds like a non-consensual sexual encounter with then Governor Clinton sometime after the Russelville, Ark. native won her crown.
According to Stokes' sworn deposition, Elizabeth Ward Gracen was actually crying when she revealed what had happened. Gracen told her that, "She was with Bill Clinton in the back seat of his limousine and that he had come on to her, and she ended up having sex with him." Stokes asked her friend, "Did you want this to happen?" "No," was Elizabeth's tearful reply. For Bill Clinton, apparently "No" meant nothing, even when the object of his sexual predation was no less a personage then a Miss America.
Publicly, Elizabeth Ward Gracen has long been rumored to have been involved with Clinton. But news of this attack was fresh. In a television interview she gave during Clinton's '92 presidential bid, Gracen denied any sexual relationship, coerced or otherwise. But significantly, Gracen has refused to repeat her denial in sworn testimony to Paula Jones' lawyers. According to USA Today, her friends have told the Jones legal team that she would not lie under oath to protect Clinton. But rather than testify truthfully, Elizabeth Ward Gracen fled the country as soon as she learned her name was on the Jones witness list. Another Arkansas friend told USA Today, "I just think of all the fear that surrounds this stuff. If I were Liz I'd do the same thing."
On Friday, a one-time staffer with former California Governor Jerry Brown's 1992 presidential campaign phoned the Rush Limbaugh Show, claiming familiarity with those Arkansas fears. Brown had been the very first opponent to raise the Whitewater issue in a primary debate with Clinton, and apparently had his campaign researching the topic in the field. (This was no doubt in response to stories circulating at the time that had Brown hosting pot parties while governor; rumors spread, he suspected, by Clinton operatives.) Limbaugh caller "Sherry" explained that when she attempted to confirm the scuttlebutt on Clinton, witnesses routinely made themselves scarce. Why? The ex-Brown campaign worker told Rush that she ran into a stonewall of witness intimidation and harassment. "It was scary," Sherry told Limbaugh. "Even now, just talking about it still sends chills down my spine." The comments of Elizabeth Ward Gracen's friend suggest that Gracen has had up close and personal experience with what Sherry described. Gracen may be too honest to perjure herself, but the spectre of Arkansas' mob-style political terrorism evidently still haunts the ex-beauty queen. And it may have compelled her to leave the country rather than testify honestly.
The Jones team began laying the groundwork for their case with a list of known Clinton women said to number over one hundred. Some, like Ward Gracen, have fled the country in fear. Others, like Robyn Dickey, have likewise successfully avoided the process servers. Beth Coulsen accepted her subpoena only when it was thrust under her windshield wiper as she attempted to make her getaway. But the stories from the handful of women that have come forward suggest an unexpected pattern.
Paula Jones was once thought to be so unique in her claim of what amounts to sexual assault that, at first, few believed her. Even Clinton accusers like Gennifer Flowers publicly challenged Paula's account as "not Bill's style." But after keeping silent for years, finally Kathleen Willey has emerged from the shadows with a story that strongly corroborates Clinton's predatory behavior. And the fact that Elizabeth Ward Gracen will not deny under oath what her friend Judy Ann Stokes has sworn to, suggests that Gracen's private account of forced sex with Clinton is accurate; which moves Mr. Clinton's offenses well beyond "peccadillo" territory.
As noted before in this space, two years ago "Partners in Power" author Roger Morris revealed a tale with ominous echoes of what is said to have happened to Elizabeth Ward Gracen:
A young woman lawyer in Little Rock claimed that she was accosted by Clinton while he was attorney general and that when she recoiled he forced himself on her, biting and bruising her. Deeply affected by the assault, the woman decided to keep it all quiet for the sake of her own hard won career and that of her husband. When the husband later saw Clinton at the 1980 Democratic Convention, he delivered a warning. "If you ever approach her," he told the governor, "I'll kill you." Not even seeing fit to deny the incident, Bill Clinton sheepishly apologized and duly promised never to bother her again.
Author Morris confirmed to the Washington Weekly last November that his story was based, not on what he'd heard along the Arkansas grapevine; but instead on face-to-face interviews Morris conducted with this couple, both separately and together, in late 1993 and early 1994. They spoke to him only on condition that their identities would be protected. But one thing seems clear. Either they or Roger Morris are lying (which seems unlikely), or Mr. Clinton's pattern of behavior merely begins with Paula Jones' allegation, escalates through the story told by Kathleen Willey, and finally - becomes criminal sexual abuse with the experiences of Elizabeth Ward Gracen and Morris' anonymous female attorney. Reportedly, Jones' lawyers are holding a few aces up their sleeve; evidence not publicly known that may have a bombshell impact at the trial. True, Elizabeth Ward Gracen is not expected to materialize in time. And Morris told the Washington Weekly that this Little Rock lawyer and her husband were a socially prominent couple who would come forward only with great reluctance. Jones' attorneys, he added, had yet to contact him about this matter.
But after our initial report appeared, yours truly got a return call from Jones advisor, Susan Carpenter McMillian. Mrs. McMillian had spoken to Paula Jones, who had just seen the Washington Weekly story - and she said that Jones was most interested in the tale told by Morris' couple, which was news to her. Certainly Jones' attorneys have by now followed up on this lead.
We'll soon learn whether this couple have gone the way of Elizabeth Ward Gracen - or have summoned the courage of Paula Jones and Kathleen Willey.
Published in the Mar. 23, 1998 issue of The Washington Weekly
Copyright 1998 The Washington Weekly (http://www.federal.com)
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