Friday, June 4, 2010

Ken Starr

Kenneth Winston Starr, President Bill Clinton's chief antagonist in the 1990s, graduated from Sam Houston High School in San Antonio, Texas in 1964. Starr, the son of a Church of Christ minister, was president of his senior class and was a writer and photographer for the school's newspaper and yearbook. He was also active in theater and appeared on stage, at least once, in drag. A photograph of this youthful frivolty was resurrected by the National Enquirer during the height of the Clinton sex scandal which Starr investigated as Independent Counsel. From Duke University Law School, Starr went on to a distinguished legal career that included stints as a judge and as the Solicitor General in the George HW Bush administration. He was in private practice at the firm of Kirkland & Ellis when he was tapped to replace Robert B. Fiske as Independent Counsel in the Whitewater matter. Under Starr, and with the help of people like Linda Tripp, the Whitewater investigation turned into a salacious and extraordinarily detailed examination of Bill Clinton's sex life.

The fruits of the new Independent Counsel's snooping were presented in the sleazy tax-payer-funded page-turner known as The Starr Report. The report eventually led to Clinton's impeachment and Monica Lewinsky's short-lived careers as a best-selling author and handbag designer. Clinton survived removal from office and completed his term with record-high approval ratings. Starr became dean of the middling Pepperdine Law School and later argued in support of California's ban on same-sex marriage. He is now president of Baylor University in Waco, Texas. If anyone has the photo of Judge Starr in drag, please e-mail it to mostlikelytokill@gmail.com!

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