ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, November 8, 1996 TAG: 9611080077
SECTION: NATL/INTL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
Attorney General Janet Reno said Thursday that the Justice Department was reviewing an ethics complaint about Whitewater prosecutor Kenneth Starr.
The complaint was forwarded to the Justice Department by the chief federal judge for eastern Arkansas.
``We have received it and we are reviewing it,'' was all Reno would say on the matter at her weekly news conference.
The complaint was lodged by attorney Francis Mandanici of Bridgeport, Conn., whose father, John Mandanici, was a Democratic mayor whose administration was targeted by federal prosecutors during the Reagan administration. Francis Mandanici contends that Starr has a conflict of interest because he worked for the Republican Reagan and Bush administrations.
Starr is investigating President Clinton's Arkansas business dealings and the White House collection of hundreds of FBI background files, many on Republicans from previous administrations.
The eight judges in Arkansas' eastern district split on whether to demand a response from Starr but voted unanimously to forward the complaint to Reno. U.S. District Judge Stephen M. Reasoner sent the matter to Reno on Sept. 24.
Mandanici complained Sept. 11 that Starr was too politically connected to serve as independent counsel. He asked the eight judges in eastern Arkansas to ``disbar, suspend, reprimand or take other disciplinary action'' against Starr.
The 49-year-old public defender in New Haven, Conn., has been involved in high-profile, politically weighted cases before.
Four years ago, he urged a federal grand jury to indict President Bush's son Neil on 12 counts in connection with the 1988 collapse of Silverado Banking, Savings and Loan Association, which cost taxpayers $1 billion. Neil Bush was on the board of directors of the Denver-based thrift.
At the time, Mandanici said he wanted to testify in part for revenge for what he considered the politically motivated federal investigation of his father and brother in the 1980s. His older brother, John Jr., was convicted of making false statements. The mayor was not accused of wrongdoing, but about 20 of his aides were indicted.
Mandanici said his goal was to see that the son of a Republican president got the same treatment as the son of a Democratic mayor.
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