July 8 The Sun, Bremerton, Wash., on the resignation of Attorney General Meese: The last crony is leaving. Months, even years after propriety demanded it, Ed Meese says he'll resign _ sometime. Whatever conservative legacy he left the Justice Department and the courts is overshadowed by his cheapening of the office of attorney general and the chaos now paralyzing Justice. ... Meese has managed to slip through the net in four investigations, because the evidence against him always was circumstantial. It just happened that cronies who did favors for Meese soon ended up with lucrative government contracts, or federal jobs or other special favors. The best Meese's investigators could find was impropriety, not illegality. Yet the attorney general took the lack of charges as a ringing endorsement of his innocence. ... Meese is a deal-maker, a hustler. He never understood that the attorney general can't use his office to create a personal pork barrel. ... Does Meese leave any legacy except sleaze? ... He tried to weaken the Miranda Rule and abortion rights before a Supreme Court that was prepared to do neither. He embarked on an anti-pornography crusade, an odd priority for someone whose mission also includes fighting organized crime. He botched the early stages of the Iran-Contra probe, perhaps deliberately. Yet, Meese has shown one thing. An attorney general's politics are not as important as his credibility, his honesty and his ability to lead. After three years with a laughingstock for a leader, Justice needs an attorney general of high personal reputation. But the department must wait for the next administration to provide one.
