Impeach Janet Reno.

THIS week Attorney General Janet Reno rejected yet another request for an independent counsel to investigate allegations of multiple violations of both campaign-finance law and criminal law by the Clinton - Gore campaign and the Democratic National Committee. As hard as she looks, Miss Reno cannot find a legal justification for such an appointment. Well, yes, there is evidence of possible illegal foreign campaign contributions involving Bill Clinton's friends. Yes, money may have been laundered through Buddhist clergy at an illegal fundraiser featuring Al Gore. Yes, White House staff may have violated the Hatch Act, which prohibits politicking on government time. Yes, former Deputy Chief of Staff Harold Ickes may have attempted to direct political donations to tax-exempt groups. Yes, Al Gore may have made dozens of illegal fundraising calls from the White House. And, yes, Clinton officials and friends may have been part of a Communist Chinese spy-ring. Nonetheless, Attorney General Reno remains unconvinced that an independent counsel is required.

As Mark R. Levin of the Landmark Legal Foundation, and an NR contributing editor, has been pointing out for months, the truth is that Janet Reno is not the independent public servant whom liberals portray, but one of the most reliably partisan and compliant officials in the Clinton Administration.

For instance, in August 1993 Miss Reno rejected the appointment of an independent counsel to investigate the White House Travel Office firings despite evidence that Clinton staffers, and perhaps the First Lady, had abused their power by demanding that the FBI investigate phony embezzlement charges against that office's director, Billy Dale. Instead, Miss Reno's Criminal Division prosecuted Dale, who was cleared by a jury. Not until 1996 did she finally refer the case to an independent counsel. But she chose not to seek a new independent counsel -- instead assigning it to Whitewater Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr -- because that would have further embarrassed the Administration.

In late 1993 Miss Reno refused to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the Whitewater affair. Not until Clinton himself asked her did she appoint the first prosecutor, Robert Fiske. And when Independent Counsel Donald Smaltz, who is investigating former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy for possible bribery, asked her to expand his probe into other areas of possible criminality, Miss Reno said no. Smaltz had to seek approval from a federal court, which granted it. And when the White House was caught collecting hundreds of secret FBI files on Reagan and Bush Administration officials, for months Miss Reno delayed turning that case over to an independent counsel. She eventually relented but, again, she further burdened Starr's Whitewater investigation by assigning this task to him.

Today, Miss Reno justifies her decision not to appoint an independent counsel to investigate the Clinton - Gore campaign-finance scandal by repeatedly misstating the law's requirements. She claims that unless she receives information that high officials, such as the President or Vice President, engaged in a crime, she can't appoint an independent counsel. That is false. The standard is whether, for instance, Mr. Gore may have violated federal law. Miss Reno may also appoint an independent counsel if a "personal, financial, or political conflict of interest" exists. Indeed, she used this part of the statute to justify her eventual appointment of a Whitewater independent counsel, but refuses to do so now.

Janet Reno is the only attorney general to support the independent-counsel law. On May 14, 1993, after the law lapsed, she urged the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee to reauthorize it for reasons she now ignores: "The reason that I support the concept of an independent counsel . . . is that there is an inherent conflict whenever senior Executive Branch officials are to be investigated by the [Justice] Department and its appointed head, the Attorney General. The Attorney General serves at the pleasure of the President. . . ."

Janet Reno can no longer be trusted to fulfill her responsibilities as attorney general. She should step down. If she fails to do so, Congress should impeach her.