Starr Avoids Probe By Justice Department

The Justice Department has decided against beginning a criminal investigation of Whitewater prosecutor Kenneth Starr, rejecting an attorney’s request.

The attorney, Frank Mandanici, contends Starr has a conflict of interest because he is being offered a deanship at a Pepperdine University school supported financially by Richard Mellon Scaife, who has spent money to press a media campaign against President Clinton.

Mandanici, of Connecticut, says the arrangement violates a federal criminal statute that bars government employees from participating in any matter in which a future employer has a financial interest.