Week In Review A Look Back At The Top Stories From The Last Week

POLITICS

Demolition derby

The White House did more damage repair than a Beltway bodyshop last week after Kathleen Willey, appearing on CBS’ “60 Minutes,” accused President Clinton of lying under oath when he denied making an unwanted sexual advance.

But most of the credibility-denting appeared to result from the former White House volunteer’s own relentless recklessness. Here’s how the week went for Clinton’s latest accuser:

Monday: The White House releases letters from Willey praising Clinton and asking him for jobs after the alleged 1993 groping incident. Some were signed “fondly, Kathleen” or “your biggest fan.”

Tuesday: California book publisher Michael Viner says Willey lawyer Dan Gecker approached him seeking a $300,000 advance for a tell-all autobiography. Viner says no deal.

Wednesday: Former friend Julie Hiatt Steele releases a sworn affidavit accusing Willey of asking her to lie to corroborate Willey’s story.

Thursday: Phil Bunton, editor of the Star supermarket tabloid says Gecker indicated Willey might be willing to sell her story, again for $300,000. Gecker says Bunton had it all wrong.

“I told the Star all along we would never sell to a tabloid,” Gecker says. “I would never have sold to anyone for $300,000. … For $3,000,000 maybe.”

Contributing factors

Seattle businessman Thomas Stewart pleaded guilty Wednesday to making dozens of illegal campaign donations.

His $5 million fine and home detention allows him to remain firmly implanted as a major financial backer of Republican candidates.

The state and federal charges against Stewart involved laundering of campaign contributions through employees of Food Services of America, a subsidiary of Stewart’s Seattle-based holding company, Services Group of America.

“There was significant corruption of the political process,” U.S. Attorney Kate Pflaumer said.

“It won’t happen again,” said Stewart. “I love this country and the values for which it stands.”

EDUCATION

Denouement

Neither “phonics” nor the “whole language” approach to reading instruction is sufficient alone, an independent panel of experts declared Wednesday as it released its report on how children should be taught to read.

“The reading wars are finished,” said Catherine E. Snow, a Harvard University education professor who chaired the panel convened by the National Research Council.

Many schools are under pressure to choose between two methods: phonics, in which students learn words mostly through sound-and-letter drills, or “whole language,” a process that emphasizes creative writing and immerses children in literature.

The panel suggested that relying exclusively on either philosophy is foolish.

HEALTH AND SAFETY

The war on drugs

In an unusually strong critique of government drug policy, America’s medical establishment argued Tuesday that addiction can be treated as effectively as diabetes, but not in prison.

The Physician Leadership on National Drug Policy said the nation’s current emphasis on punishment rather than treatment is fundamentally flawed and a costly mistake.

“We’re hoping we can rebalance the way we approach this enormous problem,” said Dr. June Osborn, the chair of the panel that issued the critique.

WORLD

Vatican and Holocaust

The Vatican repented last week for the “errors” of Roman Catholics who failed to help Jews during the Nazi slaughter of World War II. But it strongly defended Pius XII, the wartime pope faulted by many for his public silence on the Holocaust.

Jewish leaders voiced dismay that the Vatican’s longawaited document on the Holocaust stopped short of the institutional “mea culpas” offered in recent years by Catholic bishops in several European countries.

Instead, the Vatican Commission for Religious Relations with Judaism focused its 12-page report on the passivity of unnamed and uncounted Catholics who watched as Hitler’s Germany sent more than 6 million Jews to death camps across Europe.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 Photos

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Compiled by news editor Kevin Graman from staff and wire reports.