Will Kenneth Starr Empower Women?

Charlie Johnson has posted a blog challenging newly elected Baylor President Kenneth Starr to host an all day meeting with Texas Baptist pastors and answer questions about his commitment to our ideals.

Charlie was interested in hearing his answer to the questions, "Do you believe in separation of church and state?" and,

"How will you appropriate your views on Christian citizenship in a way that honors both the republican and democratic (both lower case) visions for our national life, and strenuously upholds the historic Baptist conviction for religious liberty?"

Many of us are intensely interested in hearing his answer to these questions and comparing them to his written opinions and legal decisions.

Charlie raised another significant question for many of us, "Do you endorse the complete equality of women under God to perform God's work in the world?"

Assuming that he affirms the equality of women, we would also like to learn why his record on this issue has been spotty in the past. According to Jeffrey Toobin, author of A Vast Conspiracy (p.322), Starr appeared to be reluctant to trust women with positions of responsibility:

During the three decades of Starr's career, the legal profession integrated many women into positions of responsibility. This was especially true in criminal law. But in the Justice Department, at Kirkland and Ellis, and in the Office of Independent Counsel, Starr invariably chose deputies who looked and sounded like him. As someone who had benefitted enormously from powerful mentors like Warren Burger and William French Smith, Starr, too, had a series of proteges in the law -- all young white men. Starr's refusal to delegate power to women was especially striking at the OIC. All of his deputies were men. Twenty-nine prosecutors represented the OIC in the grand jury -- twenty-five men and four women. There were 121 sessions with witnesses before the grand jury -- and women prosecutors led the questioning six times.

Toobin didn't say so, but, with a little thought, it would not be difficult to conclude that competent women prosecutors could easily have been more effective than men for the kind of inquiry that Starr was conducting. Among other things, he was investigating improper sexual relations in the workplace. Nearly all of the key witnesses being interviewed and interrogated were women.