Gingrich Defends Beleaguered Starr

House Speaker Newt Gingrich staunchly defended independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr, saying the federal prosecutor has become the target of a smear campaign. “I am frankly sickened at the degree to which there has been a deliberate politicizing and a deliberate smear campaign against a former federal judge,” Gingrich (R-Ga.) told some 100 constituents at a Republican Party breakfast in Marietta, in his home district. People should be patient and let Starr, who has spent seven weeks investigating the relationship between President Clinton and former White House intern Monica S. Lewinsky, do his job, Gingrich said. Recent polls have shown that only one out of eight Americans views Starr favorably, and even his friends have said mistakes have fed into a White House portrayal that he is a zealot out to get the president.