Paula Jones

Paula Corbin Jones (born Paula Rosalee Corbin on September 17, 1966, in Lonoke, Arkansas) was a former Arkansas state employee who sued President Bill Clinton for sexual harassment. The lawsuit was eventually dismissed without proceeding to trial, since Jones was unable to demonstrate any damages; the possibility of an appeal was disposed of by Clinton's paying Jones an out-of-court settlement of $850,000. Jones' lawsuit spawned the Monica Lewinsky scandal, and the eventual Impeachment of Bill Clinton.

Jones v. Clinton

Background

According to her story, on May 8, 1991 Paula Jones was escorted to the hotel room of Clinton, then governor of Arkansas, where he crudely propositioned her. She claimed she kept quiet about the incident until 1994, when a David Brock story in American Spectator told a lurid account, sometimes referred to as Troopergate, about an Arkansas employee named "Paula" offering to be Clinton's girlfriend. Jones filed a sexual harassment suit against Clinton on May 6, 1994, two days prior to the 3 years statute of limitations.

Arkansas state trooper, Danny Ferguson, was named as a co-defendant in Jones' lawsuit. According to Brock, Ferguson told Jones that the [then] Governor Clinton would like to meet with her in his room. Ferguson then escorted Jones up to Clinton's room and stood outside the room until Jones came out. According to Ferguson, when Jones came out she said that she would not mind being Clinton's girlfriend. Jones denied Ferguson's version of the story, and subsequently named Ferguson as a co-defendant.

Initial lawsuit

Jones began to be represented by Susan Carpenter-McMillan, Gilbert Davis and Joseph Cammarata. Carpenter-McMillan wasted no time in using the press to attack Clinton to a much greater degree, calling him "un-American," a "liar," and a "philanderer" on Meet the Press, Crossfire, Equal Time, Larry King Live, Today, The Geraldo Rivera Show, Burden of Proof, Hannity & Colmes, Talkback Live, and other shows. "I do not respect a man who dodges the draft, cheats on his wife, and exposes his wee-wee to a stranger," she said.

Clinton and his defense team challenged Jones' ability to bring forward a civil lawsuit against a sitting president for an incident that occurred prior to the defendant becoming president. The Clinton defense team took the position the trial should be delayed until the president is no longer in office, because the job of the president is unique and does not allow him to take time away from it to deal with the private civil lawsuit. The case wound its way through the courts, eventually reaching the Supreme Court on January 13, 1997. On May 27, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled against Clinton, and allowed the lawsuit to proceed (see Supreme Court decision).

Change in counsel

In September 1997, Jones' attorneys Gilbert Davis and Joseph Cammarata both quit the case, after Carpenter-McMillan advised Jones to reject the settlement offer from Clinton because it didn't come with an apology. Carpenter-McMillan's husband, personal-injury lawyer William McMillan, then became Jones' chief attorney, while Carpenter-McMillan continued to serve as Jones' spokeswoman, chair her legal fund, and run her fund-raising Website. Under her influence, Jones underwent a substantial 'fashion makeover' in early 1998. "I talked to her as a friend," Carpenter-McMillan said, "I don't know that anyone had ever talked to her about her hair." Jones' permed curly dark 'big hair' was converted to a softer, smoother, straight hairstyle in a lighter brown color; her makeup changed from brighter colors to more subtle shades; her clothing went from faddish short skirts and garish accessories to conservative pantsuits. Most observers agreed that she had had a subtle rhinoplasty, although Jones and Carpenter-McMillan denied it, saying "She has not had a nose job! She has not had plastic surgery at all. We couldn't afford it." The net effect was an apparent attempt by Jones' legal team to change her image from unreliable 'trailer trash' to that of a sober, reliable, competent professional.

Conclusion of case

When the case eventually went to court, it was summarily dismissed as groundless, in that Judge Susan Webber Wright ruled that Jones could not show that she had suffered any damages whatsoever, even should all her charges prove true. Jones threatened to appeal the decision. On November 13, 1998, Clinton settled with Jones for $850,000 (one third the size she asked for) and no apology, in exchange for dropping the appeal. All but $151,000 went to pay her now considerable legal expenses; meanwhile, her marriage had broken apart.

In April 1999, Wright found Clinton in civil contempt of court for misleading testimony in the Jones case, but did not press for any criminal charges. She fined Clinton $91,000 for a contempt of court citation for evasive and misleading answers. Wright then referred her ruling to the Arkansas Supreme Court. Rather than undergo a review by the Arkansas Supreme Court, Clinton voluntarily surrendered his Arkansas law license.

Jones and Ann Coulter

Ann Coulter, then a commentator for MSNBC, was one of "The Elves" that assisted Paula Jones with her initial lawyers, Davis and Cammarata (other "elves" included Jerome Marcus, Richard Porter, and Coulter's friend George Conway [1]). Coulter had begun writing a column for the magazine Human Events, a column that soon included analysis of the Paula Jones case. She also began writing legal briefs for the case.

Coulter said she would come to mistrust the motives of Paula Jones' head lawyer, Joseph Cammaratta, who told Jones she didn't have a case and should take a settlement. (Daley, 1999) Since the beginning of the lawsuit, Jones claimed that she had wanted an apology from Clinton as much as or more than a cash settlement (Barak, 1998). Coulter said she, Coulter, believed that Jones' case was solid, that Jones was telling the truth and Clinton should be held publicly accountable for his misconduct, and that if Jones only took a settlement, it would make Jones look as if she were only extorting money from the President. (Daley, 1999)

David Daley of the Hartford Courant continues the account:

Coulter played one particularly key role in keeping the Jones case alive. In Newsweek reporter Michael Isikoff's new book Uncovering Clinton: A Reporter's Story, Coulter is unmasked as the one who leaked word of Clinton's "distinguishing characteristic" -- his reportedly bent penis that Jones said she could recognize and describe -- to the news media. Her hope was to foster mistrust between the Clinton and Jones camps and forestall a settlement....

"I thought if I leaked the distinguishing characteristic it would show bad faith in negotiations. [Clinton lawyer] Bob Bennett would think Jones had leaked it. Cammaratta would know he himself hadn't leaked it and would get mad at Bennett. It might stall negotiations enough for me to get through to [Jones adviser] Susan Carpenter-McMillan to tell her that I thought settling would hurt Paula, that this would ruin her reputation, and that there were other lawyers working for her. Then 36 hours later, she returned my phone call.

"I just wanted to help Paula. I really think Paula Jones is a hero. I don't think I could have taken the abuse she came under. She's this poor little country girl and she has the most powerful man she's ever met hitting on her sexually, then denying it and smearing her as president. And she never did anything tacky. It's not like she was going on TV or trying to make a buck out of it." (1999)

According to the website Coulter Watch, Coulter also told writer Isikoff, "We were terrified that Jones would settle. It was contrary to our purpose of bringing down the president" ("Oh, Paula", 2002, par. 5, 2).

It is later verified that Coulter, possibly with the help of other "elves," fabricated the story of Clinton's "distinguishing characteristic," which the affidavit stipulated as a possible result of Peyronie's disease, and that Clinton neither has the disease nor the characteristic. (Conason and Lyons)

Life following the Clinton lawsuit

Jones now claims she was victimized by both Clinton and his Republican opponents. Her legal fund did not cover the attorneys' fees, and Jones' personal life was disrupted during the controversey: she divorced her husband during the case, purchased a house after the settlement, and incurred a large tax bill, then posed nude for Penthouse magazine, claiming that she would use the money to pay the tax and fund her two grade-school-aged children's college education. This caused her to be publicly denounced as "trailer-park trash" by Coulter, who said, "I totally believed she was the good Christian girl she made herself out to be.... [N]ow it turns out she's a fraud, at least to the extent of pretending to be an honorable and moral person." Jones attempted to defend herself on Larry King Live, stating, "I haven't been out doing anything and trying to make a lot of money. I haven't been offered a book deal like everybody else in this huge thing has done. Ann Coulter's done books. I haven't seen her call me up and say: 'Paula, would you like for me to help you write a book, a really nice, decent book?' I haven't had any help from anybody whatsoever."

Jones subsequently appeared in a boxing match against Tonya Harding in Fox TV's Celebrity Boxing in 2002, where she lost.

In March 2005, Paula Jones appeared on the debut show of Lie Detector on Pax TV and was given a polygraph exam. She was asked if then Governor Bill Clinton had — in a hotel room in 1991 — dropped his pants, exposed himself, and asked for sexual favors from her. Jones said yes and the polygraph operator determined she was telling the truth. Lie Detector offered to test Clinton but thus far he has refused. This was reported only on the Hannity & Comes Show. [2]

Quotes related to Paula Jones' sexual harassment allegation against President Clinton

• "All feminists who sincerely support sexual harassment guidelines should indeed defend Paula Jones, since Bill Clinton's alleged behavior broke every rule. She was on the job at the time, and he was her ultimate boss; he illegally used state troopers for a private escapade; and he began his approach by coercively mentioning a friendship with her immediate boss. Feminist leaders would have tarred and feathered any Republican who carried on like this 1."- Camille Paglia
• "Drag a hundred dollar bill through a trailer park and there's no telling what you'll get"- James Carville

References

• Barak, Daphne (September 23 1998). Jones would have been happy with an apology. Irish Examiner.

• Conason, Joe, and Lyons, Gene. The Hunting of the President. Copyright 2000 Thomas Dunne Books. ISBN 0312245475