Sam Dash, counsel in Watergate hearings, dead at 79

[Kadie]

Sam Dash, counsel in Watergate hearings, dead at 79

By H. JOSEF HEBERT, Associated Press


Last Updated: May 29, 2004, 09:13:00 AM PDT


WASHINGTON (AP) - Sam Dash, the former chief Watergate counsel who became a household name in the 1970s for his penetrating interrogations into President Nixon's secret taping system, died Saturday after a lengthy illness, his family said.

Dash, who cultivated a reputation for independence and as an ardent advocate for legal ethics, was 79. He died early Saturday at the Washington Hospital Center, according to family members.

snip...
A lifelong Democrat, Dash again made headlines in 1994 when he agreed to serve as the ethics adviser to independent counsel Kenneth Starr in the Whitewater investigation of President Clinton.

But he resigned four years later, saying that Starr "unlawfully intruded" by aggressively advocating that Clinton be impeached. Dash, in fact, helped draft the independent counsel law that Congress passed as part of the post-Watergate reforms aimed at assuring impartial investigations of certain activities in the executive branch.

"As a prosecutor, your job is to seek justice, not just to convict. Other lawyers feel this way too, but it is an absolute mission with me," said Dash in explaining his criticism of Starr.

more... http://www.modbee.com/24hour/nation/story/1403467p-8684081c.html

[bemildred]

1. RIP. Would that we had a few more of his quality. nt

[Hand]

2. RIP, quiet warrior...

Sam Dash wasn't big on headlines. He did hard, good work to protect the republic from those who would destroy it. A life well lived and a loss to us all.

Safe journey and here's to ya, counsellor--you were a great man.

:cry: :toast: