For good reason, the biggest turnover in the Clinton White House occurs in the post of chief counsel. The latest to leave is Jack Quinn, who quit abruptly on December 11. The reason: Quinn chafed because he wasn’t in control of the most important legal work being done at the White House, namely running the defense of the Clintons in various scandals. That job was handled by Harold Ickes, who was the de facto boss of Mark Fabiani and Jane Sherburne, the two lawyers on Quinn’s staff who dealt with the press on Whitewater and the rest. Despite the departure of Ickes, Fabiani, and Sherburne before Clinton’s second term begins, Quinn discovered little would change. So he quit for “personal reasons.”
