Tuesday, May 4, 1999 --- New York (APJP) -- The leeches were out in force today.

Attorneys for Paula Jones are now demanding $300,000 from President Clinton as a "penalty" for the contempt of court ruling levied by U.S. District Court Judge Susan Webber Wright a couple of weeks ago. Wright -- who was a law school student of Clinton, has been revealed to harbor a personal dislike of the President, and should have recused herself from the case on both counts, ruled -- incorrectly -- that Clinton "intentionally" gave "false" testimony during his deposition in Jones' sexual harassment lawsuit -- when in fact Clinton was using every legal evasion he could to thwart a politically-motivated and evidently fraudulent civil suit.

Wright ordered Clinton to repay the Jones mouthpieces "reasonable expenses" that they incurred for the deposition Clinton gave in Washington. That's the deposition, folks. Even if Clinton really were guilty, does $300,000 seem reasonable?

"That's what they suggested," said Clinton attorney Robert Bennett, "and it is outrageous and greedy and, I think, a gross misunderstanding of the court's order."

John Whitehead, head of the "Christian Reconstructionist" cult-linked Rutherford Institute and a lawyer who worked on Jones' lawsuit -- a farce that was finally thrown out by Judge Wright after Bennett had cross-examined Jones and gotten her to contradict half a dozen crucial elements of her sworn complaint against Clinton -- was whining again today, claiming that the Jones attorneys were not adequately remunerated for their work when they received the lion's share of an $850,000 settlement Clinton paid to Jones earlier this year.

He made no mention of the sniping and bare-knuckle backroom donnybrooks that the settlement cash triggered among the various camps tied to Jones -- including not only the Rutherford cult, but the Dallas law firm of the sleazy Donovan Campbell (you remember him -- the one who referred to the President as "defendant Clinton" on every Sunday pundit show he could weasel his way onto), the team of Gil Davis and Joseph Cammarata (who seem to have been a bit too close to a certain Mr. Starr for any of their comfort), and attorney William McMillan (whose wife, the hypocritical Susan Carpenter McMillan, acted as the "spokeswoman" and "best friend" of Miss Jones during the course of her apparently fraudulent lawsuit).

"As far as being greedy, everyone took far less than what they put in," said Whitehead, in a de facto admission that the lawsuit was indeed a money grab and they were gunning for a lot more money. The arrogance of Whitehead characterizing a bunch of three-figure-per-hour hard-right lawyers as "losers" boggles the mind.

But this newest effort to continue the right wing's attack campaign by sucking the cash out of Clinton's pocket and keeping the discredited Jones story on life support is also a change of tune for the Jones leech cabal: within days of Wright's contempt ruling, Jones' lawyers claimed they would seek to recover for "tens of thousands" of dollars in expenses -- including their failed attempt to disprove Clinton's denial of having had sex with one Monica Lewinsky using a definition of "sex" so confusing that nobody present during the deposition seems to have understood it.

And Whitehead's bloodsucking machinations are yet another big crapshoot that stands to backfire miserably -- there is little doubt that Bennett is considering a vigorous appeal of Wright's ruling, which would not only incur more expenses for the various tribes that worship Jones as their rainmaker, but also increase scrutiny concerning Judge Wright's overall questionable and arguably corrupt decisions and conduct.

Yes, the leeches who sucked up a huge chunk of the Jones settlement may be out in force again -- but here's hoping they discover the hard way that greed and corruption (if you'll excuse me saying so) really suck.