Tupper Isn't Prejudging Paula Jones

They both accused powerful men of sexually harassing or abusing them. They both crossed their feminist sisters by impugning politicians who championed women's issues.

You might think, then, that Kari Tupper, the first woman to publicly accuse former Washington Sen. Brock Adams of sexual misconduct, would be out stumping for Paula Jones, the former Arkansas state employee who is suing President Clinton for alleged sexual harassment.

Not exactly. Tupper's feelings are too complicated for placards or slogans. Her gut tells her something happened between Jones and Clinton. Beyond that, she is on the fence, uncertain if what Clinton supposedly said to Jones in that hotel room in 1991 was boorish or harassing.

She does know Jones flunked what Tupper calls "impression management."

"She's done a poor job of presenting herself in a credible way," Tupper says.

Consider Exhibits A through D: Jones made her first public appearance on this at the Conservative Political Action Conference. She aligned herself with Cliff Jackson, Clinton's longtime foe. Her sister said Jones "smelled money" no matter what transpired. That prompted a second sister to call the other a liar and created an image of family harmony we've come to expect from Roseanne Arnold.

By contrast, after Tupper in 1988 accused Adams of drugging and sexually assaulting her, she and her family hunkered down to carefully manage her image.

Her family's first news conference was held in front of her parents' home, with Dr. Jim Tupper passionately defending his daughter. (Message: Family is united.) Make that her parents' large Laurelhurst home. (Message: We don't need money.)

And, like Adams, Tupper is a Democrat.

Still, Tupper thinks that Jones is entitled to her day in court and that the rest of us should quit seeking the perfect victim - or, for that matter, the perfect harasser.

"The profile of the harasser is changing," says Tupper. "It used to be the old man pinching someone's rear end." Nowadays, the harasser might be someone who is outwardly supportive of women's issues.

Tupper has a point when she says too many feminists rush to doubt somebody who goes against their own ideologue.

But hypocrisy on the Jones matter abounds on all fronts. Conservatives who swore Anita Hill was full of it when she accused Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of harassment are falling all over themselves to support Jones.

Ultimately, the Jones affair will amount to a giant caning of the cause of feminism. We have feminists arguing they have the wits to distinguish smoke from fire. We have Tupper's valid argument that feminists discredit themselves by not supporting Jones until she gets a hearing. And we have sexual harassment or faux harassment becoming the trendy political tool.

Personally, I object to the utter helplessness implied by Jones' charges. If Clinton did do and say what Jones said he did, couldn't she have ended the matter with this snappy rejoinder?

"Cute, Bill. But I'm gonna pass."

The danger here is if sexual harassment is defined too broadly and exploited for political gain, then the seriousness of truly objectionable behavior will become obscured.

Then, when the real thing comes along in the form of a Brock Adams, it will generate a big yawn.

Joni Balter's column appears Sunday and Thursdays in the Local News section of The Times. Her voice-mail number is 464-3279.