Actress Elizabeth Ward Gracen, the former Miss America who had a fling with Bill Clinton in 1983, was warned to keep her mouth shut about her experience.

For a long time, she did just that. In fact, she even fled the country for awhile when faced with questions about her relationship with Clinton during the early stages of the Monica Lewinsky scandal and the prospect of being subpoenaed to testify.

She recalls that an anonymous caller tipped her off about the imminent subpoena. That same caller more recently warned her that if she didn't keep quiet she would face an IRS audit.

Now the IRS is all over Ms. Gracen -- like Bill Clinton when Hillary's out of town. Her lawyer says she has been deluged with dozens of letters from the agency claiming she didn't file returns and threatening to seize her wages and property.

"She pays her taxes," says her attorney, Vincent Vento. "She's really square. I don't think anybody wants to take on the government. ... She just feels it's completely unfair."

Vento is not shy about stating that this is a political audit all the way.

"The only person who would benefit would be the president of the United States, unless there's some other agenda out there," he said.

Within weeks of going public with her story about Clinton last spring, she was warned to shut up or face an IRS audit. A few weeks later, the letters from the IRS started coming in, sent to her parents' house, which is not listed on her tax filings.

Now, what does all this mean? It means that the Clinton "Secret Police" operation, discussed so often by former aide Dick Morris and others, is very much alive and well in the White House -- at the very moment this president is facing an impeachment trial.

I can just hear the White House spokesman's reply to such an accusation: "Why, we'd have to be out of our minds to do something like that at a time like this." Right! That's exactly what the president's apologists said when Paula Jones was audited days after rejecting a settlement offer from Clinton. In fact, Clinton's brazenness has been his best cover for scandals from the beginning. His henchmen threaten to break legs. His own employees circulate death lists associated with his administration. FBI files are passed around among his lawyers. And the IRS is used against prominent individuals and groups who dare to criticize or expose corruption.

I know from first-hand experience.

Next month, I'll be in federal court pressing a $10 million lawsuit against IRS and White House officials for their politically motivated audit of my organization in 1996. I know my legs are not nearly as nice as Elizabeth Ward Gracen's, but do you think there's any chance the establishment press might give such a landmark legal case some attention?

You see, there's a pattern here. These are not random audits. The list of organizations which have been audited during the Clinton administration reads like a who's who of the "vast right-wing conspiracy" Hillary dreams about -- Western Journalism Center, American Spectator, National Rifle Association, Christian Coalition, Concerned Woman of America, Citizens for a Sound Economy, Center for the Study of Popular Culture, Chuck Harder's Peoples Network Inc., National Center for Public Policy Research, American Policy Center, Heritage Foundation, American Cause, Citizens Against Government Waste, Citizens for Honest Government, Oliver North's Freedom Alliance and many others.

Besides Paula Jones and Elizabeth Ward Gracen, many individuals who have had run-ins with the Clinton administration have been targeted as well. Perhaps the most prominent is Billy Dale, former director of the White House travel office, fired to create a place for a friend of the Clintons. All Patricia Mendoza had to do to make it on the list was shout a remark at the president during a 1996 campaign stop in Chicago. All attorney Kent Masterson Brown had to do was represent the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons in demanding Hillary Clinton's secret health care task force be opened to the public in 1994. All William Gazecki had to do was edit the documentary "Waco, the Rules of Engagement." All Shelly Davis, the former IRS historian, had to do was author a whistleblowing book on the agency called "Unbridled Power."

I could go on and on and on. The coincidences get a little thick, after awhile.

The question is: Who's more credible today: Elizabeth Ward Gracen or Bill Clinton? The government has my answer filed in federal court. How are you going to communicate your answer?