Dan Burton, Right Again - The congressman who does the job.(Burton leads investigation into questionable pardons granted by Pres Clinton)

Maureen Dowd called him a "looney tune." Al Hunt called him a "buffoon." James Carville called him a "kook." And the late Lars-Erik Nelson called him a "wacko."

"Obviously it hurt," says Dan Burton, chairman of the House Government Reform Committee and the target of those jabs-and many more-during the years he spent investigating the campaign-finance scandal. "But I've become impervious to pain. Every time that happened, I became more determined to press ahead and get the facts."

These days Burton is once again pressing ahead as his committee investigates the Clinton pardons scandal. But this go-round is different from years past. While some of the most avid Burton-haters are still around-just the other day Hunt called him "crazy" and "loopy"-Burton is enjoying, in many quarters, a newfound respect. Politicians who once laughed at him now anxiously watch his committee to learn the latest about Pardongate. So do some reporters who never had much use for Burton's findings. And the public seems far more concerned about Bill Clinton's misconduct than the reaction of his critics.

The result is that Burton is able to conduct his investigation without having to fend off personal attacks. For example, when Burton appeared on ABC's This Week in late February, host Sam Donaldson asked him 14 detailed questions about the pardon scandal-and not one about Dan Burton personally. The same thing happened on Meet the Press. And the New York Times editorial page, demanding an extensive congressional investigation into the pardons, wrote, "As Republican Representative Dan Burton, a man for whom this page has had scant praise, said . . . 'We think the American people would like to know how it happened.'"

That's an extraordinary change. In 1997, as Burton began to bear down on the campaign-finance issue, he faced a White House eager to use all its intimidating strength against him. When he tried to prod attorney general Janet Reno into mounting a real investigation, the Justice Department instead announced that it was investigating Burton. A Democrat who worked as a lobbyist for the government of Pakistan accused Burton of trying to shake him down for campaign contributions, and even though there was nothing to support the charge, the Justice Department launched a formal probe.

The news gave White House spinners the opportunity to denounce the Burton investigation as tainted. Press coverage followed-the investigator himself was under investigation. And that is where Burton remained until the administration's final week in office, when he received a letter saying the case had been closed for lack of evidence. "They waited until the last breath of Janet Reno before they sent it over," he says.

It was in 1998 that Burton made real breakthroughs. After months of painstaking effort, his staff pieced together the story of the now- infamous 1992 limousine ride in which Indonesian moneyman James Riady pledged $1 million to then-candidate Bill Clinton. Burton's investigators followed the complex series of contributions that ensued as Riady made good on his pledge by laundering payments to the Democratic party through a long list of straw donors.