Dems plan to cut Clinton losses

AP PHOTO House Democrats revealed their plans yesterday to cut their losses on an impeachment inquiry of President Clinton.

Los Angeles Times

WASHINGTON - Feeling steamrolled, House Democrats revealed plans yesterday designed to cut their losses on an impeachment inquiry of President Clinton by imposing a deadline on the review and restricting its focus to Clinton's involvement with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

The Democrats also will propose today that Clinton be censured by the House as a compromise for ending any lengthy impeachment process that Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) the senior Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, said could become a "never-ending fishing expedition."

"This prospect could mire the country into a protracted and partisan inquiry which could last for years and drag down the country," Conyers warned.

The Democrats, realizing they have neither the votes nor the muscle to stop the Republican-dominated House from opening a formal impeachment inquiry next week, now are seeking to establish political cover for their likely votes against the GOP-sponsored motion for a full-blown impeachment inquiry.

Their own alternatives, which have little chance of passage when the Judiciary Committee meets Monday and the full House next Friday, also give Democrats a chance to suggest that the Republicans' insistence on a lengthy impeachment process is unreasonable given that national polls show the public wants this process over quickly.

Undaunted, Republicans remained deeply earnest about pushing ahead.

In Kettering, Ohio, House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) insisted that the impeachment of a president is not an issue that should fall along party lines.

"It has to be approached not as Republicans, not as Democrats, not as liberals and not as conservatives," Gingrich said. "It has to be approached as a constitutional issue, which is a matter of conscience. It has to be approached as Americans."

And Sam Stratman, spokesperson for Rep. Henry J. Hyde (R-Ill.) who chairs the Judiciary panel, predicted that Republicans will never buy into the Democratic alternatives.

"If the House approves an inquiry, Chairperson Hyde intends to move expeditiously and will avoid fishing expeditions by the committee," he said.

House Democrats, led by Conyers and Minority Leader Richard Gephardt (D-Mo.) will formally unveil their alternatives this morning - about the same time a new batch of documents from Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr's investigation is being released.

They said yesterday that their plan includes asking for a timetable that goes no further than four to six weeks. "We're talking about a reasonable amount of time," Conyers said.

Democrats also want a mandate that keeps the investigation focused on the Lewinsky scandal and not other investigations into Clinton activities, such as the Whitewater matter.

"I am pleased by the Republican program for Watergate-like rules as we move into the inquiry," Conyers said of Hyde's proposal to give the White House a role in any hearings.

But Conyers, who also sat on the Judiciary Committee that investigated President Nixon, said the Clinton-Lewinsky controversy is nowhere near as complicated as Watergate, and does not require an open-ended investigation with extraneous evidence.

"This is not an investigation of wholesale subversion of government," he said.

Democrats also see censure as a quick fix for getting the nation beyond the Clinton-Lewinsky matter - even though Republicans have maintained that it is way too early to begin discussing any kind of final punishment for the president.

Republican members of the Judiciary Committee charged that the Democrats were switching signals on what procedures they wanted as part of a partisan effort to discredit the process.

They said that complaints about GOP procedures run counter to Democrats' past demands that the committee follow the Watergate model to ensure fair handling of the case.

"There's a moving target here," said Rep. Charles Canady (R-S.C.). "I have a growing suspicion that no matter what we do ... they will criticize us."

"There is a tremendous amount of doublespeak," said Rep. Steve Buyer (R-Ind.). "It's a diversionary tactic to confuse."

The Republican members argued against any kind of limitation on time or scope of the inquiry. "We must follow the truth wherever it may lead," said Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.).

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Much of the partisan sniping carried over to the Senate yesterday, where Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) said the Republicans' proposal for a broad investigation is an indication that they are trying to maximize their political advantage with an extended review.

"What they're saying is that the sky is the limit," Daschle complained. "They'll do anything and everything to extend this out to the year 2000. I'm sure that Speaker Gingrich would love to see this matter closed the day before the Democratic Convention in the year 2000. That's his goal."

But Canady, disputed Daschle's claim. "This should not be allowed to drag on month after month," he said. "My goal is to conclude our work by the end of the year."

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A party-line vote is expected Monday in the Judiciary Committee, whose Democrats are from safe seats and pro-Clinton constituencies.

But when the measure gets to the full House, where as many as 50 or 60 Democrats face tough re-election campaigns, it could be much tougher to hold the party in line for Clinton.

The new documents from the Starr report to be released today reportedly include transcripts of Linda Tripp's secret tapes of Lewinsky, as well as grand jury testimony from Tripp, Clinton friend Vernon Jordan, presidential secretary Betty Currie and others.

NewsCom10/01/98 04:50:05 PM

10-02-98