Clemens issue sparks new partisan criticism

The partisan drama surrounding Roger Clemens erupted again Tuesday, when the Republican representative that signed the letter referring the baseball pitcher for a perjury investigation condemned Democrats for an accompanying summary that “reads like an advocate’s brief or prosecutorial indictment of Roger Clemens.”

Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.), the top Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said he had not concluded that Clemens lied when he denied under oath that he used steroids or human growth hormone.

“Did Roger Clemens lie to us?” Davis said in a statement. “Some of the evidence seems to say he did; other information suggests he told the truth. It’s a far more complicated picture than some may want to believe.”

Davis joined Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Beverly Hills), the committee chairman, in signing a Feb. 27 letter that asked the Justice Department to investigate Clemens for perjury. The FBI said the next day it would investigate.

Waxman also released an 18-page Democratic staff summary outlining “seven sets of assertions” Clemens made that appeared to be contradicted by other testimony or were implausible, including whether he attended a 1998 party at Jose Canseco’s Miami home and whether he was informed that former Sen. George Mitchell wanted to meet with him before issuing the report that publicly linked him to steroids and HGH.

Davis “rejects the Democrats’ contention that Clemens testified falsely on a host of other topics,” saying evidence does not clearly support the Democratic summary on what he called “secondary issues” not relevant to the question of whether Clemens testified falsely about performance-enhancing substances.

In addition to his statement, Davis issued a 109-page Republican staff summary. The summary cited three instances in which the testimony of trainer Brian McNamee, who told Congress he injected Clemens with steroids and HGH, differed from the testimony of other witnesses.

The summary criticizes Democrats for the circumstances surrounding the key testimony in the Feb. 13 hearing. Andy Pettitte testified in an affidavit that Clemens told him he had used HGH, and Clemens repeatedly said in the hearing Pettitte had “misremembered” the conversation.

Republicans claim the affidavit was obtained “secretly by the Democrats” on Feb. 8 and not shared with committee Republicans until Feb. 12, the day before the hearing. Clemens was confronted with testimony from the affidavit, not from Pettitte’s deposition.

“The affidavit is a lot stronger,” the staff report said.

Karen Lightfoot, the spokeswoman for the committee Democrats, was not available for comment late Tuesday.

bill.shaikin@latimes.com