Public Hearings on Packwood --and Clinton : It’s hypocritical to demand accountability of senators and Supreme Court nominees while ignoring the President’s accuser.

Recently, five of the eight women senators wrote the Ethics Committee calling for public hearings concerning the sexual harassment charges against Republican Sen. Bob Packwood of Oregon. The Ethics Committee will determine whether Packwood should be exonerated, censored or expelled.

In their letter, Republican Olympia J. Snowe of Maine and Democrats Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein of California, Patty Murray of Washington and Carol Moseley-Braun of Illinois said it was of “grave importance” that the hearings be open. As a woman, a Republican and a conservative feminist, I wholeheartedly agree, and applaud the five senators’ request. Legitimate charges of sexual harassment leveled against any elected official should be taken seriously and fully investigated, and all hearings should be conducted under public scrutiny. Elected representatives are just that, elected by the people to serve, not harass, the people. The people are their bosses. They pay their salaries and benefits and decide if they will or will not retain their jobs. So naturally, if misconduct is suspected, then the people should be informed. The charges against Packwood range from serious to almost comical and must not be swept under the proverbial “good old boys” carpet.

While political personalities like Packwood and Justice Clarence Thomas have long been targeted by left-wing feminists, these same politically biased, agenda-driven women fall rather short when it comes to consistency. If the charge of sexual harassment can be made by either an individual woman--as in the case of Anita Hill against Thomas--or a group of women, as in the case against Packwood, then one would naturally think that any woman accusing any male politician of sexual harassment would automatically raise the feminist flag of indignation and rally the troops for an all out public relations battle.

Not so. President Clinton has been accused of sexual harassment, and liberal feminists have gone mute. While the charges are labeled harassment, in reality the accusations amount to lewd acts of indecent exposure. During the Thomas hearings, women were led to believe that the tent of protection against sexual harassment was large enough to house all American women. Unfortunately, that so-called big tent turned out to be too small to house Paula Corbin Jones. Jones is appealing a court ruling that halts all legal proceedings in her sexual harassment suit against Clinton until he is out of office.

It is absolutely the height of hypocrisy for these five women senators to go after Packwood and ignore Clinton. One has to ask if the issue of sexual harassment is truly a legitimate issue or just another tool to be used by the left to harass the right. If it is the former, how can those on the left expect society to take them seriously when they go into a catatonic state of silence every time a woman points an accusing finger at a liberal. If collaborating evidence was not required of Hill to qualify for feminist support, then why has Jones been subjected to a different set of rules?

Though Packwood is a Republican and Clinton a Democrat, the two men have much in common: Both have been suspected of prior indiscretions, both allegedly have more than one accuser who is willing to go public and both are trying to hide behind either immunity or privacy laws. Well, let the radical liberal feminists waddle in their own mire of hypocrisy. There should be open public hearings for any politician who is accused of acting toward women as if they were nothing more than sexual objects to be groped, grabbed or mentally assaulted by men who expose themselves. While some office holders may be given legal immunity, the court of public opinion should have no exceptions. The days of grab-em, grope-em and show-em must be gone forever.

If liberal women senators are not willing to represent all women, then they must be replaced by politicians who believe in complete equality, not qualified equality. When a Paula Jones reaches out for a helping hand of support, we need representatives who are willing to throw a life raft instead of walking away and hoping the accuser will drown.