Millstone of Partisanship

For a time this week, it appeared that House Republicans had given in to bipartisan calls to broaden their campaign finance investigation beyond just the White House and the Democratic Party. But in the end their seemingly conciliatory move took on the look of nothing more than a hollow gesture.

Unless the tone of narrow partisanship within the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee improves markedly, its investigation will continue to lack public credibility.

This contrasts with the situation in the Senate, where Chairman Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) and his Governmental Affairs Committee continue to set the pace for bipartisanship in seeking to unearth any improper campaign finance practices. Presumably they will come up with proposals for reform.

In the House, moderate Republicans moved to widen the investigation out of fear it otherwise would be dismissed as partisan gamesmanship. But later the House committee voted along strict party lines to keep all subpoena powers in the hands of the committee chairman, Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.).

Burton said he would not “prejudge where the facts will take us” but reiterated that his primary objective is to determine whether the government of China attempted to affect the 1996 elections by spiriting illegal contributions into the Democratic campaign. Those reports raise security questions and thus constitute a national priority, said Burton, who has come under fire himself for allegedly pressuring an American lobbyist for the government of Pakistan to contribute to his own campaign--a charge he denies.

There is no way to remove all partisanship from this issue, of course. But Republicans in the Senate at least offered a measure of fairness in how the investigation is run. The process there is one of relative civility and cooperation.

On Wednesday, Sen. Thompson, acceding to Democrats’ appeals, issued subpoenas to members of the presidential campaign of Republican Bob Dole and several tax-exempt groups that spent millions of dollars late in the 1996 campaign in behalf of Republicans. One of those groups was founded by former Republican National Chairman Haley Barbour, one is run by former GOP presidential aide Lyn Nofziger and one by an assistant to House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

On the House side, Burton has issued more than 100 subpoenas, including a demand for telephone logs from Air Force One. Democrats are crying “witch hunt” and lines have been drawn in the sand. Partisan tempers are so short that there was something of a shoving match on the House floor Wednesday. This is not a promising start.