DeLay Pushes for Immediate Clinton Resignation

Nevermind that most Republican lawmakers say they are withholding judgment. House Majority Whip Tom DeLay already has made up his mind: President Clinton should resign immediately.

From his ground-floor office suite in the Capitol--scene of July’s shootout between an intruder and police officers--the pugnacious Texan for weeks has been quietly preparing for what he hopes will be a high-stakes endgame to the Monica S. Lewinsky scandal.

While the House has yet to decide whether to launch an impeachment inquiry, DeLay has leapfrogged that step--as well as the outcome of such an investigation--in his own planning. He believes that resignation will become a serious option if the GOP-controlled House votes to impeach Clinton, setting the stage for a protracted, bitterly fought Senate trial.

“Right now, people don’t want to face reality,” DeLay said. “But they will. They will.”

That unyielding stance--combined with his leadership post--has made DeLay the point man for a sentiment held by many core GOP supporters, especially social conservatives who dominate the party’s politics. As the Nov. 3 election approaches, other GOP leaders know they cannot afford to alienate this group, even as polls continue to show that most Americans do not want Clinton driven from office over the Lewinsky scandal.

Political Backlash Seen in Overreaching

But the position DeLay has staked out carries significant risks for Republicans, many analysts agree.

“If they overreach and irritate enough Democrats, they will eliminate the Republican turnout advantage [in the election]--and do what Democrats can’t do for themselves, which is to charge up the troops,” said Larry Sabato, a University of Virginia political scientist.

Indeed, in his four tumultuous years as the third-ranking House Republican, DeLay has overreached more than once, landing himself and his party in political hot water.

And clamoring for the president’s resignation could become just one more miscalculation by this intensely partisan, onetime pest exterminator from Houston who, as a born-again Christian, says he is genuinely offended by Clinton’s affair with Lewinsky.

No one is surprised to find DeLay leading the charge.

For tactical reasons, Republicans are doing their best to keep House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) under wraps, lest his unpopularity among much of the public muddle the party’s anti-Clinton message. Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas) also has adopted a statesmanlike, wait-and-see attitude.

“I suspect that what DeLay’s doing basically allows a position to be articulated that Gingrich and Armey do not want to publicly adopt at the moment,” said Earl Black, a Rice University political scientist. “But, since there’s a lot of opinion within the Republican conference for resignation, they can in effect let DeLay state a viewpoint that expresses the feelings of a lot of rank-and-file Republicans.”

Rich Galen, a GOP strategist close to Gingrich, agreed. “You have to give voice to these people,” he said, referring to “hard-liners” who comprise a solid quarter of the 228 House Republicans.

Leading a resignation bandwagon is a role DeLay relishes. “I have very strong opinions about what’s going on. And I’ve never shied away from expressing my opinion.”

As the GOP’s top vote-counter in the House, DeLay, 51, commands a formidable team of 50-plus lieutenants that cannot be taken lightly.

In an interview this week, he said that he concluded Clinton should immediately step down “a few days” after the president’s much-criticized televised address Aug. 17, in which Clinton acknowledged an inappropriate relationship with Lewinsky.

Vacationing Staff Summoned to Capitol

“It became obvious to me that he had undermined his ability to lead not only at home but in the world,” DeLay said. His call for Clinton’s resignation is “based solely on the fact that the president lied,” a top DeLay aide elaborated. “Sex is the evidence. Perjury is the crime.”

Abruptly, DeLay summoned his vacationing staff back to the Capitol and began assembling what became a 2-inch-thick three-ring binder of background materials and position papers that make a case for quickly ending the Clinton presidency. In the last month, dozens of House members, including some Democrats, have requested the notebook, entitled “Our Constitutional Responsibilities.”

To date, some 40 Republicans--and two Democrats--also have called for Clinton to resign. “It wasn’t a deluge but more of a drip, drip, drip,” according to the DeLay aide. “Many members want to hold back and test the political waters first.”

Being out of step with a majority is nothing new to DeLay. The eight-term congressman, who, drawing on his former vocation, proclaims himself a “bug killer,” has alienated even some Republicans with his single-minded crusade to scale back what he regards as an intrusive federal government.

After the GOP took control of the House in 1995, DeLay declared holy war on the Environmental Protection Agency. He offered a bill to gut the Clean Air Act and referred to the EPA as “the Gestapo of government.”

Along the way, DeLay publicly clashed with moderate Republicans such as Rep. Sherwood L. Boehlert of New York in disputes over environmental policy that handed Democrats a potent campaign issue in the last election.

DeLay also was among the most vociferous Republicans in insisting that the party stand firm in a budget showdown with the Clinton administration in the winter of 1995-96, a posture that led to two partial government shutdowns that proved politically damaging to the GOP.

“Two things you need to know about Tom: He has very deep feelings, and, when he settles on something, he believes it in his bones,” said Galen, head of GOPAC, a Republican political action committee.

He is willing to take risks. Last year, he participated in a failed coup against Gingrich. In a stormy closed-door session called by the speaker, he quickly acknowledged his role, apologized to Gingrich and other GOP lawmakers and managed to keep his job.

DeLay’s combative style was in plain view during a heated House floor confrontation last year with Rep. David R. Obey (D-Wis.) over reports that DeLay had allowed business lobbyists to draft a deregulation bill. Standing nose to nose, the two men ended up shoving one another until aides intervened.

With equal ferocity, DeLay is arguing against congressional censure of Clinton, touted by some as the best conclusion to the scandal story. DeLay argues that such an approach would amount to Congress abandoning its “constitutional responsibilities.”

“This is not a political calculation on DeLay’s part,” said Ed Gillespie, a GOP strategist and onetime Armey aide. “He feels deeply about this and he’s acting on principle.”

DeLay characterized his actions this way: “I’m trying desperately to talk to people about the big picture. . . . This president has so damaged himself and his office that he can’t lead.”

DeLay’s high-profile crusade against Clinton comes at a time when he faces his own accusations of wrongdoing.

The Justice Department’s campaign finance task force is reviewing allegations that he sought to illegally channel funds to a fellow Texan’s House campaign in 1996. The charges were made by a GOP businessman who pleaded guilty to giving $37,000 in illegal contributions to the candidate.

DeLay’s office strongly denies the allegations.