He Shuns the Spotlight of Media Circus

He wasn’t talking, he wasn’t writing, his office wasn’t issuing press releases.

In recent weeks, the voicemail for Rep. Howard L. Berman’s chief of staff instructed reporters not to bother leaving a question if it pertained to the impeachment deliberations.

Reporters seeking Republican quotes from the House Judiciary Committee could try Chairman Henry J. Hyde of Illinois or maybe Glendale’s own James E. Rogan. For Democrat sound bites, there was ranking member John Conyers Jr. of Michigan or the talkative Barney Frank of Massachusetts.

But not Berman. The eight-term Democrat from Mission Hills hasn’t been penning op-ed pieces or spinning for Cokie, Sam and George. His silence, it is said, has been strategic, helping him form a partnership with three junior members on the Judiciary Committee--two Republicans and another Democrat--that is quietly seeking a more productive course amid their warring partisans on the 37-member panel.

The foursome has met over breakfast at least twice in recent days. During the committee’s angry debate over what to delete before making independent counsel Kenneth Starr’s supporting evidence public, the two Republicans voted with Democrats in some instances. They drafted a letter to Hyde urging that Starr disclose what wrongdoing, if any, he has found in his inquiry into such matters as the Clinton administration’s use of FBI files and the White House travel office dismissals.

In asking Hyde to consult Starr, the four lawmakers stated: “It will minimize the risk that new information might surface at a later date, forcing the committee to subject the American people to the entire process all over again.”

Berman’s breakfast club, clearly, is not just obsessed with sex and lies about sex.

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If Berman profoundly influences the fate of Bill Clinton and his presidency, it will not be a surprise to professional Capitol Hill watchers. Time magazine pegged him as a “Democrat to Watch” in a recent issue. A few weeks before that, political scientist Norman Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute told interviewer Charlie Rose that Berman, “somebody your audience may not have thought of,” could prove pivotal.

“If you had to pick one member who would kind of play that bellwether role,” Ornstein told Rose, “I would pick Howard Berman.”

The other day I called Ornstein for a more complete explanation of why Berman is that man. His rationale was something along the lines of how in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.

I exaggerate, but Ornstein’s explanation starts with the fact that the House Judiciary Committee is “a wasteland” packed with fierce partisans from both sides--a far more partisan group, he says, than the 1974 committee that pondered President Nixon’s fate.

The committee, Ornstein says. “has attracted the extremes, generally, in both parties. You’ve got a lot of very bright people. There are some hacks, but a lot are very bright.”

But in the current atmosphere, he said, “it tends almost automatically to polarize.”

Nobody thinks that members such as fiery South Los Angeles liberal Maxine Waters could work with Georgia arch-conservative Bob Barr, a darling of the John Birch Society. So leadership, Ornstein said, must come from more pragmatic members--”the people with the stature, the smarts, the integrity to rise above” partisanship.

“There aren’t many, but Howard’s the first one you think of.”

Berman, a labor lawyer before he entered politics, has earned this reputation through 16 years in the House. His regard was illustrated last year when he was nominated as the ranking Democrat on the House Ethics Committee that was faced with the sensitive task of negotiating Speaker Newt Gingrich’s payment of a penalty after he admitted to making misleading statements to Congress about his improper campaign finances. Not a single Republican raised objections to Berman’s appointment.

“That tells you something,” Ornstein said. “Howard is a top-flight legislator. He’s got a fine mind, he cares about the institution, he doesn’t take cheap shots.”

Berman has both good communications with the White House and a good relationship with Hyde. They were co-sponsors of legislation that sanctioned the imposition of embargoes on countries that supported terrorist activities.

Berman has found allies already with his breakfast partners. They include Republicans Lindsey O. Graham of South Carolina and Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas, and Democrat William D. Delahunt of Massachusetts.

Hutchinson broke ranks with Republicans when he joined an unsuccessful Democratic effort to halt release of more details regarding the sexual use of a cigar. Delahunt showed his independence last year by refusing to join Democrats in signing a letter to Atty. Gen. Janet Reno protesting Starr’s tactics.

There is irony in Berman’s potential as a bipartisan influence, because he is such a partisan Democrat. After the 1980 census, Berman, then the state Assembly Majority Leader, teamed up with his political consultant brother Michael in winning approval for a highly partisan redistricting plan that outraged Republicans. Gov. Pete Wilson paid Democrats back in kind after the 1990 census.

But if this bipartisan alliance winds up driving the debate, it will need other allies.

And that may be an opportunity for Rogan, the freshman Republican whose district is next door to Berman’s.

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Rogan, a former prosecutor and judge, was also tabbed by Time among its “Republicans to Watch,” and Ornstein agrees. His appointment to the powerful Judiciary Committee was a rare plum for a House rookie--one reason many in the GOP consider him a rising star. Months ago Hyde asked him to study the history of presidential inquiries in anticipation of Starr’s report.

Rogan, unlike Berman, has been very available for the TV cameras. Rogan’s comments, alternately reasonable and combative, had one Democratic staffer complaining of him “talking out of both faces.”

But on the Judiciary Committee, Rogan is still perceived as a lawmaker who plays well with others. “He’s made some fairly harsh statements,” Ornstein said. “But he’s seen as somebody who’s not going to go off the deep end.”

Rogan, he says, is “definitely” among the half a dozen or so fair-minded lawmakers who belong to the committee and could keep the process less ugly than it needs to be.

“If you reach a situation where you had Berman and Rogan on the same page, you’re going to have a very powerful signal,” Ornstein said.

But then again: “If you can’t get them on the same page, that sends another signal.”

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Scott Harris’ column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Readers may write to him at The Times’ Valley Edition, 20000 Prairie St., Chatsworth, CA 91311, or via e-mail at scott.harris@latimes.com Please include a phone number.