Armey Shells Clinton at Local Fund-Raiser

House Majority Leader Dick Armey, in Los Angeles to raise money for Valley Republican congressional candidate Randy Hoffman, said Wednesday that President Clinton “will be held accountable” for the scandal related to White House intern Monica S. Lewinsky.

Armey (R-Texas) declined to speculate on possible impeachment hearings stemming from independent counsel Kenneth Starr’s impending report on Clinton, but he said the Democratic president will not walk away scot-free.

“The president continues to entertain himself with the belief that he will not be held accountable,” Armey said. “He will be held accountable, in one way or another. That’s up for him to decide, which path he wants to take.”

Armey headlined a $1,000-per-plate fund-raiser for Hoffman, the GOP candidate trying to unseat freshman Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks).

The event, held on the top floor of the Wells Fargo Center in downtown Los Angeles, raised an estimated $40,000 in contributions, according to Hoffman’s campaign advisors.

Sherman’s 24th Congressional District includes portions of the western San Fernando Valley and the Conejo Valley.

Wednesday’s fund-raiser attracted about 20 loyal Hoffman supporters, including former astronaut Buzz Aldrin. Aldrin is a friend and business associate of Hoffman, founder and former CEO of Magellan Systems Corp., a San Dimas firm that makes hand-held satellite navigation systems.

The Apollo 11 astronaut said Congress needs members from the high-tech business world to promote further space exploration. Aldrin, through his business Starcraft Enterprises, advocates the creation of a new generation of space shuttles capable of taking people on tours into space.

Armey praised Hoffman as an innovator, a creative mind and a risk taker, and said the Thousand Oaks Republican is “exactly what we need in the Republican majority.”

Armey received national attention in April when he said if he were Clinton he’d be “so filled with shame” that he would resign, a statement Armey repeated Wednesday.