GOP Leaders Insist on Path of Impeachment

House Republican leaders Wednesday rejected any deal that would preclude full consideration of President Clinton’s impeachment, saying that compromise leading to lighter punishment would be premature.

“For anybody to talk about doing anything until we finish the investigative process simply puts the cart before the horse,” declared House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.).

In a meeting earlier in the day, House Democrats pushed for a 30-day timetable to wrap up the congressional investigation of Clinton’s affair with Monica S. Lewinsky, and Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.) demanded that independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr turn over more files that could contain evidence helpful to the president.

But Republicans, hoping that Starr will give them evidence of other Clinton misdeeds, do not want to limit the time available for full-scale impeachment proceedings. Any additional evidence against Clinton likely would be related to Starr’s five-year investigation of the Whitewater land deal and other matters.

GOP leaders are being pressured by their party’s base--staunch conservatives and the religious right--to aggressively pursue Clinton. At the same time, Gingrich and other Republican lawmakers believe that they must bring Democrats into the impeachment process, realizing that it can only move forward with bipartisan support.

House Democrats, however, emboldened by public opinion polls showing increased support for Clinton and high disapproval ratings for Republicans, made their strongest case yet for something short of an open-ended impeachment process.

Highest Disapproval Rating for GOP in ’98

A day after a Gallup Poll showed that Clinton’s approval rating had risen six points, to 66%, in the wake of Monday’s broadcast of his videotaped grand jury testimony, a new poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press showed that 44% of respondents disapprove of the GOP leadership in Congress. That is the highest disapproval rating for congressional Republicans registered all year.

But Gingrich made it clear that the GOP will not be guided solely by public opinion. “I don’t think people want this Congress to deal with a constitutional issue based on the latest overnight poll,” he said.

“And I think people would be, frankly, horrified if the Congress was simply a polling institution that enacted a grotesque version of justice based on the latest poll or the latest talk show.”

With both parties taking increasingly divergent positions, White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry said that the investigation needs to move more quickly.

“This needs to come to some kind of resolution,” he said in an interview. “The House leadership ought to give us a road map. Just tell us how to finish it. If you want to impeach us, impeach us,” he challenged. “But let’s get on with it.”

He added: “The president, who has punished himself a great deal already, certainly understands there’s more punishment that he’s likely going to receive.”

Speaker’s Lieutenants to Examine Documents

The speaker’s lieutenants, meanwhile, said that they would continue to review the Starr documents methodically, with the intent of releasing almost everything by Monday. Discussions then would begin on whether to launch a formal impeachment inquiry.

Rep. Bill McCollum (R-Fla.), a leading member of the House Judiciary Committee, said that he already has concluded that there is enough evidence to proceed to an impeachment inquiry. But, he said, the committee still needs to debate the matter in coming weeks and make a recommendation to the full House.

The panel’s chairman, Rep. Henry J. Hyde (R-Ill.), said he agrees that the House should complete its work as quickly as possible.

“There is a difference, however, between expeditious work and artificial deadlines which only invite stalling tactics,” he said. “The key is to remain faithful to our oath of office to discharge faithfully our constitutional duties no matter how long it takes.”

Hyde added: “The president had eight months to tell the truth but instead he sent his staff out to declare his innocence to the world. Now the Democrats want to shut down an inquiry of his behavior in 30 days.”

But one White House official said the Republicans’ behind-the-scenes politicking is a force bringing Democrats together on the impeachment issue.

“Notice where Hyde said [Tuesday that] the big decisions were above his paygrade,” said this official, who asked not to be identified. “Newt Gingrich is driving this process, not Hyde.

“If you ask House Democrats how they feel about Bill Clinton, you’ll get a wide range of answers. But they all feel the same way about Newt Gingrich and what he’s done to them. He’s a great unifying factor,” the official added.

The Democrats’ most specific proposal for shortening the process has come from Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), who suggested that Clinton appear before the House for questioning and then receive some kind of punishment short of removal from office.

“Is the Republican leadership prepared to enter into a serious effort to reduce the agony of this country?” Kerry asked.

The Democrats’ 30-day timetable would end the Capitol Hill investigation of Clinton before the Nov. 3 midterm elections.

“We have a constitutional duty right now to do this in a just, fair and expeditious manner,” Gephardt said.

“Right now, the key issue is setting a timetable to get this done for the good of the country, the good of our children and the good of our families,” he added.

Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), known to have been deeply angered that Clinton lied to him about the Lewinsky matter, was not as strident in his defense of the president. At one point he noted tepidly that Clinton “will, in all likelihood,” serve out “the balance of his term.”

Asked about Kerry’s suggestion that Clinton personally defend himself on Capitol Hill, Daschle said: “That’s something the president’s going to have to decide.”

The White House was noncommittal about a possible presidential appearance before Congress.

“We’ve been having conversations. We’ve indicated our willingness to try to do our part to bring this matter to some kind of definitive conclusion and we’ll see where it goes,” McCurry said.

“Ultimately, it’s not going to be our place to decide how that gets resolved. It’s going to be the House of Representatives that does.”

In another development Wednesday, Gephardt sent a letter to Starr’s office asking for the immediate release of any other material that would tend to exonerate Clinton. Gephardt and other Democrats have been complaining that Starr purposely did not include exculpatory material in the files he delivered this month to Capitol Hill.

Starr, in a letter responding to Gephardt, denied the accusation.

“We have in fact,” Starr wrote, “been overly inclusive so that the House can make its own judgment with respect to the evidence.”

Clinton did not publicly address the controversy Wednesday, though he did attend a ceremony in the Capitol rotunda honoring South African President Nelson Mandela.

Clinton Sits With Gingrich, D’Amato

Sitting near GOP leaders, including Gingrich and Sen. Alfonse M. D’Amato (R-N.Y.), who presided over earlier Whitewater investigative hearings, the president showed no bitterness.

After the ceremony, Clinton and Gingrich lingered on the platform and exchanged words with well-wishers.

Meanwhile, California Gov. Pete Wilson, a Republican and a former U.S. senator, said at a news conference in Culver City that he hopes there will be no impeachment. “It is a very, very important thing to have continuity in office. I think censure is probably what the Democrats want. I would urge my [Republican] colleagues to look very closely at it.”

Times staff writers Edwin Chen in Washington and Nick Anderson in Culver City and Washington Bureau Chief Doyle McManus in Washington contributed to this story.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

What’s Left

The House Judiciary Committee is going over the remaining evidence that was submitted by independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr, deleting material deemed personal or embarrassing. Among the items being reviewed.

TESTIMONY FROM . . .

Vernon E. Jordan Jr.

Linda Tripp

Betty Currie

Secret Service

Other White House aides

****

AUDIOTAPES

Linda Tripp’s taped conversations with Monica S. Lewinsky

Source: Wire services

Researched by TRICIA FORD / Los Angeles Times