Henry Hyde’s Retreat

by Steve Farrell (Nevada)

The elections are through, the results are in, the filthy battles are over, but the war has just begun. A war that promises to be less than pretty.

The President’s defenders, have already sent the first vicious volleys, an investigation of the very man they appointed - "independent" council Ken Star. Meanwhile House Judiciary Chairmen Henry Hyde, still licking his wounds from the earlier Presidential assault on his character, has now readjusted the inquiry in a way that portends retreat and submission to the battle plan of the enemy camp.

In a surprise move, Chairman Hyde announced, on November 2, his intention to launch a whirlwind impeachment inquiry, beginning immediately following the 98 elections, focused almost exclusively on presidential perjury relative to Miss Lewinsky - a monumental concession. The two questions the House will address are: 1. Is perjury an impeachable offense? And 2. Should the President be impeached?

The plan seems cut and dry and designed to resolve the issue quickly, it is also just what the President’s lawyers ordered. It makes their defense, cut and dry also. "Who wouldn’t lie about having an affair?" Mr. Hyde’s past public statements fully demonstrate that he understand the potential power of that point, and that is why this present recoil seems so peculiar and disturbing.

It was Representative Hyde who previously denounced the President’s proposal to launch a House study to determine criteria for an impeachable offense, and the President’s later proposal - to limit the impeachment hearings to the Lewinsky scandal. These were, said Mr. Hyde, "made-to-order for the White House." The former, "a delay tactic; the latter, an attempt to "brush aside documented allegations of serious crimes committed by the President.."

These serious crimes, he refereed to, are not few in number, are formally charged against the President, and should not be taken lightly nor forgotten by the President’s opponents in both parties, nor by the House Judiciary Committee.

Surely Chairmen Hyde and his fellow committee members, have not forgotten that sitting in their laps is a hard copy of Judicial Watch’s 147 page report titled "Crimes and Other Offenses Committed by President Bill Clinton Warranting His Impeachment and Removal From Office," along with nearly 4,000 pages of supporting evidence and documentation.

But just in case short term memory loss has set in, here is a quick jog. The report, focuses on four target areas, "Filegate," "IRS-Gate," "Commercegate/Chinagate," and "Trustgate," alleging quite convincingly that "William Jefferson Clinton has repeatedly engaged, personally and through his close subordinates, and agents, in conduct violating the constitutional rights of citizens, breaching national security, impairing the due and proper administration of justice, and the conduct of lawful inquiries [in a manner] contrary to his trust as President and subversive of constitutional government."

None of these have to do with sex, all of them have to do with subverting the constitution, our national security, and the rule of law. These should be the focus, along with the serious allegations, such as obstruction of justice and witness coercion, contained in the Star Report.

So why then has Chairmen Hyde suggested that he would take such a limited and narrow approach? Does he not see that to do so would be to abandon duty, to abandon conscience, and to abandon America? The goods are in on Mr. Clinton. His offenses appear numberless. All that is necessary, then, are a few loyal, a few brave souls, to professionally and persuasively present the evidence and prosecute the man in a court of law. We can only hope that the loyal and brave will not be outgunned by the turncoat and timid.