On capitol Hill, a day like none before: A fateful task, a lively debate and a few moments of levity
By Wendy Koch; Kevin Johnson
Fri., Oct. 9, 1998
FINAL EDITION
Section: NEWS
Page 3A

WASHINGTON -- The moment was solemn and historic, but the debate
feisty and, at times, rowdy.

The ghosts of scandals past hung over the House of Representatives.
Lawmakers recalled Watergate as they clashed Thursday over the scope
of the new impeachment ordeal the nation now begins.

They argued about duty to country and to truth. Republicans said they
have a responsibility to find out whether President Clinton committed
impeachable offenses. But many Democrats said a protracted probe
would distract from America's more pressing problems.

In the end, Republicans prevailed, with token Democratic support, in
starting an inquiry that has no limits and no clear end. The investigation
could take months, and some Democrats warn, years.

What may sway the timetable most is the elections on Nov. 3.

If Republicans do well at the polls, they may be emboldened to
investigate Clinton beyond his relationship with Monica Lewinsky and to
pursue his impeachment and removal from office. If they do poorly, they
may move faster to resolve the matter, perhaps with censure or rebuke.

A class portrait

The day on Capitol Hill was unlike any before. It started, by coincidence,
with members gathering for their official ``class portrait.''

There was little bipartisan back-slapping. Some Democrats expressed
anger that Republicans had limited debate to two hours, but it ended up
taking an hour and half more.

The House had twice before debated impeachment proceedings against a
president, once right after the Civil War involving Andrew Johnson and a
generation ago with Richard Nixon.

But it had never done so before live TV cameras, broadcasting to a
watchful world.

Rep. Bill McCollum, R-Fla., arguing that Clinton's alleged perjury is a
``serious crime,'' said 115 people are in federal prison for perjury and
``they may be watching today.''

Yet what TV viewers may not have seen was the almost surprising air of
casualness to the debate. During most of it, only a fourth or fifth of the
House members appeared on the floor. Most of their seats remained
empty or occupied by staff.

At one point, noting the absence of lawmakers, veteran Democratic Rep.
David Obey of Wisconsin urged his colleagues to show up for the historic
debate.

``Whatever they're doing they ought to drop it and get their tails here,''
Obey said.

His remarks were greeted with applause from both sides of the aisle, but
he, too, wandered off the floor from time to time.

Some members sat reading the newspaper, while others chatted in the
aisle and another brought along his two young sons. Toward the end,
Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-N.Y., nodded off, his mouth open.

When Democrats chatted too loud in the aisle, Republicans would
``shoosh'' them. When they tried to skirt House rules to keep talking,
Republicans would shout ``order, order, order.'' And when some began
the `'everyone-is-a-sinner'' theme, Republicans could be heard groaning.

Some who took the floor quavered as they spoke. An obviously shaken
freshman Rep. Mary Bono, R-Calif., returned from the podium and sank
into her chair, signaling to friends that her heart was beating quickly.
Right behind her, Rep. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., was giving her a thumbs
up. ``Just hearing the words `impeachment of William Jefferson Clinton'
was enough to give me a sinking feeling that hit right in the gut,'' Bono
said later.

Echoes of Watergate

The atmospherics away from the TV cameras differed from the lofty
rhetoric on the floor, which carried echoes of the 1974 debate that
launched the Watergate hearings.

Republicans, then in the minority, sought a deadline. They were worried
that Democrats, then in the majority, might engage in a ``politically
motivated witchunt.'' The Democrats turned them down.

Yet in the end, only four members -- all Republicans -- opposed the
Democratic-sponsored motion for an open-ended inquiry into the
Watergate scandal.

Then-chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Democratic Rep.
Peter Rodino of New Jersey, pledged -- like current Chairman Henry
Hyde, R-Ill. -- to finish the panel's work in three months. The probe,
though, took several months longer and ended in Nixon's resignation.

During Thursday's debate, Republicans argued that the Democratic
request for a deadline would encourage ``stonewalling.'' They said
Clinton's case was about far more than sex.

``This is the crucial business of the country,'' said Rep. Bob Inglis,
R-S.C., a member of the House Judiciary Committee, arguing that telling
the truth under oath is important.

The Republicans asked two Democrats to speak on their behalf.
Pennsylvania Rep. Paul McHale delivered a blistering attack on Clinton,
calling his affair with Lewinsky ``predatory'' and deriding his sworn
statements.

The other Democrat, Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, said the nation
would have no closure without the Republicans' open-ended inquiry.

Then he turned and left the floor.

Democrats seemed to have a clever floor strategy. They showcased
their female members to show that Clinton's support among women
remains strong, despite his relationship with Lewinsky, a former White
House intern.

Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., said that the ``tawdry and trashy'' details
and ``stupid telephone chatter'' contained in independent counsel Ken
Starr's report do not meet the constitutional standards for impeachment.

``Reprimand the president, condemn him, but let's move on,'' Waters said.

If, as many legislators have speculated, the American people were not
interested in the impeachment debate occupying official Washington,
there was no evidence of apathy in the hallways just outside the House
chamber.

Crowded corridors

The corridors were jammed with people, a day on par with the annual
frenzy that accompanies the president's State of the Union address.

Even if many of the spectators believed the debate to be a waste of their
government's time and effort, they turned out anyway, purposely
interrupting vacations or work schedules.

In T-shirts, tennis shoes and blue jeans, they came from Bend, Ore.;
Visalia, Calif.; Amarillo, Texas; Roanoke, Va.; and Oklahoma City.

``When we realized this was going to happen while we were in town,''
said Diane Hodges, a retired Visalia school teacher, ``I got right on the
telephone with my congressman and told him my husband and I wanted
seats in the gallery.''

``This is pure politics the way I see it,'' David Hodges said. `` And I'm a
registered Republican. I didn't vote for the guy (Clinton), but you can't
toss him out on this.''

Another Republican in the gallery, Richard Scherzer, an Oregon golf
course manager, was a bit more circumspect.

``This is the first time I've ever been to the Capitol before,'' Scherzer
said, ``but it seems like these people could handle this in a more
business-like manner. There's a lot of verbiage, a lot of chest pounding.
Everyone's trying to posture for the cameras.''

``I don't think this warrants impeachment,'' he added. ``Censure, maybe.
Some kind of punishment. But the guy didn't kill any body. Did he lie
under oath? Probably, but how important was that, anyway?''

At various times during the debate, the gallery resembled a giant
classroom. School children vied with other spectators for seats inside the
chamber.

Forty students from Washington, D.C.'s Bancroft Elementary School sat
in complete silence for at least a half hour -- amazing for kids 6 to 8
years old -- as Hyde jousted verbally on the House floor with the ranking
committee Democrat, John Conyers of Michigan.

``Some of those guys looked pretty mad,'' one young man remarked on
the way out. ``I'm hungry.''

Down on the House floor, lawmakers agonized about the pain the nation
will endure. They appealed to dignity. California Rep. Vic Fazio, the
House's third-ranking Democrat who is retiring this year after 20 years
of service, said he hopes the inquiry rises above politics.

``In the end,'' he said, ``we must do a lot better than we're doing today.''