Monday, September 14, 1998
The University Daily Kansan
Section A
The Starr Report Congress tests public's mind on Clinton
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Congressional Democrats, joined by a top Republican senator, spoke yesterday of a punishment short of impeachment for President Clinton and demanded his lawyers end legal hairsplitting as they rebut Kenneth Starr's report.
"There's going to be some sort of sanction here," said Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. "The question is what—from impeachment to censure to rebuke to condemnation or what."
At the same time, with midterm elections looming, several Democrats said they hoped the issue could be dealt with swiftly.
Clinton skipped church services during the day, and remained out of the public eye inside the White House.
But with his presidency clearly in peril, his lawyers and aides fanned out across yesterday's television talk shows to declare that whatever his transgressions, Clinton committed no impeachable offenses.
Starr's report, released Friday, cites 11 potentially impachable offenses, all
Brownback said that private actions have public consequences, especially for the president of the United States.
In a speech before the Senate last week, Brownback said, "I rise today to respectfully ask President Clinton to do the right thing for our country and resign from office voluntarily."
U. S. Rep. Vince Snowbarger, R-Kan., and congressman for the Lawrence and Kansas City area, said he supported the release of the Starr investigation.
"The president did not commit perjury," Kendall said. "Starr's report is full of graphic and unnecessarily salacious material. It is not relevant."
"I felt strongly that we should make this report available to the people who paid for it as soon as possible," he said.
Clinton's lead attorney, David Kendall, argued in the same vein in an appearance on ABC's This Week program.
Snowbarger posted the report on his congressional Web site and has called for the president's resignation. After reading the report, he said he supported an investigation of impeachment as well.
Betsy Holahan, press secretary for U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., said Roberts was traveling in central Kansas on business over the weekend and needed more time to digest Starr's report.
U. S. Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., has called for Clinton's resignation to spare the spectacle of possible immeachment proceedings.
"Iam particularly troubled about the lying under oath in the grand-jury process," Snowbarger said. "He (the president) knew the information was out there."
Snowbarger said he expected Starr to release reports on other areas of investigation at a later date.
Brownback said that he was concerned about Clinton's foreign policy and his influence on the nation's character.
U. S. Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Kan., has called for impeachment proceedings since last October so the House of Representatives could decide whether enough evidence exists for a trial to take place in the Senate.
The White House issued a blistering rebuttal Saturday that accused Starr of a hit-and-run smear camPAim without legal merit.
The office of U.S. Rep. Jim Ryun, RKan., said Ryun would issue a state-
That type of lawyerly defense drew dismissive reaction from Bob Kerrey, a Neb-
Kansas political leaders share a deep concern about President Bill Clinton's alleged conduct as reported by Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr.
stemming from Clinton's sexual relationship with former intern Monica Lewinsky — described in exilicist detail — and his later denials under oath.
Student reactions about Clinton's conduct varied
By Chad Bettes
Kanron staff writer
Kansan staff writer
At the same time, the White House's counterattack against Starr was achieving success among the public. A CBS poll, taken Saturday, found 60 percent of those responding thought Starr included numerous lurid sexual details in his report to embarrass the president. Only 33 percent thought it was to prove perjury.
"The presi
d e n t s
going
t o "
But they do not yet share a view of where the investigation of Clinton should go from here.
Andrew Jackson is the only president to be formally censured by Congress, and the 1834 vote was later expunged by the Senate.
Clinton's political fate will begin to come into
lose if they continue to do that," Kerrey said. appearing alongside Hatch on CBS' Face the Nation.
when law
ma k
ning of the week,
U. S. Rep. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., could not be reached for comment on the matter.
All four Kansas representatives voted for the Starr report to be released to the public.
Mary Isenhour, campaign manager for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rep. Tom Sawyer, said Sawyer was extremely disappointed in the president.
She said that Sawyer thought Clinton's actions were immoral and wrong, Isenhour said that Sawyer was not focused on national issues.
"The governor believes this is an unfortunate event and is hoping that Congress gets back to business as soon as possible," Goering said.
U. S. Rep. Jerry Moran, R-
"He's focused more on issues important to Kansans." she said.
Gov. Bill Graves, a Republican, has expressed desire for the nation to move on, said communications coordinator Angela Goering.
Local politicians respond to Clinton's role in Starr report
"Aside from some semi-pornographic details, we've known a lot that was in it already," said Burdett Loomis, professor of political science.
Kansan staff writer
The release of Kenneth Starr's report onto the Internet Friday and the president's rebuttal gave students and faculty at the University of Kansas an opportunity to formulate opinions about the president's allegedly impeachable offenses.
Sarah Schreck, College of Liberal
By Carolyn Mollott
the Office of the Independent Council's report.
return to Washington from a weekend of campaigning and testing public opinion in their home districts.
"Ultimately, if the president and the Congress want to have the due process that they are both allowed in this instance, we may end up going to that next level," Rep. Vic Fazio, California Democrat, said on ABC.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, other officials in both parties said such a step was growing more likely before Congress wraps up work and returns home for the elections.
Even before Judiciary Committee members have a chance to complete their review of Starr's evidence, officials have expressed the growing idea that the House is likely to take the next step and vote for a formal impeachment inquiry.
Allan Cigler, professor of politica science, said Americans may see the report from two perspectives: Some see a description of outrageous moral conduct, but others see a report that may or may not contain proof of impeachable offenses by the president.
It would permit the Judiciary Committee to expand its staff and conduct an investigation of its own, a probe that would not necessarily be limited to issues involving Lewinsky.
"I'm not sure that a member of Congress has any more insight into this than someone Monica Lewinsky's age," Loomis said.
Loomis said KU students could read and interpret the report in much the same fashion as the rest of the country.
It is not clear whether such a vote would be preceded by a public hearing. Republicans have
Cigler said Congress would only act quickly and decisively if there was an overwhelming public response in one direction. But he said Congress won't let public opinion dictate its actions.
"There are limits to what they can do if public opinion is particularly strong in either direction." Cigler said. "Pub
talked for months about the possibility of con-
vening a hearing, possibly to permit Starr
venient to lay out his evidence, and for a representative of the president to offer a rebuttal.
lic opinion constrains Congress." Cigler said that the next few days would show how strongly the public reacted.
"You shouldn't decide the fate of a presidency based on polls," said Jack Martin, director of the KU Young Democrats communications committee.
Martin said that the report didn't prove the president committed high crimes and misdemeanors, and that it was far from grounds for impeachment.
ment.
"You spend $40 million and you got a 445-page trashy romance novel," Martin said.
"We've already determined that the president shouldn't have more rights in the court system than a normal American," Cook said.
Ward Cook, president of College Republicans said the OIC's report proved Clinton lied under oath and obstructed justice. He said he was shocked and disgusted by the way Clinton allegedly manipulated the court system to get out of trouble.
Cook said he was disappointed in the White House's rebuttal to the OIC's report.
Martin said it was difficult for the White House to come up with a substantial rebuttal without seeing the OIC's report before the public did.
Mark Chotimongkol, Dodge City third-year law student, said the perjury and obstruction of justice charges were his area of interest. He said the report was simply a summary of evidence gathered by the grand jury.
"In fairness to the president, they should have been allowed to see the report ahead of time," Martin said.
ine key players: The following are the principal people involved in the investigation
"There is definitely a political dimension to this," he said.
Chotimongkol said that if Clinton was guilty of the offenses charged by Starr, the alleged offenses weren't severe enough to put the country through a presidential impeachment trial.
"Impeaching the president is a pretty severe thing, and it could create pretty serious damage to the country," Chotimongkol said.
Cook said he was struggling to decide whether he felt Clinton should be impeached. He said it troubled him that Clinton would misuse his office and he hoped the president would resign before impeachment proceedings could begin.
Angie Kuhn /KANSAN
More about the investigation For the latest Gallup poll and more campus reaction See page 7A