Impeachment

Panel recommends impeaching governor SPRINGFIELD, Ill. : An Illinois House committee has unanimously recommended that Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich be impeached for abuse of power. The decision sets the stage for the full House to take action today. The 21-member committee began studying impeachment after the Democratic governor was arrested on federal corruption charges. The panel based its recommendation on those charges and other allegations of misconduct by Blagojevich. It allegedly has evidence that he circumvented state hiring laws, misspent tax money and expanded programs without proper authority.

The nation's 38th president didn't live quite long enough to bask in the glow of the latest assessment of his presidency, Gerald R. Ford, by the historian Douglas Brinkley. Ford, who died Dec. 26, would have seen that his pardon of Richard M. Nixon has not only faded as a negative in the eyes of most Americans, but also is now judged a distinct positive. Moreover, Brinkley gives Ford high marks for restoring Americans' faith in their government as well as for several foreign and domestic successes.

Bromwells' plea blocks real justice The article "Bromwell plea deal" (July 21) shows what a farce our judicial system is. Former state Sen. Thomas L. Bromwell Sr. and his wife, Mary Patricia Bromwell, stole hundreds of thousands in illegal profits and kickbacks, and yet despite what The Sun calls the "mountain of evidence" against Mr. Bromwell, he and his wife were allowed to cop a plea. Mr. Bromwell will probably go to a cushy federal prison for a few years and his wife will stay home with the kids.

WASHINGTON -- Compared with the rampant partisanship that marked the Clinton impeachment inquiry and vote in the House, the Senate's bipartisan agreement on general procedure for its trial of the president holds out the hope that it may proceed with greater decorum, if not harmony.It's too early to say, however, whether the plan to leave open the question of witnesses -- the cause of initial disharmony -- will effectly curb the squabbling.But working for that end may be the fact that members of the Senate regard themselves as a more dignified and contemplative lot than their House brethren across the Capitol.

THE FRAMERS of the Constitution considered the impeachment mechanism so crucial that it emerged from the very beginning of the Constitutional Convention. Edmund Randolph included it in his Virginia Plan, which provided the basis for the initial debates at the convention.The Framers wanted an executive who could be held accountable for wrongful conduct, but they did not want to create a new monarchy in the executive office. Elbridge Gerry expressed the sentiment of the founding generation when he stated, "The maxim would never be adopted here that the chief Magistrate could do [no]

"An Affair of State: The Investigation, Impeachment and Trial of President Clinton," by Richard A. Posner. Harvard University Press. 276 pages. $24.95.There is, alas, no such thing as instant hindsight. Despite our best efforts to accelerate the reflective process, the writing of history -- even the roughest drafts of it -- still takes time.So I was alarmed to discover that "An Affair of State" -- a book that promises sober analysis of the legal, moral, social, cultural and political implications of the impeachment -- was completed only four days after the trial of the president ended in the Senate.

Down in South Houston, Texas, there are some indelible truths: Chicken fried steak is best cooked well-done, seafood better be fresh from the Gulf of Mexico and whoever is elected mayor will probably be impeached.This town scoffs at Congress' meager record of two impeached presidents in 131 years. South Houston's City Council has impeached and removed two mayors in the past five, the most recent in November. One of the mayors who served between those beleaguered administrations survived an impeachment attempt, and the other, battle-fatigued, quit.

WASHINGTON -- When Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist closed his red notebook for the last time Friday, proclaiming, "Our work as a court of impeachment is now done," he committed to history the judgment of whether the Constitution's meaning had undergone any change in the process. Sun staff writer Lyle Denniston explores some of the constitutional questions raised by the nation's second presidential impeachment and trial.Is it clear now how serious presidential conduct must be in order to justify conviction and removal from office?

WASHINGTON -- Try as they might, President Clinton's critics cannot make much of a woman's recently surfaced allegation that 21 years ago he raped her in a hotel room and in the process bruised her lips.There are too many problems with the story, including the fact that unlike other reports of his sexually predatory habits this involves violence, a characteristic Mr. Clinton seems not to have.Our adulterous president wants to make love, not war.The stale charge by Juanita Broaddrick, a woman concealed as "Jane Doe No. 5" in an appendix to independent counsel Kenneth Starr's report to Congress, is potentially sensational.

I KEEP hearing people complain that President Clinton is "getting away with it."Word is, he's about to be -- may already have been, by the time you read this -- acquitted. For those who are still nursing irresolvable outrage over his actions, the word sticks sideways in the throat. They can't fathom how a president can do what this one has done and escape punishment.Me, I think they're just looking for punishment in all the wrong places.That's not a defense of the man. It's my belief that a smarter president would never have lied to the American public and a more honorable one would have resigned the day the lie was revealed.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - The Illinois Senate voted to remove Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich from office yesterday, marking the first time in the state's long history of political corruption that a chief executive has been impeached and convicted. The 59-0 vote followed several hours of public deliberation in which senator after senator stood up to blast Blagojevich, whose tenure lasted six years. And it came after a four-day impeachment trial on allegations that Blagojevich abused his power and sold his office for personal and political benefit.

Mayor Sheila Dixon has pledged to fight the charges of theft and perjury she faces and said she will continue to serve in office. If she is not convicted, it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to remove her from office, a review of the City Charter, state constitution and legal articles shows. There is no method for expelling a sitting mayor or members of the City Council in the City Charter, though the Maryland Constitution does have a provision that disqualifies from office any elected official who has been convicted of a crime.

Panel recommends impeaching governor SPRINGFIELD, Ill. : An Illinois House committee has unanimously recommended that Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich be impeached for abuse of power. The decision sets the stage for the full House to take action today. The 21-member committee began studying impeachment after the Democratic governor was arrested on federal corruption charges. The panel based its recommendation on those charges and other allegations of misconduct by Blagojevich. It allegedly has evidence that he circumvented state hiring laws, misspent tax money and expanded programs without proper authority.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Faced with desertions by political supporters and the neutrality of the Pakistani military, President Pervez Musharraf, an important ally of the United States, is expected to resign in the next few days rather than face impeachment charges, Pakistani politicians and Western diplomats said yesterday. His departure from office would likely unleash new instability in the country as the two main parties in the civilian government jockey for power. The details of how Musharraf would exit, and whether he would be able to stay in Pakistan - apparently his preference - or would seek residency abroad were under discussion, the politicians said.

JOHN F. SEIBERLING, 89 Led Nixon impeachment hearings Former Rep. John F. Seiberling, who served on the committee that led impeachment hearings against President Richard M. Nixon and laid the groundwork for Ohio's only national park, died of respiratory failure yesterday at his home near Akron after a long illness, said his wife, Betty Seiberling. Mr. Seiberling, a Democrat, had been a corporate attorney for Akron-based Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. for 17 years when he decided to run for Congress in 1970 because of his opposition to the Vietnam War. He unseated longtime Republican Rep. William Ayres.

Confession, someone said, is good for the soul. Orioles second baseman Brian Roberts felt obliged to confess to his steroids use, but as confessions go, Roberts' admission was small potatoes. Here's some real big-league confessing from sports figures to presidents to philosophers. Clifford Irving In 1971, a big-time book publisher announced with great fanfare that a new work was forthcoming on reclusive bazillionaire Howard Hughes to be written by author Clifford Irving. There was just one problem.

Bromwells' plea blocks real justice The article "Bromwell plea deal" (July 21) shows what a farce our judicial system is. Former state Sen. Thomas L. Bromwell Sr. and his wife, Mary Patricia Bromwell, stole hundreds of thousands in illegal profits and kickbacks, and yet despite what The Sun calls the "mountain of evidence" against Mr. Bromwell, he and his wife were allowed to cop a plea. Mr. Bromwell will probably go to a cushy federal prison for a few years and his wife will stay home with the kids.

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Albert R. Wynn, a moderate Democrat from Prince George's County who survived a strong challenge from a liberal primary opponent in the fall, is co-sponsoring a measure to impeach Vice President Dick Cheney. Wynn became the third co-sponsor of the resolution introduced last month by Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich, an Ohio Democrat who is running for president on an antiwar platform. In his proposed articles of impeachment, Kucinich says Cheney intentionally manipulated intelligence to deceive Congress and the American people about suspected weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and a relationship between al-Qaida and the government of Saddam Hussein.

The nation's 38th president didn't live quite long enough to bask in the glow of the latest assessment of his presidency, Gerald R. Ford, by the historian Douglas Brinkley. Ford, who died Dec. 26, would have seen that his pardon of Richard M. Nixon has not only faded as a negative in the eyes of most Americans, but also is now judged a distinct positive. Moreover, Brinkley gives Ford high marks for restoring Americans' faith in their government as well as for several foreign and domestic successes.

During these final tense days before midterm elections threaten to rob the Republicans of their congressional majority, GOP leaders are warning voters of the potentially dire consequences. Most urgently, Republicans are raising the specter of "Perilous Pelosi," their tag for California Rep. Nancy Pelosi, who will become House speaker if Democrats win the additional seats they need for control. Republicans predict that a Pelosi regime is likely to include presidential impeachment hearings, the influence of "San Francisco values" on cultural issues, a cutoff of funds to American troops stationed in Iraq and tax increases all around.