Impeachment Inquiry

WASHINGTON -- Considering its historic dimensions, the House Judiciary Committee's vote to impeach President Clinton was carried out in a remarkably perfunctory fashion.There was no high drama. On the critical first article of impeachment, there were no 11th-hour defections by either party. The vote was the usual 21-16. The whole thing had the quality of a ritual.The same could be said of the president's last-gasp attempt to appear more contrite. He described himself as "profoundly sorry" for his "wrongful conduct."

WASHINGTON -- He didn't give a victory speech. In fact, he stayed mostly in the shadows yesterday. But President Clinton, while not on any ballot, emerged as a clear winner last night as Democrats managed to stave off major gains by Republicans around the country.With the election viewed as a referendum on Clinton's fate -- specifically, the impending impeachment proceedings -- the respectable showing by Democrats was expected to strengthen the president's position and weaken the hand of those pushing for the impeachment and removal of Clinton.

HARTFORD, Conn. - Gov. John G. Rowland announced his resignation yesterday in a defiantly upbeat speech, proclaiming his love of family and public service yet ignoring the threats of impeachment and indictment. Rowland, 47, a third-term Republican, said he will step down at noon July 1, handing over a government in turmoil to Lt. Gov. M. Jodi Rell, 58. Rell, a Republican, will serve the remaining 2 1/2 years of Rowland's four-year term. Rowland offered no explanation for his resignation in a five-minute, 45-second speech broadcast live from a garden outside the Executive Residence in Hartford.

WASHINGTON -- One message from the House for President Clinton on Saturday was that he was blessed with the stalwart loyalty of his fellow Democrats.Only five Democrats broke ranks and voted for any of the articles of impeachment. Afterward, in a striking display, two bus loads of Democratic lawmakers rallied behind the president on the South Lawn of the White House.But many Democrats did not rally around their president out of heartfelt fealty. Instead, in opposing impeachment and standing, literally, with Clinton, many were registering their disapproval of how Republicans have handled the inquiry -- as well as their belief that impeachment is not warranted.

WASHINGTON -- House Speaker Newt Gingrich staunchly defended Kenneth W. Starr yesterday even as Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott said it was time for the Whitewater independent counsel to wrap up his investigation and "show his cards."The divergence between Gingrich and Lott illustrated the growing turmoil in the Republican Party over how to grapple with an investigation into President Clinton's relations with a White House intern that has left the president's popularity at unrivaled heights and backfired on Starr in the court of public opinion.

HARTFORD, Conn. - The House committee investigating whether to recommend the impeachment of Gov. John G. Rowland of Connecticut began taking testimony in public hearings yesterday, the first such proceeding involving a current U.S. governor in 16 years. The image that emerged of Rowland, a third-term Republican who was once a star of his party, was of a financially strapped politician who made ends meet, in part, through the help of gifts from people who conducted business with the state.

Oklahoma Gov. David Walters, who pleaded guilty last year to violating campaign finance laws, narrowly avoided an impeachment inquiry when the Oklahoma House voted against the move."

WASHINGTON -- The House yesterday took its first solemn step down a road that could lead to the impeachment of President Clinton by voting overwhelmingly to release immediately to the public independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr's report on the president's sex scandal.The weight of the historic vote hung heavily on representatives, especially Democrats, who are deeply divided between impulses political self-preservation and their duty to uphold a Constitution that gives them the sole authority to launch impeachment proceedings.

WASHINGTON - If there is to be an impeachment inquiry against President Clinton by the House Judiciary Committee, what will it consist of?First, it should establish guidelines on what are and what are not impeachable offenses under the Constitution's Article II specification of "treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors."But Constitutional lawyers and scholars have argued for years about what this means. For practical purposes, Gerald Ford, the House Republican leader before he became vice president and president, might have put it best in a failed 1970 bid to impeach Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas: An impeachable offense is "whatever a majority of the House of Representatives considers it to be."

WASHINGTON -- The House Judiciary Committee demanded yesterday that Attorney General Janet Reno release two memos that purportedly implicate President Clinton in illegal campaign fund raising, setting up a constitutional showdown just days before the committee is scheduled to vote on articles of impeachment.Reno has already made it clear she will not release the memos, although in July she showed members of Congress edited versions of them. And Clinton has shown no willingness to push her."