Impeachment Proceedings

SALISBURY -- For the first time, the only majority-black legislative district on the Eastern Shore will be represented by an African-American lawmaker.Rudolph C. Cane of Hebron yesterday successfully ended his four-year quest to win a seat in the House of Delegates.With all the ballots counted, the Democrat won 63 percent of the vote to 37 percent for his Republican opponent, Jacqueline B. Jones, a 43-year-old black professor at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore.Lost by 20 votesCane, a former Wicomico County commissioner, acknowledged he never stopped running for the seat he lost by 20 votes in 1994.

IT IS a poor little country far away, but the political convulsions in Paraguay are bad news for the hemisphere. Sympathetic help is needed from Paraguay's neighbors -- Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay -- to nurture the fragile democracy and prevent its failure from undermining theirs.The four countries are linked in a customs union -- Mercosur -- that has jump-started their economies. South America has made a wonderful transition from military dictatorship to democracy in recent decades. Paraguay, a land-locked country of some 5 million people kept backward by the 35-year dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner, didn't get the hang of the new system.

REPORTING on the state of the union without being distracted by the ongoing impeachment trial is a task that tests even President Bill Clinton's ability to compartmentalize.Yet that is the challenge Mr. Clinton took on last night when he addressed the nation from the House chamber just hours after his lawyers defended him against impeachment charges across Capitol Hill.In a spirited end to a historic day, a relaxed president stood before accusers and defenders to declare that the nation is in fine shape.

A Maryland House of Delegates committee on Wednesday rejected a Republican lawmaker's attempt to impeach the Maryland attorney general over a controversial opinion he recently issued on same-sex marriage. Del. Don H. Dwyer Jr. of Anne Arundel County had asked his fellow delegates to initiate the impeachment process for Douglas F. Gansler, a Democrat, who said Maryland should recognize same-sex marriages performed out of state. Dwyer believed Gansler wrongly overturned state policy on such unions.

WASHINGTON -- After their bitter battle over releasing the president's videotaped grand jury testimony, Republicans and Democrats alike conceded little new information came from broadcast of the tape yesterday and few minds would be changed by Clinton's performance.Those critical of Clinton will find statements to confirm their view, and those who question whether independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr has made his case against the president will find ample reason to continue feeling that way, members of both parties said.

WASHINGTON -- President Clinton stayed in the shadows yesterday, but much of the drama and suspense of yesterday's elections centered squarely on his fate.While not on any ballot, Clinton was as much on the minds of election analysts -- if not voters -- as any of the candidates around the country. And he potentially had as much at stake.Even though the public had expressed deep disinterest in the scandal that has threatened Clinton's presidency and evolved into an impeachment inquiry, the election results are likely to be read as a referendum on Clinton's future and directive to the House Judiciary Committee, which is to begin preliminary impeachment hearings next week.

WASHINGTON -- Amid rancorous charges of partisanship from Democrats, senior House Republicans approved an additional $1.3 million and 18 more investigative staff members yesterday for the House committee that would weigh any impeachment bcharges against President Clinton.Technically, the money was requested to pay for a review of a report expected to be sent to Congress by Kenneth W. Starr, the Whitewater special prosecutor, who is investigating whether the president committed perjury and obstructed justice.

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Elijah Cummings, retreating down the Capitol steps after a House vote, had just finished lamenting the fact that the looming threat of impeachment hearings was distracting the Congress and the country from important matters at hand.That's when someone asked him what he'd voted on minutes earlier."Gee," the Baltimore Democrat said, a cloud falling over his face. "I can't remember Come on, Elijah I'm sorry "Cummings never recalled the topic during the conversation. (For the record: The Migratory Bird Treaty.

UNFORTUNATELY, the paucity of debate among the Framers over the nature of an impeachable offense leaves us with little guidance as to what might be considered grounds for impeachment. Looking elsewhere, we find two possible sources of guidance: England, and the colonial experience.In February 1974, the House of Representatives' Committee on the Judiciary published a report by the Staff of Impeachment Inquiry titled "Constitutional Grounds for Presidential Impeachment." To better understand the Framers' intent, the Inquiry examined the history of impeachment in England, noting Alexander Hamilton's statement that "Great Britain had served as the model from which [impeachment]

Knowing a little history is a great time-saver. One need only read the headline over a "news" story to realize it's an old story, and feel free to go on to the sports page. For example: "Panel labels 2 Bush aides in contempt / Vote seeks House citation regarding prosecutor firing" - Page 1, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, July 26, 2007. To which anyone with even a smattering of American history might respond: There they go again. How long have such subpoenas been used to embarrass American administrations?