Livingston eyed me curiously, but then took his leave. Let him go back to Newt and tell him that I was leaving Congress. Newt would enjoy that immensely.
The next day, I found a large number of reporters down on the Capitol steps, facing a podium. Newt and a few others had let it be known that I was going to announce my retirement from the Congress, and the turnout was greater than I would have gotten otherwise. Fine and dandy. I was declaring war on Newt Gingrich, and a surprise attack would be useful. I left the Capitol and marched down the steps, flanked by Marty and Jerry Ferguson. At the podium I waited while the last minute sound checks were run. There was a nod to me from one of the sound men, and then I began.
“Thank you all for coming. As everyone here knows, in two weeks time, the House of Representatives will be voting as a grand jury on articles of impeachment on President Clinton. If the House passes these articles, the case against the President will then be tried before the Senate, with Chief Justice Rehnquist presiding. The impeachment of a sitting President is the most serious judgment a Congressman can make, and requires him to make a fundamental evaluation of his purpose in Congress.
Like my fellow colleagues, I have agonized over my response to this. How will I vote if it comes to that? After much thought, my actions are clear to me. I will not vote for impeachment.
The Constitution is clear on this. The President can only be impeached for treason, bribery, and high crimes and misdemeanors. There have been no charges of either treason or bribery. The charges are those falling into the category of high crimes or misdemeanors. But what are those crimes? President Clinton cheated on his wife and then lied about it. This is not what our Founding Fathers meant by high crimes and misdemeanors! You do not get impeached over a matter of marital infidelity! You get divorced!
Does this mean I approve of President Clinton’s behavior? Hardly! As both a man and as a husband, I find Mister Clinton’s behavior disgusting and reprehensible. I would be ashamed to introduce him to my wife and children. If he were to shake my hand today, I would count my fingers and then wipe my hands off. He has grossly abused the trust of his wife and family — but he has not abused the trust of the nation! His misbehavior does not rise to the level that the framers of the Constitution had in mind for reasons to remove the Chief Executive. I remind everyone that our Founding Fathers were men themselves, with all the failings of men.
So I announce today that I will not vote for impeachment, and I will work against impeachment. Instead, I will introduce an Article of Censure to Congress. While I feel the President’s misbehavior does not warrant his removal from office, I feel just as strongly that the entire Congress is as disgusted as I am by that misbehavior. This would be the proper method for us to express that displeasure. Let us end this impeachment and pass a censure, and then let us wash our hands of this sordid affair. Thank you.”
Chapter 123: The Soapbox Rebellion
To say my announcement was a shocker was a gross understatement. I think I would have gotten less of a reaction by lighting a large bomb in the basement of the Capitol! After I finished reading my statement, there was a roar from the reporters as each one of them began yelling out questions. I declined and began moving away. Meanwhile, around the fringes of the group, and out of camera range, several Republican Congressmen and senior staffers were standing there in stunned silence. Rather than watching me announce my impending retirement from Congress (to be responded to by pious thanks for my long years of service) they had just watched me declare war on Newt Gingrich. To a man, they turned and hustled away, staffers running interference, as reporters hounded after them demanding to know how they would vote.
For me, it was oddly liberating. For over a year now, I had been dancing around with Gingrich, starting when I argued with him about the government shutdown. Now the dance was over. It was war.
That night, after dinner, Marilyn found me in my home office, simply sitting in an armchair, staring out a window and thinking. She came in and sat down on my lap. “Care for some company?” she asked.
I smiled at her. “Sure.” I wrapped my arms around her.
Marilyn made herself comfortable, and then said, “I just want you to know, I’m very proud of you. I know this has been hard for you, but you are right and Newt Gingrich is wrong and I am proud of what you said today.”
I hugged her, and then said, “Thank you. I wonder if this is how Caesar felt when he crossed the Rubicon.”
“Huh?”
I smiled at her. “You’ve heard of Caesar crossing the Rubicon, right?”
Marilyn smiled and shrugged. “Yes, but I never really knew what it meant.”
I nodded in understanding. “Ahhh… well, this was all a few years ago, of course, but when Julius Caesar decided to take over Rome, the rule was that no Roman general could march an army into Italy. The line was a little river in northern Italy, the Rubicon. Actually, it’s more a stream than a river. So, anyway, old Julius got summoned to Rome to answer for his crimes, and had to leave the army behind, on the far side of the river. If he went without them, he would get thrown in jail. If he took them with him, though, he was declaring civil war.”
“And he took them with him?”
“That’s what the saying refers to. He took them with him. It means you’ve made a decision you can’t back away from. You’ve placed your bets and rolled the dice, for good or bad.”
Marilyn smiled. “Well, Caesar won. So will you.”
I snorted and gave my wife a wry smile. “I’m not sure that’s a great example. Caesar was opposed by Pompey the Great, another famous general, and after a few battles, Caesar ended up chasing Pompey to Egypt, where Pompey’s head ended up in a basket.”
“Yuck!”
“Yeah! On the other hand, that’s where Julius Caesar met Cleopatra. Maybe I need to keep an eye out for beautiful foreign queens.”
That earned me an elbow to the ribs. “Forget it!” she told me.
I chuckled. “Well, it didn’t end so good for Caesar, either. Eventually he ended up back in Rome, where his friends killed him on the floor of the Senate. Let’s just hope I don’t get invited over to the Senate any time soon!”
Marilyn climbed up off my lap and headed towards the kitchen. “So much for politics!”
As she left, I called out, “Hey, got anything in the way of a Cleopatra costume?”
“Forget it!”
I laughed at that.
The next couple of days I began calling and talking to pretty much any Republican Representative I could. There weren’t many. The vast majority refused to talk to me, although none actually said as much. They simply weren’t available, or were on another call, or had another appointment. I did speak to Wayne Gilchrest, who agreed with me and promised to vote with me against the impeachment. I also spoke to John Boehner, who also said he agreed with me, but refused to make a commitment either way.
By strict party line vote, which was what Newt was counting on, the Republicans would have 228 votes to impeach versus the Democrats’ 207 votes not to impeach. To beat the impeachment, I needed to switch 11 votes, to come to a 217–218 score. Well, 10 votes anyway, since I was one of the 11.
It was actually more complicated than that. Since the actual articles of impeachment had six specific charges, it was possible that some of my counterparts could try to have it both ways, by voting against some of the charges, but for the others. The two big charges were the perjury and obstruction of justice charges. The other four were the contempt of Congress and obstruction charges relating to that. I could easily see a number of Congressmen ignoring those four, but still voting for the first two. Worse, there were a few conservative Democrats who were as disgusted by Clinton as anybody else, who might cross the line in the opposite direction! Realistically, I needed more than ten votes.