House Bill: Impeach StarrBy Tim WheelerThis article was reprinted from the September 26, 1998 issue of the People's Weekly World. For subscription information see below. All rights reserved - may be used with PWW credits. 
Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.) introduced a bill Sept. 18 calling for the impeachment of Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr for "high crimes and misdemeanors" in his witch hunt against President Clinton. In a speech to the House of Representatives, Hastings, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), said, "For more than four years Mr. Starr has acted as if he were a law unto himself ... placed himself above the Constitution and the laws of the United States ... " Hastings cited Starr for submitting a "pornographic report" to Congress, for "trampling on people's rights," using tactics of intimidation and unlawfully leaking grand jury material to the media. "He deprived citizens of the United States of their First and Fifth Amendment rights," said Hastings. "He has, to date, wasted more than $40 million [and] acted in ways that were calculated to demean, defame and embarrass the president and the people of the United States." Hastings concluded, "For the good of the country and the protection of the Constitution and the rule of law, Mr. Starr must be called to account and removed from his position." An aide to the Florida lawmaker told the World, "We've gotten 1,400 e-mail messages of support since Friday so the reaction is very positive." Hasting's e-mail address is:alcee.puhastings@mail.house.gov South Carolina AFL-CIO President Donna DeWitt told the World, "I totally agree with the congressman from Florida. Starr should be removed." DeWitt accused Starr and the GOP leadership of partisan politics. She urged a massive vote Nov. 3 to remove GOP extremists from office. The right wing, DeWitt charged, is seeking a veto-proof Senate majority, in part to set the stage for impeaching Clinton. "That's why they are going after Fritz Hollings and Barbara Boxer with such a vengeance," she said. She was referring to South Carolina's and California's Democratic senators, who are in tough reelection fights. The GOP is five seats short of the two-thirds majority they would need to impeach Clinton. Contrary to GOP hopes, she said, Hollings and other Democrats are running strongly in South Carolina, with considerable help from organized labor and the African American community. "Our polls show the Democrats a few percentage points ahead," she said. "I think people are taking stock of the economic effect that this could have. Too much is being made of it ... I don't like the Christian Coalition defining who I am as a person. We have a lot of reasons to get out the vote Nov. 3." President Clinton received strong support when he spoke to the Congressional Black Caucus banquet in Washington, D.C., Sept. 19. CBC Chair Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) told the 5,000 guests, "African Americans are uniquely qualified to know unfairness when we see it." Elizabeth Birch, executive director of the Human Rights Campaign, told the gathering, "Let us not become a nation of hunters and the hunted, a condition that our communities know all too well." Clinton thanked the crowd for "standing up for me." Two days later Clinton traveled to New York to address the United Nations. He received a prolonged standing ovation from world leaders clearly worried that right-wing extremists, including Senate Foreign Relations Chair Jesse Helms (R-N.C.), a bitter enemy of the U.N., are intent on forcing Clinton from office. The latest maneuver was the telecast of the videotape of Clinton's Aug. 17 deposition before the Starr grand jury. Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) said, "The tapes were released solely to embarrass the president and gain political advantage a month and a half before the elections." The Democratic National Committee pointed out that, in four hours of questioning the president in the White House, Starr's three assistants asked 81 "unnecessary, invasive, salacious questions about sex" but not one question about Whitewater, the failed Arkansas real estate deal Starr was assigned to probe. Contrary to ultra-right expectations, Clinton's standing in the polls rose dramatically after the videotape aired. A CBS poll, for example, showed public approval of the way Clinton is handling his job jumping from 59 percent to 68 percent. Critics are also blasting Starr for selective editing of his report to Congress, leaving out statements by Lewinsky that would exonerate the president. Just one of the items Starr saw fit not to include was Lewinsky's statement that "no one asked me to lie and I was never promised a job for my silence." Some Republicans fear a voter backlash. GOP headquarters in Denver was besieged by telephone calls denouncing the House Republicans for releasing the videotape. Bob Greenlee, a Republican running for the 2nd Congressional District that includes Boulder, told the New York Times that airing the videotape was a "voyeuristic" exercise. "There is a real potential for some kind of backlash," said Greenlee. "My sense is that the public is damn sick of this whole thing and would like it to end."
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