It was in 1998 that I personally became a target in Tom Delay's campaign to impeach our duly elected President, and experienced his pattern of abusing his Congressional power. Five years prior (1993) by sheer chance, I became aware of Henry Hyde's (then Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee) serial, adulterous life style. Hyde, a House institution, an icon of "family values and moral rectitude, was a hyper hypocrite. It was on a tennis court in my neighborhood in Aventura, FL, that the following episode took place. It was while changing sides, Willie (a one-time substitute in our foursome) asked Fred Snodgrass from where he was. Both were from Chicago, and Willie offered that he had a men's haberdashery in the Loop. He added, dropping a name, that Henry Hyde was one of his customers. Fred exploded, "Henry Hyde, that SOB, had a 7 year affair with my wife Cherie, caused our divorce, breaking up our family." This took place 30 years prior, she had three small children, Hyde, then an Illinois state legislator, was the father of 4 small children. Nothing more was said, and we resumed our game. Since I had no reason to do anything with this salacious, true story, I merely stored it away in my mind
On Jan. 21, 1998 (I call it 'Monica date'), the salacious Clinton's affair with Monica broke. I immediately concluded that the Republicans would seize on this scandal, impeach our President and try to remove him from office. I was convinced that Clinton's behavior in his office, as reprehensible it was, was not an impeachable offense, but would become a huge miscarriage of political justice and a blight in our country's history. I felt strongly that this travesty was about to occur, would be spearheaded by the likes of Hyde, and would be the height of hypocrisy. Knowing that the House serves as a grand jury in an impeachment proceeding, that Hyde would steer Articles of Impeachment through his committee, and the "Stepford husbands and wives" would vote in lock step with its leadership, Gingrich, Armey and Delay, and a trial would take place in the Senate, with the Senators as jurors.
With this background, I was determined that I would do whatever this 80 year old, member of the "greatest generation", private citizen, acting alone could do to derail Hyde, since he would be the chief 'manager' (i.e. prosecutor) in the Senate trial.
Swinging into action and getting Fred's permission to use the story the best I could, I immediately started contacting media people without divulging Fred and his ex-wife. I assumed they would be interested in the story. Amazingly, it took me 7 months and 57 media contacts before Salon (an internet magazine) grasped at the exclusive story I was about to give David Talbot, publisher/editor, who realized the significance and had no sympathy for Hyde. In fairness and good journalism and prior to posting the story on Sept. 17, Salon confronted Hyde with the allegations so that he wouldn't be surprised and could either deny or confirm the story. The facts were irrefutable, especially an Associated Press photo captioned, "House Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry Hyde with a woman identified as Cherie Snodgrass in a Chicago nightclub in the 1960's." (Cherie is sitting on Hyde's lap in the photo.) So Hyde acknowledged to his "youthful indiscretion"(s), but claimed "the statute of limitations had expired." Talk about lame and mealy mouth excuses! What ensued is the 'rest of the story', of which few people know, and will find interesting.
On Sept. 16, one day prior to the story breaking, Hyde, as Chairman of the Judiciary (impeachment) Committee, issued a press bulletin informing and warning that whoever interferes with, or tries to intimidate the Judiciary Committee's procedures, is subject to Federal prosecution, and if found guilty, subject to a 5 year imprisonment and a fine. I first heard this on the Greta van Sustern TV noontime show (then on CNN) with guest Rep. Zoe Lofgren (Dem. CA), member of the Judiciary Committee, discussing the impeachment. During the interview Greta was handed the Hyde press release. It had a chilling effect on me, thinking back to the McCarthy reign of terror period and of how much of the populace were cowed and intimidated by this solitary U.S Senator, not even in the Republican leadership, but a reckless, tyrannical, cowardly, alcoholic bully. Then, too, the reaction and response from responsible people who knew better was slow and muted. I thought for sure that many in the media would recognize and protest what I considered a violation of my First Amendment right of free speech and expression. The New York Times reported only as news by David Stout, without editorializing on 9/17/98 as follows: "THE CHAIRMAN HYDE ACKNOWLEDGES 'INDISCRETION' FOLLOWING REPORT OF AN AFFAIR." A media feeding frenzy ensued.
On Sept. 18 Tom DeLay called a press conference reported by the New York Times by John Cushman, Jr., which featured a large photo of Tom DeLay, captioned "Speaking to reporters, Rep. Tom DeLay yesterday accused the White House of "trying to destroy their enemies for years." (How reckless and projecting, especially since Salon attributed their source to me, and neither Salon nor I had any contact with the White House.)
In this lengthy article, the substance is excerpted as follows:
"Top Republicans sent a letter to the F.B.I. Director,
Louis Freeh, about rumors of smear tactics. "If these reports are
true, the letter said, "the actions of the individuals responsible
are pure and simple intimidation" The letter was signed by speaker
Newt Gingrich, Rep. Dick Armey of Texas, the majority leader, and
Tom DeLay of Texas, the majority whip, and several others. Mr. DeLay,
in a news conference, called the timing "really interesting" and
accused the White House of "lying, of covering up, of stonewalling,
of trying to destroy their enemies for years"
All of this is reminiscent of the McCarthy nightmare period of destroying and terrorizing. While I spend too much time monitoring the media, I noticed practically no condemning commentary, déjà vu (all over again). The only exception I ran across was the following on the Institute for Public Accuracy Internet site as follows
Michael Ratner, an attorney and co-author of the book, Representing Witnesses Before Federal Grand Juries, commented on the uproar over reporting about Hyde's extramarital affair. "The prospect of the FBI looking at who revealed this is intimidating. It's bordering on a violation of the First Amendment, and certainly its spirit. Congress is not an impartial jury in an impeachment, there is no judge ruling on the evidence they can look at. They (The Republicans) can't have it both ways-They can't release all this prosecutor's evidence. If you look at the nature of impeachment, it is not the same as a criminal trial. They've been talking about the moral fiber of the President, and the background of the people judging him is relevant. That they do not have the moral fiber they laud, shows them up as doing a political hatchet job on Clinton."
As we now know, Clinton was impeached in the House by a unanimous, lock step Republican vote, and the impeachment procedure proceeded to the Senate for trial. Chief Justice Renquist presided, and a battery of House members as prosecutors, with Hyde the lead manager. As the result of the 'September Surprise' Hyde received, he was no longer the haughty, arrogant, smoothly articulate persona, but had a diminished and ineffective persona. Since Clinton's lying under oath regarding an illicit sexual affair was not a 'high crime and misdemeanor', it was not an impeachable offense and he was exonerated. What a juxtaposition and commentary when placing Clinton's impeachment along side the current occupant of the White House! Compare, while Clinton lied no one died, as Bush lies thousands die. The irony is that since the Republicans control all three branches of government, there is practically no way of impeaching Bush and removing him from office, peacefully and legally, until his term expires on Jan 20, 2009. The question is asked, "What will it take to remove the Bush crime family and the Republican Party from office, peacefully and legally?" My answer is on our home page of the "Umbrella Movement to Counteract the Right", which I founded three years ago, and am President. Read the first few articles, especially Bill Bradley's A Party Inverted and my Power of the Progressive Pyramid. Absent adopting the concepts described, we Progressives will be still wandering in the wilderness, with our country going further down hill.
Finally, can one individual make a difference? Consider this:
- Gingrich was the Speaker in 1998. Because of ethics and marital infidelity problems, he resigned from both the Speakership and the Congress.
- Hyde became the consensus choice to succeed Gingrich. Because of the revelation of his past "youthful indiscretions", he was dropped like a hot potato.
- Robert Livingston (LA) announced his intention to run for Speaker, and was unchallenged, becoming the presumptive Speaker, until election. Larry Flynt, Hustler magazine ran a large ad in the Washington Post, offering up to $1 Million for verifiable salacious information relative to leading Republican Congress people. Flynt seized on this publicity stunt, when the gigantic media feeding frenzy created by the Hyde scandal impressed him. It became known to Livingston, that one of his extra-marital affairs was about to be made public. He then announced on the House floor, his declining the Speakership and was resigning from Congress, and is now a high priced lobbyist.
- After Gingrich's swift departure, Tom DeLay could always have been selected Speaker, but preferred to remain Majority leader, where he could continue using his 'Hammer' to wield the maximum power and do his nefarious work. Dennis Hastert, a non-descript crony of DeLay, was chosen by DeLay to become Speaker
- I derive satisfaction from knowing what the chain of events I initiated and the unintended consequences that resulted. Yes, one individual can and did make a difference!
I will appreciate your reading this admittedly lengthy thesis, and share your thoughts and comments with me. Norman Sommer
