Livingston Hopes Probe Ends in 1998
GOP Investigators Drop Fund-Raising From Probe

By DAVID ESPO
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (Dec. 3) - Republicans jettisoned campaign fund raising from their impeachment inquiry Wednesday, likely clearing the way for a historic Judiciary Committee vote next week over President Clinton's relationship with Monica Lewinsky and his effort to cover it up.

At the same time, incoming Speaker Bob Livingston signaled a desire for the full House to convene in a pre-Christmas session to vote on any articles of impeachment that win committee approval.

''If the Judiciary Committee could complete its work next week, it would be my expectation that we could have a vote on the following week,'' the Louisiana Republican said in his first public remarks on the subject in more than a week.

Taken together, the developments amounted to strong signals that majority Republicans - chastened by disappointing election results - intend to move swiftly to wrap up the third presidential impeachment inquiry in the nation's history. Even so, while the GOP-controlled panel is expected to approve at least one article of impeachment on a party line vote, the outcome on the House floor remains in doubt.

Democrats, as well as Republicans including Peter King of New York, intensified efforts during the day to craft an alternative that would stop short of impeachment.

Spokesman Kevin Fogarty said King and several other GOP lawmakers were laboring over a proposal that would ''include a strong condemnation of Clinton and require him to pay a financial penalty and issue a statement acknowledging wrongdoing.''

Key Democrats met privately with the party's leader, Rep. Dick Gephardt, and - according to two sources speaking on condition of anonymity - they will soon begin contacting Republican lawmakers outside the Judiciary Committee to see what bipartisan cooperation might be possible in the full House. These sources added that while Democrats are willing to join in efforts to wrap up the issue by year's end, they will insist on a lengthy period for debate on the House floor and demand that consideration be given to censure as an alternative to impeachment.

In comments to reporters, Livingston sidestepped questions over censure. ''Each member of Congress has the responsibility to search his heart and his conscience and judge for himself the importance to his constituents, what his vote should be,'' said the Louisiana Republican.

Livingston was clear that he wants the committee to complete its work this year, if possible. While he indicated he would like the House to convene after the panel votes, only Rep. Newt Gingrich, the outgoing speaker, has the power to call lawmakers back for a lame-duck session. Gingrich is expected to agree to do so if Livingston asks.

The GOP suffered unexpected setbacks in last month's elections, and polls indicate consistently that the public wants the curtain to come down on the long-running national drama involving the president and the former White House intern.

Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., chairman of the Judiciary Committee, has made it clear for several weeks he wants to wrap the panel's work up by year's end. At the same time, he says he wants to pursue all legitimate leads.

On Tuesday, the committee won an order from a federal judge permitting investigators access to unedited, internal Justice Department memoranda relating to the agency's inquiry into alleged irregularities in Clinton's 1996 re-election campaign. Within hours, two committee lawyers journeyed to the Justice Department, read the memos, then returned to the Capitol where they reported their findings to Hyde and Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., the senior Democrat on the committee.

Hyde relayed the results to GOP members of the panel in a morning conference call.

''The evidence from the Department of Justice being examined in relation to possible campaign finance violations will not be a part of the inquiry next week,'' Rep. Asa Hutchinson, R-Ark., said through his spokesman afterward. Hutchinson said the committee ''will not pursue it at this juncture.''

The decision to abandon the campaign finance aspect of the impeachment inquiry came a few days after Republicans similarly decided not to look in depth at allegations by Kathleen Willey, a former White House volunteer, that Clinton had made a sexual pass at her. In that case, Republicans on the committee subpoenaed Mrs. Willey's attorney and Nathan Landow, a Democratic donor, in connection with her allegations. After questioning them, Republicans then declared the issue was off the table for the impeachment inquiry.

Other areas have been dropped one-by-one, as well.

Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr advised the committee in a daylong appearance last month he had found no evidence of impeachable offenses in controversies involving FBI files at the White House; the firing of White House travel office officials and Whitewater, the failed Arkansas land deal in Arkansas he was originally appointed to investigate.

The decision to drop campaign finance issues apparently leaves the panel to craft articles of impeachment only from Clinton's sexual trysts with Ms. Lewinsky and his efforts to conceal them in a sworn deposition, in a grand jury appearance, in conversations with aides who later testified before the grand jury, and to the public.

AP-NY-12-03-98 1648EST