PRESIDENT NOW JOINS FRATERNITY OF SHAME.

Byline: Raja Mishra Knight Ridder Newspapers

With the weight of history hanging on every solemn ``yes'' and ``no,'' the Republican-controlled House Judiciary Committee on Friday called for President William Jefferson Clinton to be impeached and removed from office for lying and obstructing justice, forever tarnishing his legacy with a mark of disgrace.

The first vote came within 10 minutes of Clinton's Rose Garden plea for censure and immediately elevated the president's troubles far beyond the humiliation of his affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

Without a single Democratic vote, the committee placed this twice-elected president in an exclusive yet ignominious fraternity: He is now only the third American president on the path to eviction from the White House.

House leaders have called the lame-duck Congress back to Washington next week to debate the impeachment articles - only the second time in the nation's history that the legislative body will be deliberating one of the most grave constitutional questions it can address.

Despite public sentiment against Clinton's removal and increasingly intense White House efforts to secure a milder form of punishment such as censure, the outcome in the GOP-controlled House remained tilted toward impeachment.

``He lied so many times and in so many forms, it's really hard to keep track of it all,'' said Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Ohio, a member of the committee. ``Unfortunately, I believe for the children of this nation, the president has to be impeached.''

In an extraordinary moment Friday, members of the committee rushed out of the hearing room to watch Clinton on television expressing ``profound remorse'' about his conduct, then returned and, without pause, voted in favor of an article of impeachment that accuses him of lying before a grand jury about his affair and his efforts to keep it quiet.

Within two hours, the committee approved a second article, charging the president with perjury in his deposition in the Paula Jones sexual harassment case. Only one Republican, Rep. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, defected.

The third article, charging the president with obstruction of justice, passed like the first, by a party-line vote of 21-16. A fourth article that accuses Clinton of abuse of power as well as a Democratic censure motion reprimanding the president was to be voted upon Saturday.

The partisan votes - Graham was the only committee member to switch sides - contrasted sharply with the Watergate impeachment articles 24 years ago. Then, President Nixon resigned within days, swayed by an overwhelming vote against him that included a number of Republicans.

Severe consequences

This committee's action, predictable as it was, had a sobering effect in the nation's capital, even while poll after poll shows that the public remains steadfastly opposed to ousting the president. The vote suddenly attached a sense of somber consequence to a subject most Americans would rather wish away.

Democrats argued that even if Clinton lied - and several agreed that he did - his conduct does not meet the constitutional standard for impeachment.

``Wake up, America! They are about to impeach our president,'' said Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Fla. ``They are about to reverse two national elections. They are about to discard your votes.

``What's it all about? Sex.''

Clinton's fate in the House rests with about two dozen lawmakers, most of them Republicans, who have kept silent about whether he should be impeached and placed on trial before the Senate. It would take two-thirds of the Senate to convict the president, an unattainable number at this point.

But by making his last-ditch remarks, just hours before departing on a peace mission to the Middle East, Clinton made it clear that he fears the enormous blemish that impeachment alone would leave upon his legacy.

Gaining momentum

``If a vote were held today, I think a vote would pass,'' said Rep. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., a Judiciary Committee member and senator-elect who would serve as a juror in a Senate trial. ``The only thing that would stop it is a strong reaction from the American people.''

But it was not at all clear how even a strong public reaction could be expressed before the House addresses the question next week. Opinion polls have reflected anti-impeachment sentiment for months, and many Republicans blamed the party's poor showing in November elections on the inquiry. Still, impeachment has gained momentum.

As the committee debated the articles of impeachment Friday, a flurry of Republicans who previously had not declared their stance announced they would vote for at least one count of impeachment, creating an impression of momentum against the president. Among them were Charles Norwood and Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida and Rodney Frelinghuysen of New Jersey.

Clinton's Rose Garden apology, a response to moderate Republicans who had asked that he make a heartfelt confession about wrongdoing, did not convince one fence-sitter.

Too little, too late?

Rep. Bob Franks, R-N.J., said he was prepared to vote for impeachment unless Clinton ``comes forward soon and admits his guilt.''

``Unfortunately, through his remarks this evening, the president continues to put his own self-interest ahead of the interests of the nation by refusing to take personal responsibility for his actions.''

Several moderate Republicans remained closemouthed Friday. Democratic vote counters said that as of Friday they expected to lose five to eight Democrats in favor of impeachment. That means Clinton would need 16 to 19 Republicans to vote in his favor to overcome the GOP's 22-vote majority in the House.

House members, most of them still on a postelection break, will return to Washington next week and begin deliberations Thursday.

The first article of impeachment against the president charges him with one or more of the following lies under oath when he testified before the Lewinsky grand jury Aug. 17:

``The nature and details of his relationship'' with Monica Lewinsky.

``Prior perjurious, false and misleading testimony he gave in the Paula Jones civil rights case.''

``Prior false and misleading statements he allowed his attorney, Bob Bennett, to make in the Paula Jones case.''

``His efforts to influence the testimony of witnesses and to impede the discovery of evidence in the Paula Jones case.''

The debate over the first article sounded many of the themes that have rung through the Judiciary Committee chambers over the last nine weeks: Is the president's private conduct a public matter? Does perjury rise to the level of ``bribery, treason, and high crimes and misdemeanors,'' the constitutional standard for impeachment? Should the opinion of the American people play a role in judging the president?

The committee remained bitterly divided to the end, and Graham, who supported the first article, said sending the matter to the full House, and possibly the Senate, would allow the American people to really answer those questions for themselves.

``It's time to evaluate who we are as a people,'' he said in his opening remarks Friday morning.

The second article charges Clinton, in broad, unspecified terms, with perjury during his deposition in the Jones case. That case was thrown out by a U.S. District judge. Before an appeals court could rule on an appeal, the president and Jones settled the case for $850,000.

The separation of the two perjury articles - one for grand jury lies, one for those in the Jones case - is significant because many Republicans have expressed concern with impeaching the president for lies in a case that was thrown out of court. Those Republicans can still vote for the grand jury article that was passed Friday.

This was the case with Graham, who has long said he opposes charging the president with perjury in a case that was thrown out of court.

The third article, obstruction of justice, accuses Clinton of encouraging witnesses to lie in the Jones case; helping Lewinsky conceal gifts from him; influencing the grand jury testimony of his secretary, Betty Currie; and getting Lewinsky a job in exchange for her silence.

The fourth article, abuse of power, alleges he sought to use his lawyers to ward off investigators and lied to the American public about his affair with Lewinsky. Of the four, this has the least likely chance of passing. Already, two Republicans have said they will not vote for it. If one more joins them and Democrats are united, it will fail.

Each article that garners 218 or more votes in the House will be sent to the Senate. There the president will face an epic trial in which U.S. Chief Justice William Rehnquist is judge, House members are prosecutors and the Senate is the jury.

A two-thirds vote would remove the president from office. This has never happened. At present, the Senate has 55 Republicans and 45 Democrats, making Clinton's ouster an unlikely proposition.

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Photo

PHOTO President Clinton prepares to issue a brief statement on the impeachment inquiry in the Rose Garden at the White House on Friday.

J. Scott Applewhite/Associated Press