Friday, February 12, 1999 -- Washington -- In a resounding defeat of a fraudulent right-wing attempt to remove President William Jefferson Clinton from office, the Senate found House Managers and Independent Counsel Kenneth W. Starr guilty on two counts of mounting a salacious, seditious and ultimately failed false prosecution of the President.

Senators found the managers and Starr guilty on the perjury count by a vote of 55-45, and on the obstruction of justice count by a close vote of 50-50, while simultaneously declaring themselves of "guilty" or "not guilty" of collusion in the attempt to remove Clinton.

While the numbers were not sufficient to remove Starr or the thirteen House Managers from office, the guilty parties face major difficulties in the near future.

Kenneth W. Starr faces a growing number of investigations by the Department of Justice, the FBI and the District of Columbia Bar Association concerning his and his staff's conduct in the investigation into disproven allegations of wrongdoing by the Clintons in the Whitewater development land deal, the inspection of FBI files of Republican figures by White House officials with concerns about prior patterns of corruption and cronyism, the dismissal of political appointees in the White House travel office over issues of competence and possible misconduct, and the suicide of Vincent Foster -- and how exactly Starr and his staff managed to turn all of these dry wells into a set-up sex scandal.

Ironically, it may be the Bar Association investigation that will raise the biggest questions about Starr's motives for merging his investigation with the Paula Jones sex-harassment case -- now regarded by many legal experts as a semi-artfully-handled case of fraud against President Clinton and the civil court system following Robert Bennett's systematic cross-examination of Paula Jones that uncovered five possible instances of perjury in her sworn complaint against Clinton.

The pattern and practice of abuse of the legal system by Starr's office by the merger of the two investigations, combined with Starr's assaults on attorney-client privilege and long-respected privileges held by the Executive branch, have raised questions among the Beltway's most influential attorneys concerning an attempt to subvert the Constitution itself and remove the President -- grounds for charges of conspiracy to commit sedition and treason.

A highly-placed Washington attorney told American Politics Journal that "Starr should enjoy holding a license to practice law while he still can."

And a large number of House Managers now find political opposition in their districts growing from both outside and within their own party. The most vulnerable was one of the most visible during the attempted impeachment coup -- sources have told American Politics Journal that Republicans in California's 27th District are already looking for a candidate to challenge James Rogan due to his approval ratings, which have plummeted in the last three weeks.

Rogan is not alone -- a number of the other Managers are already involved in preemptory damage control in the wake of the attempted impeachment coup, including attempts to defuse personal and financial scandals which may emerge in the twenty-one months leading up to the next elections. Already, Henry Hyde faces renewed questions about his involvement in Clyde Savings & Loan, a failed S&L, and Hyde's alleged assault of Fred Snodgrass in the midst of an affair Hyde was having with Snodgrass' wife Cherie. Charles Canady is working to counterspin questions concerning allegations of an affair he had during his 1992 congressional campaign. Bob Barr must answer to his constituents for taking the Georgia equivalent of the fifth amendment in the course of a divorce proceeding. And other Managers are sure to find their own past histories under scrutiny sure to cause them discomfort.

These men will have to face the jury of their constituents who, conservative though they may be, must weigh for themselves the hypocrisy of their congressmen exposed for what it is, and their collusion with a corrupt Independent Counsel in an attempt to do an end-run around the Constitution to remove Bill Clinton.

No one is innocent. But rest assured that some of these men will be found guilty in the polling booths...

because Americans know the difference between a private affair and public exploitation, between protecting the Constitution and half-baked house-of-cards charges of "crimes of state," between the rule of law and a coup d'etat.

Fourteen men, their supporters, guilty as charged.

-- The Editors