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Fred Thompson vs. Harold Ickes: Place your Bets
Fred Thompson -- Throwing in the crying towel?
Wednesday, October 8th 1997: I couldn't ask for a better birthday present than to look forward to Harold Ickes' testimony this morning as he reappears on Capitol Hill to field questions from fired-up GOP members of the Senate Oversight Committee. The atmosphere couldn't be more electric as the media, in some self-congratulatory frenzy, finally floods the nation's airwaves with nothing but campaign finance stories, specials and interviews. Americans, if they want to, can't avoid thinking about campaign cash. Even PBS, with it's unfortunate hit piece on the Clintons last night -- Frontline's "Once Upon a Time in Arkansas" -- jumped on the anti-Clinton bandwagon, if only to prove that the federal dollars it receives are not all spent on liberal pursuits.
Everyone is angry. Janet Reno is reportedly furious over not having seen the silly coffee tapes before pronouncing the President "spotless." -- So much so that she's summoned Lanny Breuer, a senior White House counsel, to testify before Wednesday's Grand Jury, investigating campaign finance hijinx, to explain how these tapes failed to appear in a more timely manner.
John McCain -- A losing bill yesterday
Fred Thompson is angry for being picked on by everyone, including his own party leadership. Bill Clinton is angry for the failure of the band-aid McCain/Feingold bill to get to a vote on the Senate floor yesterday. The entire Republican party is angry at Janet Reno for not appointing a special prosecutor. Guests at White House coffees are angry at seeing themselves paraded across America's television screens looking silly as they gawk, giggle and pinch themselves with glee as the POTUS steps into the Map Room to pour coffee.
The press is angry that Fred Thompson thinks they should do their job and attend even his most boring committee sessions.
But me, I'm not angry. I'm delighted.
There's finally some interesting action in the District. Yesterday was vintage Washington. At 10:07 the President stepped to the podium in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, and before he could get out his complaints that Republicans were scuttling McCain/Feingold, networks switched to the Thompson hearings where they knew the action would be. There we found Chairman Fred whining about being misunderstood and harangued -- even by his fellows. We heard him challenge the President to come to his Committee and "explain" -- after all "it was your campaign, it is your White House," he lamented in his best Shakespearian mask. Thompson, the actor, then once more went over the trumped up litany of White House misfeasance, finally running out of steam. He looked broken -- as he well should have. "I'm trying to be fair to you Mr. President... " - -he all but wept.
John Glenn -- sparring like a champ
Then newly-feisty John Glenn leapt to the gap, exposing Thompson's charade, saying he agreed with Thompson about getting information. After all, hardly any Democrat subpoenas to hear dirt on Republicans had been honored or served by the Chairman. "In eight weeks of hearings we've had 3 days ..." he chided. "On foreign money - Haley Barbour was the star," he reminded Thompson. On Barbour, Glenn spat, "The Justice Department watches these hearings and they know perjury when they see it!"
Pete Domenici -- "Reno is a liar."
Senator Domenici was priggishly upset because Janet Reno had a full blown investigation already going on his pal Haley Barbour. Domenici actually said that Reno "should be relieved of her responsibility by the President" but couldn't come up with a reason why except that her statements were "so inconsistent" and that she was a liar -- well he actually said "she was not telling the truth," which is poli-speak for "liar." Why? Because she said she had uncovered every stone and because she told the FBI they couldn't interview certain highly placed officials without due cause. Of course Domenici thinks "cause" is a story in the Washington Post, a rumor, or something written on a bathroom wall. He failed to grasp that Barbour himself had most likely committed perjury right in front of the committee.
Democrat Senator Carl Levin, the owlish angler, called Thompson's bluff and asked that White House Counsel Charles Ruff -- who was in the hearing room by design -- be called that minute to testify about the late appearance of the coffee videos.
Even Thompson wasn't buying.
Senator Smith, always a blowhard, said "Let's get serious," and threw around slogans like "conspiracy to cover up the truth, and actually said it was time for the President and the Vice President to come up and testify AND if they didn't that he might subpoena them. Of course, the sub-committee cannot subpoena them.
Thompson did score a few points when Smith suggested that the President's attorney Bob Bennett become the Attorney General, implying Reno was Clinton's defense counsel. Thompson quipped, " The people can't afford him," and got a big laugh from the press.
But the biggest guffaw from the press corps was reserved for Senator Smith who had the gall to say, that the situation yesterday was ". . .probably the biggest scandal in the history of the Republic." Laughter peeled from the press gallery at this Smithism and he became visibly agitated remonstrating the press. You had to be there.
Bob Torricelli - The wisest senator there
Democrat Bob Torricelli then wisely reminded the panel that Janet Reno's decisions were judgements of law, and that the threats Reno was taking from the Committee were -- "The political equivalent of obstruction of justice." Torricelli, the brightest member of the sub-committee, showed his wisdom when he said, "You've made it impossible for her to appoint an independent counsel." His point? -- That If she did, it would appear she was bowing to pressure from Thompson and his cohorts.
The sniping went on for nearly two hours. Then, just as Thompson was about to swear in Harold Ickes -- the much-awaited star of the week -- John Glenn piped up and tried to have White House Counsel Ruff called first. Thompson said, " This is not a cocktail lounge where you can pull up a barstool... " Glenn interrupts him and asks for a full committee vote on calling Ruff and Thompson refuses. The media may not have noticed, but when Glenn asked for a vote, a few Republican members quickly left the room thus depriving the committee of a quorum and making Glenn's call for a vote impossible. It was a circus.
Then, out of the blue, Thompson recesses. And that was it until that afternoon. The Senate, under the poison pill amendment of Trent Lott, had defeated McCain/Feingold by this time and Ickes was duly sworn in.
Harold Ickes -- preaching to the Senate
Ickes delivered all that was promised laying out a case for the White House and against the Republicans. Ickes testified that he patterned White House fundraising after the Reagan and Bush administrations and cited James Baker as kind of his absentee guru. He reminded the committee that the President was allowed to make calls for money, permitted to have friends and supporters stay in the Lincoln bedroom, and that it was standard practice for the President to be the leader of his party, to raise money for it, and to coordinate its activities with the White House. Ickes also defended Janet Reno -- who needed no such defense.
"We played by the rules. You and only you can change the rules." he said.
Ickes testimony was refreshing and to the point, although too focused on his own alleged shenanigans and a bit to "preachy" for most senate tastes. But Thompson, showing some savvy, simply ended the day as Ickes concluded his opening statement - taking the wind out of the story.
This morning, Harold Ickes will take the Committees questions.
It will be one to remember.
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