Reprinted from The Washington Times , 5am -- May 11, 1998
Democrats seek ouster of Burton from probe
By Joyce Howard Price
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Democrats said yesterday they will cooperate in the House campaign-finance investigation only if Republican leaders oust Rep. Dan Burton as head of the probe. Mr. Burton pledged to press forward.
California Rep. Henry A. Waxman, ranking Democrat on the Government Reform and Oversight Committee, sent a letter to House Speaker Newt Gingrich yesterday in which he said Democrats would end their opposition to immunity for four witnesses in the foreign money inquiry if another Republican on the panel replaced Mr. Burton as chairman.
"For the investigation to have any legitimacy, this must happen," Mr. Waxman wrote.
Christina Martin, spokeswoman for Mr. Gingrich, dismissed the offer. "The speaker intends to keep Rep. Burton as Government Oversight chairman. Henry Waxman ought to vote for immunity because it's the right thing to do, not as a result of a stonewalling game," she said.
Mr. Waxman and other Democrats charge that Mr. Burton has turned the committee's campaign-finance probe into a partisan attack on the president. But Mr. Burton and the House Republican leadership accuse the Democrats of trying to prevent them from learning the truth about Democratic fund-raising abuses.
Interviewed yesterday on "Fox News Sunday," Mr. Burton said he's been assured by Mr. Gingrich that he will stay on as committee chairman, and that his duties will not change.
"The speaker has indicated no change whatsoever. In fact, last week, when I talked to him personally, he indicated full support for our committee and our investigation," the Indiana Republican said.
The committee is scheduled to vote Wednesday on whether to grant immunity in exchange for testimony by Kent La, a business associate of Los Angeles entrepreneur Ted Sioeng; Larry Wong, a friend of convicted Democratic fund-raisers Gene and Nora Lum; and Irene Wu and Nancy Lee, former employees of businessman Johnny Chung, who has admitted violating election law.
Committee Democrats opposed immunity for those witnesses in an earlier vote, even though the Justice Department said it had no objection.
Mr. Burton said he expects to lose the immunity vote again this week. But "if we can't get immunity for some witnesses, Rep. [Bill] Thomas will take part of the investigation," he said. The California Republican is chairman of the House Oversight Committee. Republicans on that panel have the two-thirds majority needed to grant immunity to witnesses.
But Mr. Burton stressed that a failure to win immunity for the four witnesses would not shut down his campaign-finance probe. "We will have more hearings. ... We have additional information on money coming from South America and other parts of the world. ... There's a lot more to this investigation," he said on Fox.
There have been stepped-up Democratic demands for Mr. Burton to be pulled off the campaign finance probe since his release of selectively edited transcripts of recorded prison phone conversations between former Associate Attorney General Webster Hubbell and his wife, Suzanna. Democrats charged that the transcripts left out information favorable to the president and first lady.
Burton critics question how he can be impartial when he has called Mr. Clinton a "scumbag" and has indicated a desire to "get" the president.
House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt, who appeared on several network news talk shows yesterday, said on NBC's "Meet the Press" he'd like to see "someone like Henry Hyde," Illinois Republican and chairman of the Judiciary Committee, take over the investigation.
Mr. Gephardt, Missouri Democrat, threatened to seek a floor vote to remove Mr. Burton as the House's top campaign-finance investigator if he "simply continues to do what he's been doing."
But House Majority Whip Tom DeLay of Texas, who also appeared on "Meet the Press," said Mr. Burton's position is secure, and he chastised the Democrats. "We're trying to get at the truth, but [the Democrats] are trying to block us every step of the way. ... The Democrats know when the truth comes out, they will be hurt politically."Copyright 1998 News World Communications, Inc.
Reprinted with permission of
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