ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, January 22, 1997 TAG: 9701220066
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: From The Washington Post and The Boston Globe
The House on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly to reprimand House Speaker Newt Gingrich and order him to pay an unprecedented $300,000 penalty, the first time in the House's 208-year history it has disciplined a speaker for ethical wrongdoing.
The ethics case and its resolution leave Gingrich, R-Ga., with little leeway for future personal controversies, House Republicans said. Exactly one month ago, Gingrich admitted that he had brought discredit on the House and broken its rules by failing to ensure that financing for two projects would not violate federal tax law and by giving the House ethics committee false information.
``Newt has done some things that have embarrassed House Republicans and embarrassed the House,'' said Rep. Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich. ``If [the voters] see more of that, they will question our judgment.''
House Democrats are likely to continue to press other ethics charges against Gingrich, and the Internal Revenue Service is looking into matters related to the case.
The 395-to-28 vote closed a tumultuous chapter that began Sept. 7, 1994, when former Rep. Ben Jones, D-Ga., running against Gingrich, filed an ethics complaint against the then-GOP whip. The complaint took on greater significance when the GOP took control of the House for the first time in four decades, propelling Gingrich into the speaker's chair.
Two Democrats, Reps. Earl Hilliard of Alabama and Gene Taylor of Mississippi, voted against the punishment. Taylor said the measure should have specified the $300,000 come from personal funds, not campaign coffers or a legal expense fund. Hilliard did not return telephone calls.
In addition, five Democrats voted ``present,'' many of them saying they believed the sanction was not severe enough. ``If Newt Gingrich did what they said he did, he should have been censured,'' said Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif. A censure, second only in severity to expulsion, would have threatened Gingrich's speakership.
Gingrich's lawyer, Randolph Evans, said the speaker might dip into his $1 million campaign account to pay the fine, but many House members, including Republicans, said Gingrich should use his own money.
``I would advise the speaker that payment of this cost assessment from his personal funds would at least begin to rehabilitate this House and the ethics process to which we are all accountable,'' said Rep. Marge Roukema, R-N.J.
Evans said he was researching ways the fine could be paid. And House Republican leader Dick Armey of Texas said, ``They will work it out, and it will be done in a legal and acceptable manner.''
There is no rule or law that prohibits using campaign money to pay fines. Public funds may not be used, and the ethics committee deliberately left it open as to how Gingrich should settle his debt.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat and member of the investigative subcommittee that handled the Gingrich case, said, ``I hope this money will not come from political funds, because that will increase the cynicism of the American people.''
The ethics case added to the last congressional session's fierce partisanship as Democrats embarrassed House Republicans with it in last year's elections. Lawmakers in both parties said they hoped the vote to punish Gingrich would help ease those tensions.
``If our action today fails to chasten this body and bring a halt to the crippling partisanship and animosity that has surrounded us, then we will have lost an opportunity,'' said Rep. Nancy Johnson, R-Conn., ethics committee chairwoman.
Similarly, President Clinton, when asked about the matter, said, ``The House should do its business and then we should get back to the people's business.''
The speaker was barely visible Tuesday, staying away from the House floor during the 90-minute debate and vote on his punishment. He was in his office and did not watch the proceedings on television, according to spokesman Lauren Maddox.
Gingrich left late Tuesday afternoon for a two-day GOP House leadership retreat in Fauquier County, Va. As he left, he was asked if he was glad the case was over. He smiled broadly and said ``yes.''
House Democrats had considered trying to force a vote Tuesday on reconsidering Gingrich's Jan. 7 re-election as speaker - the first for a Republican in 68 years - but decided against it, fearing it would distract from the harsh punishment being meted out.
In a strongly worded report, special counsel James Cole concluded that Gingrich had violated tax law and lied to the committee, but the subcommittee would not go that far. In exchange for the investigative subcommittee's agreeing to modify the charges against him - essentially a plea-bargain agreement - Gingrich agreed to the penalty Dec. 20 as part of a deal in which he admitted guilt.
Johnson called the reprimand and financial penalty ``tough and unprecedented. It is also appropriate. No one is above the rules of the House.''
LENGTH: Medium: 94 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. House Speaker Newt Gingrich (center) waves as heby CNBheads for the House floor on Capitol Hill Tuesday. color.