Inouye to help
decide rules for
Clinton trial

The isle senator might have
played a larger role in setting up
impeachment procedures

By Pete Pichaske
Phillips News Service

WASHINGTON -- He was on the committee that investigated Richard Nixon. He chaired the committee that investigated Ronald Reagan. And now Hawaii's U.S. Sen. Dan Inouye will be a senior member of the committee that will help set the rules for the impeachment trial of Bill Clinton.

Who says lightning doesn't strike twice -- or three times -- in the same place?

In fact, Inouye was very nearly the top Democrat on the panel. Because of his seniority, he could have had the job of "ranking" Democrat on the Senate Rules and Administration Committee when Sen. Wendell Ford of Kentucky retired this year. The ranking member is the panel leader for the minority party.

Instead, Inouye chose to remain ranking Democrat on the Indian Affairs Committee, leaving the rules post for Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut.

If he had known then what he knows now -- that the rules panel will set the procedures for the historic impeachment trial -- would Inouye have opted for the rules job?

"I would have given it some thought, but I think the result would have been the same," said Inouye.

"When you consider the unfinished agenda we have on Indian Affairs, I decided that's where I should stay."

The Rules Committee's impeachment role will not be nearly as significant as the House Judiciary Committee's.

The full Senate will conduct the trial, and it might decide to use existing impeachment rules, adopted in 1868 and amended in 1986. That would leave the committee out of the procedure entirely.

But some expect the 16-member panel (nine Republicans, seven Democrats) to help determine such matters as how evidence is heard and when and how often senators can speak. Whatever rules the panel sets must be approved by the full Senate.

"The committee will certainly be involved in setting whatever rules they have," said Don Ritchie, associate Senate historian.

Compared to the House Judiciary Committee, he said, the Senate Rules Committee's job is "more looking at the mechanism rather than the issues."

"We will make suggestions as to the rules on conduct and participation, for example," said Inouye. "We could very likely give each senator one question, or something like that."

Much has been made of the fact that in the nation's only other impeachment trial, the 1868 trial of Andrew Johnson, senators were not allowed to speak but could only submit questions in writing -- although many found a way around the ban.

Despite a role that could prove pivotal in yet another president's future, Inouye was not looking forward to taking up the Clinton impeachment.

"No matter what happens -- a trial or some sort of alternative solution -- it's not going to be a happy chore," he said.

"The whole thing, I wish it hadn't happened. But that's part of our job."