Impeachment proceedings - Page A1

WASHINGTON DESK - In the wake of discovery on Thursday of a second horde of confidential Clinton-Gore Campaign papers turned over to Congress by Harold Ickes, the House Judiciary Committee has been asked to begin an impeachment inquiry of president Clinton and vice president Al Gore amid accusations that a growing campaign-finance scandal has compromised national-security interests and corrupted the country's foreign-policy decisions.

The new load of Ickes' papers show how Democrat Party money men had 'budget projections' of exactly how much each campaign donor would give the president for his campaign and how much cash each Clinton White House coffee would bring in. The papers complicate Clinton's legal position because of the ban on fund raising inside the White House.

Congressman Bob Barr(R) sent written request to Chairman Henry J. Hyde, and has asked the House Judiciary Committee to consider opening an impeachment inquiry. Barr is challenging president Clinton's use of the White House to '...amass his political campaign war chest' and vice president Gore's ties to questionable fund raising '...on federal property and with federal resources.'

'The cumulative effect of such a series of systemic abuses of the political process ... points precisely toward theories of impeachment law invoked by this committee nearly 25 years ago in the matter of President Nixon' Barr wrote.

'Those same theories were then, as they must be now, based on clear historical precedent, considered explicitly by our Founding Fathers, that alone among remedies to correct abuses of power or improper conduct by high public officials, stands impeachment,' he continued.

Bob Barr, a second-term Georgia Republican and former U.S. attorney in Atlanta. 'There is no question in my mind that the alarming pattern of abuse of the political process by this White House is unprecedented,' Barr said in a statement late Friday.

'The cumulative effect of a series of systemic abuses compel the Congress whose members have sworn to uphold the Constitution to examine its constitutional role in matters of impeachment,' he said.

Sam Stratman, a spokesman for Hyde, said the chairman had received the request and would answer Barr'...in due course.'

The White House had no immediate comment. Congressman John Conyers(D) trying to downplay the seriousness of Barr's impeachment request said that Barr's request '...is on the political margins and won't be taken seriously.'

However, several House members have also contacted Barr and Hyde about a possible impeachment inquiry, and some of them have reviewed a 1974 Watergate report to determine if impeachment articles can be drawn up against Clinton and Gore, according to Capital Hill officials.

The report included a review of The U.S. Constitution, Article II, Section 4 where it is written '...treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors...' are grounds for impeachment. The conclusion of the report states that high crimes and misdemeanors could include use of the White House for improper or illegal purposes such as personal and financial gain.

Barr called on chairman Hyde to begin a preliminary impeachment inquiry as soon as possible.

Sam Stratman, spokesman for Hyde, confirmed Thursday that the chairman had received a letter requesting impeachment proceedings against president Clinton and vice president Gore and had begun a review of it.

When news reporters contacted White House special counsel Lanny Davis, Thursday, he declined comment.