Thursday, September 24, 1998

Delay's call for FBI probe is chilling move

Tom DeLay says, "I have suspicions." So do a lot of people. But as a member of the House Republican leadership, DeLay is in a position to badger the FBI into investigating his suspicions.

The GOP whip suspects the White House, specifically Clinton aide Sidney Blumenthal, floated the story that Henry Hyde had a long-ago adulterous affair.

Hyde is chairman of the House committee that will decide whether President Clinton is to be impeached, a cause so dear to DeLay's heart as to cause him to overlook such legal amenities as, for example, the First Amendment.

DeLay, who admits he has no supporting evidence or information, says the White House was seeking to intimidate Hyde and obstruct the impeachment process.

For the record, Hyde said he did not feel intimidated and made the adultery story a one-day wonder by gently and genially owning up to an event that happened almost 30 years ago.

The story, moreover, appears to have originated with a vengeful friend of the cuckolded ex-husband.

Nonetheless, DeLay wants the FBI on the case, and shamefully talked his fellow members of the leadership, including Speaker Newt Gingrich, into signing a letter demanding the FBI investigate "associates and allies of the White House."

DeLay openly hopes the FBI, in poking around the lives of people he suspects, turns up "something" that could be added to the impeachment inquiry.

There is something chilling and abusive, not to mention a waste of the FBI's time, about a congressional leader siccing government police on people based solely on his dislike of Clinton. The FBI should politely and firmly decline the Republican request, telling DeLay to come back when he has evidence of a crime, not merely suspicions.