Reid puts new clout behind president

Monday, Dec. 21, 1998 | 11:03 a.m.

Nevada Sen. Harry Reid, the Senate's new Democratic whip, said today he's working to come up with a bipartisan proposal to avoid an impeachment trial of President Clinton.

"We're trying to find some alternative rather than tying the Senate up for months with a trial," Reid told the Sun this morning from his home in Searchlight.

That alternative, Reid said, could be a censure, reprimand or fine levied by the Senate against the president.

Reid, elected earlier this month to the No. 2 leadership post among Senate Democrats, said he has been calling Democratic senators since Saturday at the request of Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D.

"Our first goal is to make sure all of our members are speaking from the same page and the same book," Reid said. "We want to make sure we have the same goal -- to expeditiously get this over and get on to other things."

Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev., said this morning that he supported the efforts of Reid and other top Democrats to bring a quick end to the impeachment drama.

"I think what we have to do is get this issue behind us," Bryan said. "The American public is not served by having this thing hang out and divide the country for an extended period of time. There are too many important issues facing the country."

Reid said he has been in constant telephone contact with Daschle in Washington and plans to call the president in the near future.

He refused to say whether he has talked to any Republicans, including his good friend and GOP counterpart, Majority Whip Don Nickles of Oklahoma. Nickles and Majority Leader Trent Lott of Mississippi are on record as favoring a trial in the Senate.

Asked about a proposal by former Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter for a bipartisan censure resolution, Reid said: "I could support something like that. I think we're headed in the right direction."

Bryan added: "I would think an option such as that has real potential. We need to find some kind of mechanism to bring this to closure."

The proposal calls for Clinton to admit that he lied under oath in the resolution. But it also includes language that would prohibit the use of that admission in a future criminal trial.

"What we do has to be bipartisan," Reid said. "What has taken place in the House has been strictly down party lines, and people don't like that."

On Saturday, the Republican-controlled House, primarily along party lines, approved two articles of impeachment against Clinton, stemming from his effort to conceal a sexual relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Nevada Reps. Jim Gibbons and John Ensign, both Republicans, voted for the two articles.

Reid criticized the House for not giving its members a chance to vote on a censure resolution.

"People are upset about what the House did," he said. "They should have a allowed a vote on a censure."

Polls since the vote show Clinton remains popular and that most Americans don't want him removed from office. The president has vowed to serve out the remaining two years of his second term.

Reid said he was approaching the push for an alternative to an impeachment trial very cautiously.

"We can't do this alone," he said. "There are only 45 of us."

Republicans control the Senate, holding 55 of the 100 seats.

Reid said the Ford-Carter proposal, published in a New York Times op-ed piece, is the kind of bipartisan approach the Senate should follow.

He said he expects to continue working behind the scenes to avoid an impeachment trial from Southern Nevada and doesn't plan to return to Washington until after the first of the year when the new Congress convenes.

Reid has earned a reputation on Capitol Hill for conducting business there in a bipartisan way.