Burton Panel Investigator Quits
A top House Republican aide involved in the investigation of President Clinton's 1996 campaign announced his resignation Wednesday in the wake of a controversy over the release of edited tapes of Webster Hubbell's jailhouse phone conversations.
Investigator David Bossie had "chosen to resign," Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., told reporters. Burton, who heads the panel investigating campaign fund-raising abuses, has himself been the target of Democratic critics who alleged the tapes were edited to put Hubbell in an unfavorable light.
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Republicans, too, have felt the heat from criticisms against Burton's committee. Sources said Burton had been under pressure to get rid of Bossie, who has been a lightning rod for the panel's critics.
Burton told reporters that Bossie "felt badly" about recent events, and said any omissions from the edited tapes "weren't deliberately left out."
There was no immediate response from Democrats who have been demanding that Burton, himself, be removed as head of the investigation.
After fielding attacks from Republican critics, House Speaker Newt Gingrich attacked the White House on Tuesday, using words like "smear" and "cover up" as he fought to throw off Burton's critics.
"Dan Burton has entered a very tough arena where those who are covering up the crimes and those who participated in crimes are doing all they can to smear anybody who seeks the truth," Gingrich said.
"And that, rather than focus on Dan Burton, why don't you go and ask the White House. Does it worry them that Mrs. Hubbell thought she was being squeezed by a White House staffer. Doesn't it worry them that Webb Hubbell is going to roll over one more time? Why the focus on Burton? Why isn't there a focus on crimes of the criminals?"
For all the fury, it was evident that Gingrich had been ruffled by the incident. When Burton's aides literally threw unedited tapes to waiting reporters Monday, the spectacle appalled even some Burton supporters.
So Gingrich was feeling the heat, too, and for all the public support he voiced for Burton, he and other Republican leaders have been actively exploring ways to clip Burton's wings by shifting parts of the investigation to other committees.
As one Republican said, this has gone beyond a House problem, and has become a problem for all Republicans.
"It reduces credibility when these kinds of things happen," said Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn.
The controversy flared nearly a week ago, when Democrats on Burton's committee refused to join Republicans in voting to grant immunity to for witnesses in the campaign fund-raising probe.
Gingrich said he would give Democrats one more chance to vote for immunity, then transfer the issue to a different committee where Republicans command the two-thirds majority necessary to immunize witnesses.