Moynihan Backs Censuring Clinton

WASHINGTON —  Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, an influential voice among Senate Democrats, came out in favor of censuring President Clinton, lending momentum Friday to the Democrats’ drive to avoid an impeachment trial in the Senate.

Moynihan (D-N.Y.), who had not previously revealed his position, did so Friday in a published report. Administration officials quickly expressed new hope for “a bipartisan solution” that would avoid Clinton’s removal through a Senate trial.

As a senior member of the Senate, one of its leading intellectuals and an occasional critic of the president, Moynihan engenders considerable respect among his peers.

He holds particular credibility on the impeachment issue as one of the first Democratic senators to publicly criticize Clinton’s behavior. Immediately following a dramatic speech by Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.), Moynihan took to the Senate floor to agree with his colleague in denouncing the president.

Moynihan told the New York Times in Friday’s editions that moves to oust Clinton threaten to “very readily destabilize the presidency.”

Now, as the Senate prepares to consider charges of perjury and obstruction of justice, other senators agreed there is increasing bipartisan support for a censure.

“I think you do have a significant group of senators who are trying to work across the aisle and find some bipartisan common ground that the House wasn’t able to locate,” Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said.

He said that based on conversations “every day” with Democratic and Republican senators, “I believe that there are 65 to 70 senators who would say, ‘I would be open to a trial if it was fair and speedy, but I also want to use the time between now and Jan. 6 [when the Senate returns] to see if there might be some bipartisan approach we can find.’ ”

A spokesman for the White House counsel’s office, Jim Kennedy, welcomed these statements.

“We’ve said all along a bipartisan solution that is prompt and fair is the best course and we welcome efforts by those who are trying to achieve that goal of finding a way of putting all this behind us,” Kennedy said.

The White House was careful to stick with a deferential approach, adopted after several Senate Democrats indicated that the administration best not interfere with impeachment deliberations that are solely the prerogative of the Senate.

“It’s a matter for the Senate and senators to decide,” White House spokeswoman Amy Weiss said.

It would take a two-thirds vote--or 67 of 100 senators--to remove the president from office. With 45 Democrats and 55 Republicans, at least 12 senators from Clinton’s party would have to vote against him to reach 67--a scenario few see as realistic.

However, Clinton’s supporters worry about what could happen once a trial gets underway, and they are hoping for a quick resolution to the two articles of impeachment approved by the House.