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Something Higher Than Incumbency James E. Rogan Former Member of Congress

JAMES E. ROGAN earned a B.A. from the Cniversity of California, Berkeley in 1979, and a J.D. from the UCLA School of Law in 1983. He served sLx years as a Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney, was appointed judge of the Glendale Municipal Court by California Governor George Deukmejian, and was elected in 1994 to the California State Assembly, where he served as Majority Leader. '1\vo years later he was elected to Congress from the 27th District of California, served on the Commerce and Judiciary committees, and in 1999 was one of the thirteen House Managers to prosecute the impeachment trh~ of President Clinton. Mr. Rogan was defeated last f;~J in his bid for re-election.

The following is an abridged version of to make a difference in their communities through M1: Rogan's speech delivered on March 14, politics and public service. That idea was so appeal­ 2001, in Phi/lips Auditorium on the Hillsdale ing to me ti1at in 1994, I gave up a relatively secure College campus. job as a judge to run for state assembly. 1\vo years latet; I won my congressional seat with a 50.1 per­ 'm a conservative Republican who rep resented cent majori~ · in a coun~ · where Bob Dole lost by a liberal Democratic district where most of ti1e about t:wen~ · points. ~ly childhood dream had I Hollywood studios are located. Impeaching come true. President Clinton was not a popular cause there. When l got to Congress, Hemy ll ycle asked me During that proceeding, many friends called to to serve on thejudiciaty Committee. I turned him encourage me by saying, .. It's two years until ti1e clown because l preferred and had a shot at the next election. Nobody will remembec " Lany Arnn, Commerce Committee. Later he got me interest­ who has since become your president here at ed by pointing out that the sub-committee Hillsdale, called one day witi1 a far different mes­ responsible for protecting intellectual proper~ · ­ sage. He said. "l know a lot of your friends are the life blood of the hi gh-tech and entertainment telling you ti1at you're going to be alright in ti1e industries in my district - is in judiciary. And next election. I'm your friend, and I'm telling you when my friend Sonny Bono, who sat on that that you may not be alright." Then he added, "You subcommittee, was killed in a tragic skiing acci­ know, congressmen lose e le~tions all the time. It's dent in j(UlUaty 1998, Chairman llycle submitted ve1y rare, ti1ough, ti1at congressmen have ti1e priv­ my name to replace him . I became a member of il ege of losing an election in defense of the the Judiciary Committee on januaty 20, and on Constitution.' ' Those words carried me ti1rough the vety next clay the Monica Lewinsky story ti1at difficult period, and ti1rough my recent unsuc­ broke. eedless to say, l felt the opposite of some­ cessful re-election campaign. one who had just won the lottety. My dream as a kid was to serve in Congress, Over the next year, I concluded that the because l had read biographies of people from President's constitutional problem boiled down humble background~. like mine, who had gone on to the violation of his oath. Of all our federal

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COllEGE IMPRJMJS officials, only presidents are constitutionally House of Representatives, we ran into a wall. required to vow to "preserve, protect, and defend Although only one president bad previously been the Constitution." Of course they are also impeached, Congress had a hist01y of impeach­ charged by the Constitution with "tak[ing] care ing federal judges and Cabinet members that the laws [are] faithfully executed. " going back to the 1790s. In our case ti1e Senate President Clinton had therefore violated his oath ignored all precedent, however, and for the first when he committed perjmy in a civil rights time in histoty refused to allow House Managers action , obstructed justice, suborned perjmy, and to call witnesses. Individual senators would often conspired to do the same. For me, as a former tell us, in effect, that poll numbers trumped judge, the seriousness of this violation was never precedent. "Americans don 't want the President in question . The presidential oath was not an removed," they said, "so we 're not going to afterthought of America's Founders. No matter remove him. " We responded, "The Constitution how popular a president-elect might be, he bas gives the House the power to impeach, and the to swear to uphold the Constitution before taking Senate the power to remove. If you don 't vote to office. It is the oath, and not a politician's poll remove, that's fine. But let us present the evi­ numbers, that gives legitimacy and continuity to dence so that you can at least make an informed that high office. decision. " I argued to my colleagues that we During the Judiciaty Committee impeach­ should decline to proceed unless the Senate fol­ ment inquity, a woman doctor testified. She was lowed precedent and allowed us to present evi­ one of a host of witnesses, but her testimony was dence. But most felt that the train was too far most powetful. She had been a medical doctor and down the track. an attomey, and worked at a veterans hospital. Over 60,000 pages of evidence had been While there she had a sexual relationship witi1 ti1e deposited with Congress, and we on the House patient of another doctor. Later this man sued the judiciaty Committee had taken months going Veterans Administration for medical malpractice, through them. Shortly before the final vote in and disclosed ti1is relationship in his list of griev­ the House, the votes were not there for impeach­ ances. Justice Department lawyers descended on ment. We had Republican members who had the doctor to question her under oath, and she announced on nationwide television that they panicked and lied. She lied about sex in a deposi­ were going to vote against it. But at a late-night tion in a civil case - exactly what President caucus, we asked these members at least to go Clinton had done. But here the imilarity end , over to the Ford Building and review the evi­ because the Clinton justice Depattment prosecut­ dence. Most of those who did so changed their ed bet: As a result she lost her medical license, she minds. jack Quinn, for example, represented a lost her law license, and she was sentenced to jail. big union district in New York where impeach­ When she testified before our committee, she was ment was tremendously unpopular. But after wearing an electronic monitoring device around looking at the evidence, he was no longer able to her ankle because she was still under an incarcer­ oppose it. Vety few of the House Democrats ever ation order. And she was one of some 135 people went over and looked at the evidence. And I am ti1en in federal prison who had been prosecuted for told that not a single member of the United perjury by the Clinton Justice Depattment. How States Senate- not one-went over to do so. The could we in Congress, representing the American Senators wouldn 't look at the evidence; they people, hold that the law applies differently to the wouldn't let us present the evidence; and then powetful? This was not a position that I was pre­ many of them justified ti1eir "no" votes by say­ pared to take. ing there wasn 't enough evidence. One night near the end of ti1e trial, I walked Profiles In Weakness my little girls to Baskin-Robbins to get ice cream cones. I was sitting there in a baseball cap and old WHEN I and my twelve colleagues were sent over jeans when a general attached to the Pentagon to present our case to the Senate on behalf of the walked over to me and said, "You 're Congressman

Imprimis Endowment Acknowledgments Our thanks to Gene and Carol LaSchober of Georgia, the Castle Rock Foundation of Colorado, and the late Mrs. John J. Ide of California for generously supporting lmJYrimis. Their major endowed gifts help us reach thou ands of new subscribers each year. Rogan. You 're prosecuting my Commander­ Amn: "Elections have no higher standing under in-Chief." At this point l thought 1 should at our Constitution tl1a11 ilie impeachment process. least stand up. I didn 't Botl1 stem from provisions know what to expect. "The cry has been of tl1e Constitution. The Then tl1e general said, people elect ilie President "The man you are raised that tO remOVe to do a constitutional job. prosecuting is unfit to They act under tl1e command the men Constitution when tl1ey do and women of the the President is to it. At tl1e srune time, tl1ey United States Armed elect a Congress to do Forces." He reached Create a COnStitutional a different con titutional into his pocket, handed job. If the President is me his card and said, guilty of acts ju tifying "I am General so-and- CriSiS by Undoing an impeaclm1ent, then he, so. If you wish to report and not the Congress, tl1iS conversation to tl1e election. But there is will have overturned the Secretruy of Defense election. He will have tomoiTowmoming, tllat no constitutional crisis acted in a way that will be your Iight and betrays tl1e purpose of his your privilege, and r election. He will have will immediately resign when the simple acted, not as a constitu­ my commission. Good tional representative but evening, sir. " And he process of the as a monarch, above the saluted and walked off. I law. If the great powers tore up the care!. Here given the President are was a man prepared to Constitution is called abused, then to impeach risk his lifelong career in him defends not only the order to speak up for into play." results of elections, but principle. It was a power­ that higher thing of ful experience. which elections are in service - the preemi­ nence of the Constitution." Lessons Drawn When I was a little boy, I used to write to IN MY prepared closing argument before the retired legislators and ask their advice about a Senate, I had tried to summarize for my children potential career in politics. A former U.S. and my grandchildren what the trial was about. Senator from Texas, a Democrat named Ralph But the Chief justice called a break just before I Yarborough, wrote me a wonderful response was up and while in the back room I heard when I was about twelve years old. He said that some remarks on television that called for an of all the political advice he could give, the best immediate response. When T rose to speak, then, was to put principle and honor above incum­ I jettisoned most of my prepared text. But I'd like bency. I closed my speech by telling the Senate to read a few excerpts from it now: that I now returned that sentiment to the body from which it came. [T]he idea that no person is above the law .. . My recent race for re-election was the most is not our inheritance automatically. The expensive House race in American hist01y, and it ghosts of patriots past .cannot compel us to hurt to lose. But I'll never regret my vote for pre erve this sacred bequest. Each generation impeachment. It is easy for elected officials to of Americru1s must elect to adopt iliis strul­ succumb to the illusion that the greater good is dru·d. Once again, there is a time for choos­ served by their self-perpetuation in office. ing. How will tl1e Senate respond? ... The c1y Seniority, of course, often brings promotion and has been raised that to remove ilie President is power of a sort. But something larger gets lost. to create a constitutional crisis by undoing an And here I'm not even talking about integrity or election. But there is no constitutional crisis continued on page 5 (inside back COl 'f!l' - detad; em·elope) when the simple process of the Constitution is called into play. Listen to the words of Dr. Lany

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continued from page 3 political soul. I'm really just talki ng about the believe, is one of the chief and enduring lessons ability to lead. The moment a po li tician decides of the Clinton impeachment trial. • that it's more important to be re-elected than to stand his ground, he becomes weak and ineffec­ tive. The willingness to lose elections is a neces­ sary prerequisite of statesmanship. That, I

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