Posted on 02/11/2006 1:07:37 PM PST by presidio9
As a House manager in Bill Clinton's 1999 impeachment case, Asa Hutchinson stood before U.S. senators and pleaded for the group, which included his brother, to turn the president out of office for lies told in the Paula Jones sexual harassment case.
Now that Hutchinson wants to be Arkansas governor, his role in Clinton's prosecution doesn't rate a footnote in the Republican candidate's official campaign biography or a mention in most political gatherings.
"It's something that's a historical fact but it's also something that's in the past," Hutchinson said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. "It's a burden our country had to bear. But it's the future I'm focusing on."
Democrats aren't saying they won't focus on the future, too, but they want Arkansans to remember Hutchinson's past. State voters elected Clinton once as attorney general and five times as Arkansas governor, and twice gave him the state's electoral votes.
"I just know I'm going to remind him of it everywhere I go," state Democratic Party chairman Jason Willett said. "This is a thing I think most people in Arkansas still resent."
Willett has accused Hutchinson of shying away from the impeachment issue in general but bringing it up before conservative audiences. He says Hutchinson chose to put himself in the high-profile position of prosecuting Clinton to propel himself to other government jobs.
Hutchinson's campaign says the candidate never brings the subject up on the stump. When asked about it, Hutchinson won't dwell on the past.
While Willett calls Hutchinson "Mr. Manager," Hutchinson on the stump promotes his experience as a federal prosecutor, a congressman, federal drug enforcement chief, and a federal Homeland Security official. In the 1980s, as a U.S. attorney, Hutchinson successfully prosecuted Clinton's half-brother Roger on a drug charge. Bill Clinton later called Roger Clinton's conviction "the best thing that ever happened" to his half-brother.
Feelings are still strong for Clinton in Arkansas, a Hope native who moved to New York after leaving office in 2001. Clinton's presidential library is here and he remains a popular native son.
Hutchinson said the state and nation have moved on from impeachment, which ended with Clinton's acquittal. Hutchinson's brother Tim voted to convict Clinton on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice; Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., voted to acquit.
Hutchinson said his failure to mention impeachment isn't in deference to Clinton's popularity as governor or president.
"It's a recognition that it's a pretty sensitive subject," Hutchinson said. "I think the people of Arkansas understand what I did was out of conviction that I tried to help our country in a difficult time. Once that's over, they're not interested in it."
So far, neither of the Democrats running for the gubernatorial nomination, Attorney General Mike Beebe and former Clinton administration official Bill Halter, are making an issue of Hutchinson's impeachment history.
"As a Washington lobbyist and politician, Mr. Hutchinson has accumulated a record Arkansans will have to judge for themselves," Beebe campaign spokesman Zac Wright said.
Clint Reed, the state GOP's executive director, said he's never heard Hutchinson boast of impeachment during the gubernatorial campaign. Reed said he thinks Hutchinson should be commended for not talking about impeachment during the campaign.
"This election is not a referendum on Bill Clinton or Bill Clinton's presidency," Reed said.
Hutchinson is the lone Republican in this year's race and Clinton could return to Arkansas to campaign for Democrats, who haven't held the governor's post since 1996 when Jim Guy Tucker resigned following his Whitewater-related conviction.
Clinton campaigned for gubernatorial nominee Jimmie Lou Fisher in 2002 against Gov. Mike Huckabee, who has held the post since Tucker resigned. Huckabee, a Republican with populist streaks who has opposed restrictions on services for illegal immigrants and is currently advocating a statewide smoking ban, is barred by term limits from running again.
Skip Rutherford, a political strategist who runs Clinton's nonprofit foundation, said if impeachment becomes an issue then Democrats should attempt to link Hutchinson with Kenneth W. Starr, the longtime Whitewater prosecutor.
"My sense is the closer he is linked to Ken Starr, the worse it is for him," Rutherford said. "Ken Starr was so unpopular, I think many Arkansans were turned off by the whole impeachment proceedings because of it."
Oh, and I suppose Fat Teddy mentions that he cheated on his wife countless times, drowned a young woman and tried to cover it up?
Don't get me started on selective inclusion of one's personal history. At least what Hutchinson did was honorable.
I personally do not agree with that decision.
Better X42 ought to have been impeached for selling national security secrets to China in exchange for campaign donations.
Hutchinson knew it wasnt necessary to mention . He knew one of the Demmies or the media would.
Sounds OK until...
Just walking in there makes me ill.
I have to ask - with all the problems you seem to have with Clintoon and his "library", why go in there at all?
I don't know a lot of people in Arkansas but the few I do know can't stand Bill Clinton or his wife.
Yeah I would think most Arkansans would be a bit embarrassed by Bubba. Thats why this story is a bit strange. I guess the guy is keeping quiet about his work in the impeachment because even though the State is embarrassed, they dont like their noses rubbed in it.
Maybe he likes the peep booths LMAO.
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