Keep right focus

The House of Representatives' Judiciary Committee hearings will commence next month to determine if committee leaders condone impeachment of President Clinton. Initially, the committee voted for a full-fledged presidential-impeachment inquiry with testimony, evidence and details from Kenneth Starr's report.

Most likely due to public dissatisfaction over Congress' partisan approach to the inquiry, committee leaders fabricated a scaled-down version to use, eliminating all the trial-like features, and will focus more on the legality of the president's actions.

The focus needs to be streamlined with direct attention paid to violations of ethical conduct committed by the president. Constitutional Framers took time to assure that minor offenses could not be a force capable of removing the president from office.

The term maladministration was replaced with high crimes and misdemeanors.

We have a sacred, stable political system, one that should be revered and standards upheld. If lying to the public is the basis for impeachment, we need to reexamine recent history and Reagan's involvement with the Iran-Contra affair.

As a representative of Congress, the Judiciary Committee has time to renew itself, and restore our faith in our democracy. May it steer away from evidentiary details and focus on upholding the integrity of our country.