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Politics : Clinton's Scandals: Is this corruption the worst ever? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: tyro who wrote (6535)	9/20/1998 10:06:00 AM
From: Les H	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 13994

An Intern, an Affair and a State Senator By B. DRUMMOND AYRES Jr. Bill Clinton, Dan Burton, Helen Chenoweth, Henry Hyde -- from the halls of the White House to the halls of Congress, the list of lofty elected officials who have admitted engaging in extramarital affairs grows ever longer. Now add to that list the name of a somewhat less lofty but no less deeply red-faced elected official from beyond the Beltway: state Sen. Steven Johnson of Indiana. Ten days ago, The Kokomo Tribune reported that Johnson, 50, a Republican who represents four counties in central Indiana, had engaged in an adulterous relationship with a woman. But that was not the news. The news -- the real news -- was that the woman was a 23-year-old college intern who worked in the senator's office in the 1997 legislative session. The parallel between Johnson-intern and Clinton-intern was undeniable. And demands for an investigation and the senator's resignation have since been voiced. Like the president, the senator has refused to resign, saying at one point last week, much like the president, that he still had "a great deal to offer" and was committing himself to being "a great legislator." But unlike the president, the senator has engaged in no denials and no verbal hairsplitting about his relationship with the intern, whose name has not been disclosed. He confessed and apologized up front, on Day One. "I cannot and will not attempt to excuse my actions," he said in a statement released when the first news article appeared. "The relationship was with a person that worked with me, and I accept full responsibility for my actions. I have committed a moral and ethical wrong. For that I am forever sorry." Will such an admission of guilt and expression of regret be enough to satisfy members of the Indiana Senate's Ethics Committee, which is pondering whether to intervene? Hard to say, given the scandal-singed political atmosphere enveloping the nation. One of the committee's first and toughest considerations must be that Johnson is its ranking Republican member. The senator, who is unopposed this fall for re-election to a fourth four-year term, said that he had discussed his indiscretion with his wife and that they were in counseling. Will she stand by her man? Or show him the door? She told The Indianapolis Star News the other day that she still loved him and always would. "I forgive him," she said.