John Bel Edwards: “except for a declaration of war, a U.S. Representative can never be called upon to make a decision requiring more…”

“except for a declaration of war, a U.S. Representative can never be called upon to make a decision requiring more serious or solemn consideration than on a vote to impeach a President of the United States. I believe what President Clinton did was indefensible and immoral, but I do not think his actions, however, wrong, reached the high constitutional threshold for impeachment and the overturning of the only national election in our democracy. Over 200 years ago, George Mason proposed the language in Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution establishing the grounds for impeachment as 'treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors.' He defined these actions to mean only 'great and dangerous offenses' or 'attempts to subvert the Constitution.' Having a private affair and hiding it are wrong under any circumstances, but I am not convinced such actions 'subvert the Constitution' and justify nullifying the votes of 47 million American citizens. I condemn the President's actions and believe bipartisan congressional censure and the possibility of future criminal action would be appropriate punishment for his affair and subsequent misleading statements. Consider the chance that a Senate conviction would be extremely remote, the specter of a three to nine month Senate trial with tawdry televised testimony from Monica Lewinsky, Linda Tripp, and Kenneth Starr would punish the nation and our families far more than it would punish Bill Clinton.”