Notebook
By Tam Martinides Gray, Daniel S. Levy, Michele Lynn Orecklin and Alain L. Sanders
WINNERS & LOSERS
[WINNERS]
PAULA JONES Spurns $700G, wants more. With lawyer Bennett distancing himself from Clinton, odds are she'll get it
BILL CLINTON Good news: latest poll shows he's No. 1. Bad news: it's a poll of Halloween-costume buyers
IMELDA MARCOS Philippine court overturns a corruption conviction. Shoemakers rejoice
[& LOSERS]
LARRY FLYNT Wants to spend big money to publish pols' dirty secrets. Say, isn't that Ken Starr's job?
HOUSE REPUBLICANS Constitutional scholars? More like a gang of vice principals hell-bent on holding detention
CHUCK KNOBLAUCH Pick up the ball, Chuck! Pick up the ball! Chuck! The ball! Yo, man, the ball! Aw, Chuck!
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
With an impeachment inquiry authorized, we can look forward to getting to know the members of the House Judiciary Committee, which brings up the question, What happened to the 38 Judiciary Committee members who examined Richard Nixon 24 years ago?
Quiet, dignified committee chairman PETER RODINO left the House in 1988; now 89, he teaches law seminars at Seton Hall University in New Jersey.
Two members of the committee remain in the House. Michigan's JOHN CONYERS is the ranking Democrat on the committee. New York's CHARLES RANGEL moved to the Ways and Means Committee, where he's the ranking Democrat. Two others are in the Senate: majority leader TRENT LOTT (Nixon partisan, Clinton critic) and PAUL SARBANES (Nixon critic, Clinton ally). The fresh-faced WILLIAM COHEN won a Senate seat, published works of poetry and fiction, and is now Secretary of Defense. ELIZABETH HOLTZMAN lost two Senate races and served as New York City comptroller.
Many members pursued careers in the law. Silver-maned Nixon apologist CHARLES WIGGINS of California and Democrat WILLIAM HUNGATE of Missouri became federal-court judges, and Arkansas' RAY THORNTON and Wisconsin's HAROLD FROEHLICH became state-court judges. Wisconsin's ROBERT KASTENMEIER headed a National Commission on Judicial Discipline and Removal. California's JEROME WALDIE served on the National Labor Relations Board. JOHN SEIBERLING taught law at the University of Akron. "Our results were clearly a bipartisan effort," he says. "I don't detect any of that today." And ROBERT DRINAN of Massachusetts teaches law at Georgetown University. "I don't think there's much impeachable here," he says of the current scandal. "I almost resent these people on this committee now, trying to piggyback on the dignity of the Rodino committee." Among members who turned to the practice of law are Democrats JAMES MANN and EDWARD MEZVINSKY (who headed the Pennsylvania Democratic Party) and Republicans DAVID DENNIS, CALDWELL BUTLER, DELBERT LATTA, THOMAS RAILSBACK and WILEY MAYNE. "I didn't think this would happen again," says Mayne. "I would have thought that twice in 150 years was enough."
Democrat WAYNE OWENS heads a Middle East peace center; DON EDWARDS serves on various civil-liberties boards; and CARLOS MOORHEAD is active with several foundations. Democratic stalwart JACK BROOKS manages his financial interests, and the G.O.P.'s LAWRENCE HOGAN has written a book, The Osage Indian Murders: A True Crime Story.
The eloquent BARBARA JORDAN left the House in 1978 and taught at the University of Texas. In 1996 she died. Nine other members have also died. Alabama's WALTER FLOWERS ran unsuccessfully for the Senate and died in 1984, the same year as the committee's No. 2 Democrat, HAROLD DONOHUE. Democrat GEORGE DANIELSON became an appeals-court judge in California and died this year. Death has claimed the committee's four most senior Republicans: EDWARD HUTCHINSON of Michigan, ROBERT MCCLORY of Illinois, HENRY SMITH of New York and CHARLES SANDMAN of New Jersey. New Jersey's JOSEPH MARAZITI died in 1991; the patrician HAMILTON FISH died in 1996.
Pennsylvania's JOSHUA EILBERG lost his seat and pleaded guilty to conflict-of-interest charges. He is the only committee member to suffer public disgrace.
NOMINEES
LOUD YET SOFT According to the A.P., "Novelist Jose Saramago, an outspoken nonconformist who has a soft spot for the common man, was named the winner of the 1998 Nobel Literature Prize."
By that description, future recipients of the award should include:
Pat Buchanan Madonna Michael Moore Don Imus RuPaul Hank Williams Jr.
HONORS
DADDY, DADDY... Just four months ago, the National Fatherhood Initiative touted heavyweight champion and proud papa Evander Holyfield as one of its Fathers of the Year. It was his "personal commitment to family demanded of a good father" that the group so admired. Well, it seems as if this father of four has been busy outside the house. Holyfield recently acknowledged that he has sired five kids with four women to whom he was not hitched. Perhaps he should have put on more than gloves for protection.
TV GUIDE
BARGAIN HUNT What does it cost to advertise on network television? Depends on whether you want anybody to see it. Here's what a 30-sec. ad costs, in thousands of dollars:
ER (NBC) $551* Monday Night Football (ABC) $380* Touched by an Angel (CBS) $277* The Simpsons (Fox) $248* Ally McBeal (Fox) $177 Dawson's Creek (WB) $96* Wind on Water (NBC) $80** Star Trek: Voyager (UPN) $72* Buddy Faro (CBS) $65** The Practice (ABC) $62**
*Network highest **Network lowest Source: Broadcasting & Cable magazine
AVIATION NEWS
FOWL PLAY? There were some odd goings-on last week involving birds and the state of Pennsylvania. Thousands of birds descended on Leola, Pa. Instead of mimicking their scary Hitchcockian cousins, they merely pooped all over. Meanwhile, in two races, one from northern Virginia to Allentown, Pa., and one from western Pennsylvania to Philadelphia, some 2,500 homing pigeons disappeared. No ominous flocks of hawks or weird extraterrestrial activity can explain what happened. Soon after, residents in the eastern part of the state noticed groups of milling pigeons seeking guidance. Next time maybe they should take Greyhound.
NUMBERS
10 million: Size, in square miles, of the hole in the ozone above Antarctica
7.3 million: Its size last year
3.6 million: Size, in square miles, of the U.S.
34: Percentage of Republicans in a recent poll who said they would cheat on their spouses for $55 million
11: Percentage of Democrats who said they would
15: Percentage of college students who told Playboy they were virgins
6, 6.5: Percentage of women and of men who said so in 1996
14: Where AIDS ranked among the leading causes of death of Americans last year
1989: The last time AIDS was not in the Top 10
2: U.S. 1868 1[cent] Z Grill stamps in existence
$850,000: Amount paid for one at an auction last week
Sources: New York Times; Park Central Hotel; Playboy; Statistical Abstract of the United States; Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries
CHECK LIST
CALLING GRACE METALIOUS Howard Baker asked the question at the heart of Watergate--"What did the President know, and when did he know it?"--and the question at the heart of Monicagate was posed by South Carolina Congressman Lindsey Graham, who last week wondered, "Is this Watergate or Peyton Place?" Let's look at some characteristics of Monicagate and see whether they are present in these other dramas.
WATERGATE PEYTON PLACE
Were there smoldering glances? No Yes Passionate embraces? No Yes Illicit sex? No Yes Ingenues taken advantage of by cads? No Yes Silly gifts? No Yes Shared secrets? Yes Yes Lies? Yes Yes Betrayals? Yes Yes Treachery by false friends? Yes Yes Could key parts in the drama be played by Mia Farrow and Ryan O'Neal? No Yes