The Sedalia Democrat from Sedalia, Missouri • Page 1

Quiet coalition efforts push impeachment WASHINGTON No longer fragile, the House Judiciary Committee's impeachment coalition is working quietly to ensure that the House of Representatives will order Richard M. Nixori to stand trial in the Senate for high crimes and misdemeanors. Rep. Walter Flowers, a Deep South Democrat, spends hours each day telling House conservatives why he felt he had to vote for two of the three articles of impeachment approved by the committee. not going to twist any said Flowers in an interview going to be out front convinced I was A White House spokesman acknowledged Friday that the President faces an uphill struggle in the House.

recognize the situation as it exists in the said Deputy Press Secretary Gerald L. Warren. you had to make have to place the President in the role of the The first two articles of impeachment were approvd by margins of 27-11 and 28-10. But as Flowers had reminded his fellow committee members, a vote for impeachment less difficult for some than for Democratic Reps. Jerome R.

Waldie of California and Robert F. Drinan of Massachusetts, among the earliest advocates of impeachment, felt little pressure to oppose impeachment But it was a different story for Flowers and Rep James Mann. or for such Republicans as Reps. Robert MeClory and Tom Railsback of Illinois and Hamilton Fish Jr. of New York.

Debating Article III. Railsback feared that the Democratic majority was going too far. was engaging in overkill," and he leaned forward in his seat and looked at chairman Peter W. watch going to happen to your fragile bipartisan warned Railsback. It was a warning he had sounded often during the difficult months before the debate.

But this time the coalition was in no danger of collapse. Slowly, patiently, with a touch, Rodino had shored the weak spots, patched the cracks, applied pressure here, yielded there, so that when he wearily rapped his gavel at eight minutes past 11 on Tuesday night and declared concludes the work of the the bitterness and divisiveness so many had feared, were not evident. There will be a minority report claiming the evidence fell short of supporting the impeachment charges. But its signers will number 10 rather than the 17 which Rep. Charles Wiggins.

had predicted weeks earlier. That bipartisan coalition took a long time to form and many times it was fragile indeed. Interviews with committee members and staff provided the following account of how it developed From the shirt of the impeachment inquiry in January, the defenders sought to label it as a partisan Democratic effort to undo the 1972 election. House Republican Leader John Rhodes of Arizona said in January he thought Drinan and W'aldie and other committee members who had been calling for Nixon's impeachment should disqualify themselves. On Feb.

25. John Doar. chief counsel for the impeachment inquiry, wrote to James D. St. Clair, the defense lawyer, asking for tapes of 42 presidential conversations.

The same day, the President launched an impeachment counterattack with a news conference at which he declared: am prepared to cooperate with the committee in any way consistent with my constitutional responsibility to defend the office of the presidency against any action that would weaken that Doar and St. Clair negotiated, but it was fruitless. There would be no more tapes from the White House On April 11. the committee voted 33-3 to subpoena the conversations. All the opposing votes came from hard-line ment Republicans: Wiggins, Edward Hutchinson of Michigan, and Trent Lott of Mississippi The Nixon position on demands for evidence was a major factor moving some Republicans toward the pro-impeachment coaliton.

MeClory felt strongly enough to sponsor a separate article of impeachment based on Nixon's refusal to obey any of the eight subpoenas demanding tapes of 147 conversations. That proposal became Article III by a vote of 21-17 The President responded to the first subpoena by releasing edited White House transcripts, which eventually firmed up the impeachment coalition. Although at first blush it seemed otherwise. The day after the transcripts were delivered, the committee met and voted 20-18, with Waldie and Rep. John Conyers.

D- joining 16 Republicans, to inform the President he was in noncompliance with the subpoena The vote was interpreted by some as the first major partisan split within the committee, a claim quashed by Railsback and Rep Paul Sarbanes. D-Md It turned out that major problem with the subpoena issue was hawks like Conyers and Waldie, who wanted the President cited for contempt of Congress. THE SEDALIA DEMOCRAT Sedalia. Sunday. Aug.

4,1974 64 Pages 25 Cents In Combination ith The Sunday Morning Capital Impeachment preoccupation Reforms may be doomed One candidate unworried JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. There are four candidates for state auditor but one can sit back and watch the other three fight it out in primary elections. State Auditor John D. Ashcroft, 32, is unopposed for the Republican nomination. His real test will come in November when he tries to hold onto the office to which he was appointed by Gov.

Christophers. Bond. The Democratic candidates are George W. Lehr of Kansas City. Dwight L.

Fine of Jefferson City and Norbert D. Moline Acres near St. Louis. Lehr, 37, who is partially crippled from polio, is backed by most Democratic politicians primarily because they figure he has the best chance to defeat Ashcroft. A veteran of 10 years of Jackson County government, Lehr is the Jackson County chief executive officer and has been involved in the rate increase battle against the Kansas City Power and Light Co.

Lehr, who has campaigned mainly against Ashcroft and has saved his campaign money for the general election, has supported more performance audits to give the Legislature timely information about state agencies. He says he favors state aid to nonpublic school pupils when it is in the best interest of the general public. Lehr attracted attention early in the campaign when he suggested that he and Ashcroft campaign side by side, with limits on spending and with no media advertising. Both Fine and Ashcroft rejected the idea. Fine, former executive director for the state Democratic Jefferson City office, announced his candidacy in late 1972.

Since then he has traveled nearly 100,000 miles, being supported by a National Guard salary and his teaching salary. She teaches fourth grade at a Catholic school in Jefferson City. Together, their income is less than $10,000 a year. Fine recently spent his 33rd birthday in Fulton and Columbia, walking the sidewalks, shaking hands and handing out leaflets. Fine figures he has shaken 100.000 hands and has picked up many endorsements in rural areas.

He maintains Lehr is not well known outside the Kansas City area. if we win been a great experience, he says, adding that if he should upset Lehr, he expects the state Democratic committee to help him finance his general election campaign. Fine has worked in the state Budget Office. Revenue Department and is a former administrative assistant to the Secretary of State. He suggests making the Revenue Department constitutionally independent, like the Highway Department.

He is in favor of giving people a $1 tax credit every time they vote, and is in favor of a smaller. Unicameral Legislature with fulltime legislators receiving higher pay. He also is in favor of giving tax benefits to parents with (Please see ONE CANDIDATE. 4A) Open house preparations An open house for the new wing of Bothwell Hospital will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday, followed by an ice cream social sponsored by the hospital auxiliary.

The social, from 3 to 8 p.m., is the kick-off of a drive by they auxiliary to raise money for an operating table for the wing. Here, members of the hospital staff clean one of the new rooms for the open house. (Democrat-Capital Photo) A cool day in August Saturday's low temperatures didn't stop a swimming meet held at Centennial Park pool but the temperatures did cause some swimmers to shiver. Danny Lasswell, 12, left, and Brian Church, 13, both from Clinton, bundled themselves up in a blanket to keep warm. All that Brian could say about the drop in temperatures was, "It's freezing out here!" (Democrat-Capital Photo) Testimony conflicts on festival contract JEFFERSON CITY.

Mo. (AP) A Missouri Senate investigating committee has received conflicting testimony from state Agriculture Department officials about the circumstances surrounding the signing of a lease for the Ozark Music Festival at the state fairgrounds. William Holden, former attorney for the Agriculture Department, said he never saw the final contract until two days ago. Holden left the department June 15. Holden said he dictated to Ron Jones, then fair secretary, a draft of an escape clause to allow the state to break the contract between the date it was signed, April 11.

and the festival July 19-21. But when Jones returned from talking to the promoters April 5, the contract was worded so that the state could not cancel before the period of the lease, July 19-21, Holden said. However, the promoters could cancel within 30 days of the festival. Jones said he discussed the contract with Holden April 11 before Jones and Agriculture Director James Boillot signed it. Holden told the Missouri Senate investigating committee he did not see the contract after it was changed and did not see it until two days ago.

Boillot testified last week that Holden approved the contract before it was signed by him and Jones. The escape clause that Holden had prepared for the $40,000 lease would have allowed the state to cancel without financial obligation at any time if state officials had reason to believe health and welfare would be jeopardized. On June 5, Jones and Holden testified, they talked about canceling because no security had been arranged. Holden suggested a meeting of Highway Patrol representatives, representatives and the lawyers on June 10 after he was told on June 5 by Jones that the contract wording had been (Please see TESTIMONY. Page4A) WASHINGTON (AP) Election reform, the offspring of Watergate, may die aborning because of Watergate and congressional preoccupation with impeachment.

An important bill to clean up election of federal officials is scheduled for House floor action this week but there may not be time to complete work on the measure before it is washed into history by impeachment proceedings. Meanwhile, business as usual in campaign finance, with the same political financiers who helped buy the 1972 scandals piling up the money and politicians standing in line to get it. The 28 senators seeking reelection this year had raised $8.6 million in campaign money by May 31. according to a compilation by Common Cause. The registered special interest groups which traditionally contribute huge sums to candidates, presumably in hope of being remembered later, had stored up $14.7 million by the end of May and already given away $2.6 million.

That's almost twice as much as the same groups reported Clear skies and cool temperatures through tomorrow. The low tonight will be in the 50s. The high today and tomorrow will be in the middle to upper 70s. Sunset today will be at 8:21 p.m.; sunrise tomorrow will be at 6:18 a.m. Instale success.

Page 5B. i candidates vie for Pettis election nominations in primary. Page 14A. Suicides among the very young are increasing. Page 16 A.

Striking National Football League players are reassessing their position. Page 10B. spending in the 1972 congressional campaigns. In the first weeks of 1973, as the Watergate scandals began to erupt, some 50 bills were introduced in Congress to clean elections and prevent repeats of 1972. By the end of July 1973 the Senate had passed a broad reform measure and sent it to the House.

An attempt to add public financing of elections through a rider to other bills was killed, but a new effort this year succeeded in the Senate. Almost a year after the Senate passed its first reform measure, the House Administration Committee finally reported a bill late last month. Now the bill faces the impeachment crunch. Should the House bill pass promptly when it reaches The floor Wednesday, which is unlikely because key amendment fights are expected, it still must go to a conference committee to iron out differences with the Senate version. What's more, the Senate conferees would come from the Rules Committee, which already has the more compelling task of drawing up rules and procedures for an impeachment trial In about another week the House will move into full debate on impeachment.

Within a few weeks after that a trial would begin in the Senate if the House votes to impeach. This means a gap of only a few days to get a conference report before both bodies for final passage, in competition with other bills running the same gauntlet and fighting for the same precious time. If this chance is lost and no bill is passed this year, reformers contend, the whole ball game may go. Once the impeachment question is resolved one way or the other, they fear. Watergate will fade from the headlines and with it the momentum toward reform Consider Eagleton shoo-in By The Associated Press Sen.

Thomas F. Eagleton is expected to win renomination easily in the primary in Missouri, one of four states where voters will chose candidates Tuesday for state and national office. Eagleton, who was dropped as the 1972 Democratic vice presidential nominee after it was disclosed that he had undergone treatment for mental depression in the 1960s, faces token opposition from two other candidates. His likely Republican opponent in the November general election is former Rep. Thomas B.

Curtis, who lost to Eagleton in the 1968 Senate race. Curtis faces only token opposition in the GOP primary. Other states holding primaries Tuesday are Michigan. Kansas and Idaho. A low voter turnout in Missouri is expected due to a general disenchantment with politics because of Watergate.

One race attracting attention in Missouri is for the seat of Rep. William Clay of St. Sen Thomas pressure in primary Louis, the only black congressman. Democrat Clay has come under fire from at least one civil rights group, which accuses him of failing to represent the black community. Clifton Gates, a black real estate man and former president of the St.

Louis Urban League, is seeking to unseat Clay. The other nine Missouri congressmen are expected to win nomination easily. In Kansas, there is a fourman race for the GOP governor's nomination and a two- man race for the Democratic nomination to challenge Republican Sen. Bob Dole. The top contenders for the GOP gubernatorial nomination are State Senate President Robert Bennett, former state GOP Chairman Don Concannon; Forrest Robinson, a Methodist minister, and Robert Clack, an assistant professor of nuclear engineenng at Kansas State University.

Dole, a former GOP national chairman, is unopposed in his bid for the Senate nomination..