Personal responsibility

Personal responsibility
Democrats can't kick out Condit, but he should quit on his own

August 28, 2001

Rep. Scott McInnis, R-Colo., has issued a call for Rep. Gary Condit, D-Calif., to vacate his seat on the House Intelligence Committee.

Condit, for those who’ve been unconscious for the past several months, has admitted to having a "very close" relationship with Chandra Levy, a 24-year-old Washington intern who has been missing for the past four months.

Speaking on CNN’s "Late Edition" on Sunday, McInnis said that House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, D-Mo., "has an obligation that’s inherent to his responsibilities" to immediately remove Condit from his committee assignments.

On Friday, Gephardt criticized Condit for failing to be "candid and forward" in Thursday’s ABC interview with Connie Chung, and he said he would talk to House Democrats about possible action against Condit. But because the errors Condit can be proven to have made are sins of omission, it’s going to be very difficult for the House to penalize him for them.

There’s no evidence to suggest that Condit killed Levy, and while millions upon millions of Americans disapprove, extramarital affairs are not within the ethical purview of Congress. Whether they should be is another matter, one that’s been discussed many times before, but they currently are not. There’s considerable risk in letting Congress boot out its members for actions taken in their private lives, sleazy though those actions might be. Citizens vote them in, and except when elected officials commit actual crimes or misuse their positions, those citizens should not be overruled.

Condit showed neither intelligence nor compassion in his televised interview, claiming repeatedly that Levy’s parents did not want him to discuss the case on television. The family may not have wanted him to discuss the private details of any physical relationship he might have had with Levy, but they have implored him repeatedly to be open and honest with investigators. Instead, he originally denied the relationship and then was slow to be forthcoming. When asked by a Newsweek reporter whether he was sorry, he responded, "Well, some people aren’t hurt and some people are, so for the people I hurt, I’m sorry." He didn’t say whether that included his California constituents and his colleagues in the House and in the Democratic Party.

A recent poll by CNN, USA Today and Gallup showed that three-fourths of respondents believe that Condit is immoral and seven out of 10 believe he lied during his ABC interview. Most, if not all, of those people want the Levy case to be solved, and it’s not difficult to believe that many of those people wish there were a mechanism for them to vote Condit out of his seat immediately.

That’s not possible. The United States doesn’t have a vote-of-confidence system like some other countries do, and perhaps it’s just as well, because the turnover could be tremendous. What we should have, instead, is recognition by elected officials that once they have lost their effectiveness, they should step aside and make room for someone who still has the respect of constituents and colleagues.

Condit should do that. Although his defeat would be a good lesson to many politicians, he shouldn’t avail himself of his party’s resources to seek re-election. He should realize that the loss of his political career is his own fault.

And Republican Scott McInnis should be urging him to quit, rather than urging Condit’s fellow Democrats to do the dirty work of pushing him out. The party of personal responsibility should advocate extending that responsibility to Democrats as well.