BY PAUL BARTON
Enquirer Washington Bureau
John Boehner
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WASHINGTON -- Rep. John Boehner decided Friday to continue his legal pursuit of Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., over his celebrated 1996 cellular phone call with other Republican leaders that was intercepted and leaked to newspapers.
Mr. Boehner, R-West Chester, asked the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to overturn a federal district judge's decision last month that said Mr. McDermott's alleged role in leaking transcripts of the call was protected by the First Amendment.
"A lot of people think this is about politics," Mr. Boehner said. "It has nothing to do with politics. It has a lot to do with setting a standard for members of Congress and the political arena."
Mr. Boehner said Friday that many GOP House members, including Rep. Henry Hyde of Illinois, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, thought he should continue the case, which he is financing from campaign funds.
When Mr. Boehner filed suit in March, it was the first time anyone could recall one sitting member of Congress suing another.
He accused Mr. McDermott of violating the federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act.
Mr. Boehner's appeal comes as federal officials are preparing extensive electronic security measures to keep President Clinton's closed-circuit testimony Monday in the Monica Lewinsky investigation from being intercepted.
Mr. Boehner's staff said those security precautions highlight the original point of the lawsuit -- the importance of protecting electronic communications.
The congressman was on a Christmas vacation with his family in Florida on Dec. 21, 1996, when he used his cellular phone to join a conference call involving House Speaker Newt Gingrich and other GOP leaders.
They were discussing how Republicans should handle the public relations fallout from a House Ethics Committee finding against Mr. Gingrich that ultimately resulted in a $300,000 fine.
A couple of Columbia County, Fla., Democratic activists intercepted the call on police scanner and a transcript of it passed through Democratic hands until it reached Mr. McDermott, then ranking minority member on the Ethics Committee.
Mr. Boehner contends Mr. McDermott leaked the transcript to The New York Times and other papers, violating the communications act.
