BY PAUL BARTON
Gannett News Service
WASHINGTON - Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Cincinnati, a member of the House Judiciary Committee, voted Saturday for the fourth and final article of impeachment against President Clinton and voted to oppose censure.
The fourth article alleges abuse of power, which Mr. Chabot said he supported only after it was amended to exclude some other charges, including one of misusing executive privilege.
During Saturday's debate, Mr. Chabot alleged the president violated his own oath of office by lying under oath before a grand jury.
Such perjury violates the part of the oath in which the president swears to uphold the law, he said.
Mr. Chabot described the censure motion as a way for members of Congress to cover "their political backside."
The congressman from Cincinnati's west side is used to being watched by his constituents, but this week he has had the eyes of the nation on him, as well.
The third presidential impeachment proceeding in the nation's history has made celebrities of all 37 members of the House Judiciary Committee.
Their biographies can be found on numerous Internet sites. They are quoted often in national newspapers. And their faces show up frequently on news shows on CNN and other TV networks.
Quotes from Mr. Chabot could be found in Saturday's editions of the New York Times and the Washington Post.
Earlier this week he was spotlighted on ABC's Nightline and on MSNBC.
And Friday, as the Judiciary Committee began to vote on articles of impeachment, he was interviewed twice by CNN and Fox News Channel.
Latest updates from Associated Press