Tornado Alley (PROG)

[blackhawks]

The Monica scandal was out before the Mid-terms in '98.

GOP hypocrisy, surprise, took down a number of the GOP leadership. Gingrich was banging his FUTURE wife in his Congressional office, while still married and while hectoring Clinton over HIS infidelity.

Since Ken Starr had already completed an extensive investigation, the House Judiciary Committee conducted no investigations of its own into Clinton's alleged wrongdoing, and it held no serious impeachment-related hearings before the 1998 midterm elections. Nevertheless, impeachment was one of the major issues in the election.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impeachment_of_Bill_Clinton

In November 1998, the Democrats picked up five seats in the House although the Republicans still maintained majority control.[13] The results were a particular embarrassment for House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who, before the election, had been reassured by private polling that Clinton's scandal would result in Republican gains of up to thirty House seats.[13]

Shortly after the elections, Gingrich, who had been one of the leading advocates for impeachment,[14] announced he would resign from Congress as soon as he was able to find somebody to fill his vacant seat;[13] Gingrich fulfilled this pledge, and officially resigned from Congress on January 3, 1999. [15]

Impeachment proceedings were initiated during the post-election, "lame duck" session of the outgoing 105th United States Congress. Unlike the case of the 1974 impeachment process against Richard Nixon, the committee hearings were perfunctory but the floor debate in the whole House was spirited on both sides.

The Speaker-designate, Representative Bob Livingston, chosen by the Republican Party Conference to replace Gingrich as House Speaker, announced the end of his candidacy for Speaker and his resignation from Congress from the floor of the House after his own marital infidelity came to light.[16]

In the same speech, Livingston also encouraged Clinton to resign. Clinton chose to remain in office and urged Livingston to reconsider his resignation.[17] Many other prominent Republican members of Congress (including Dan Burton,[16] Helen Chenoweth,[16] and Henry Hyde,[16] the chief House manager of Clinton's trial in the Senate) had infidelities exposed about this time, all of whom voted for impeachment. Publisher Larry Flynt offered a reward for such information, and many supporters of Clinton accused Republicans of hypocrisy.[16]