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Show A4 The Salt Lake Tribune NATION Thursday, January 28, 1999 Word That Sounds Bad Bennett, Hatch Plotting Plan B for Impeachment Trial Utah senators maneuveringforalternative punishments should President Clintonnotbe votedout ofoffice Sinks Official in D.C. Sometook offense whenaideusedterm ‘niggardly’ THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON — For most linguists, “niggardly” isn’t even on the radarscreen of words that gardly”’ as miserly orstingy, trace it to Scandinavia and attribute no offensive connotations to it. Neither is it included among the might offend. But in a city where the new mayor is trying to deal 1,400 wordsand phraseslisted in Forbidden American English, a versation has lost his job. Mayor Anthony Williams, who is black, accepted the resignation guage. with raw racialsensibilities, an official who used the wordin a con- dictionary of “highly offensive and often inflammatory” lan- Butthepossibility of confusion is raised in A Dictionary ofModern American Usage, a new refer- of David Howard, whois white, ence published by Oxford University Press. The word “has nothing saying his aide showedpoorjudgment even though “he didn’t say anything that wasin itself racist.” Howard, who was responsible for bringing citizen complaints to the mayor, got an earful abouthis own conduct when rumorsspread that he had used racial slur in a meeting with several other offi- cials. He said he described a fund he administers as “niggardly” and quickly apologized because he knewit soundedbad. Sentiment on Washington streets was divided. “I’ve heard black folks use ‘niggardly,’ which meansa stingy person,” John Carraway, 43, a black construction worker, said on his to do with the racial slur that is sounded similarly,” the book says. Robin Lakoff, linguistics professor at the University of California at Berkeley, agrees that “niggardly” may go the way of other descriptive phrases that the languageis setting aside because of the possibility of hurting someoneinadvertently. “It’s a backlash against hundreds and hundreds of years when people who had power used slurs against people who had less,” said Lakoff, who is white. way out of the subway. “I guess people don’t know the true definition. I guess they took it out of context.” But Marcus Marshall, 22, a black employee in a sportinggoods store, said Howard did the right thing in stepping down. “I don’t agree with him saying that kind of word. He should be punished because it’s so closeto. degrading word.” .a “Even so, some speakers and writers have cometo shun it just to avoid misunderstandings.”” “Over the last generation or so, these people have been getting linguistic power. and they're striking back. “This one, is [going] too far.” On Wednesday, a day after Howardresigned, the mayor said an investigation was proceeding and it was possible his aide could be brought back on staff — in a different job — if ultimately he is BY JOHN HEILPRIN THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE WASHINGTON — Utah Republican Sens. Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett wholeheartedly joined their GOP colleagues and a lone Democrat in voting Wednesday to continue PresidentClinton's impeachmenttrial andto allow testimony from three witnesses. Despite their votes, Hatch, the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, and Bennett — who haveindicated they likely would vote to convict and remove Clinton from office — are separately pursuing end-gamestrategies and acknowledging Clintonis all but certain to be acquitted. “If this is a party-line vote on conviction, it'll be very unseemlyto let this president go without somesort of condemnationthatis constitutional. I would vote for censure, but it isn’t particularly constitutional,” Hatch said. “It’s quite apparent for conviction here.” there are not67 votes It would take a two-thirds majority to con- vict and removeClinton. Before the ultimate vote the Senate will issue subpoenas to take testimony in depositions with former intern Monica Lewinsky, presidential friend Vernon Partisan Senate Won't Dismiss Jordan and White House aide Sidney Blu- sure motion — one modeled on House Demo- “Tt may well be that we haveseen in the 56 votes against dismissal today the high-water being drafted by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, DCalif, that would “state the feelings of the himself in that category. “But we need to play ton. “The president should notcelebrate if a majority of the members of his own party feel menthal. crats’ language and similar to a resolution mark of those who would vote to convict the president,” said Bennett, evidently including it out and allow themtocastthat vote and then make the explanation. Voting for the motion to dismiss is almost a cop-out.” Neither Hatch nor Bennett wants Clinton to spin acquittal as vindication, though his place in history already includes having been impeached by the House. “Whatin the heck is wrong with three witnesses?” an indignant Hatch told CNN several hours after the back-to-back 56-44 votes revealing hardened camps in the Senate’s 55 Republican-45 Democrat makeup. Hatch has proposed as manyas 15 different solutions to endthetrial while also taking a leading role preparing questions for prosecutors, defense lawyers and potential witnesses. His latest proposalis ar: ““adjournment-plus” option, or ‘impeachment without removal,” that includes words of harsh condemnation. Bennett, meanwhile, is the Senate Republicans’ unofficial point man on a possible cen- need significant time to prepare for witnesses because they have notbeen privy to 55,000 pages of evidence and might want to call witnesses of their own. Clinton Charges @ Continued from A-1 would prolong the trial for weeks or months, they sent mixed signals on the issue Wednesday. White House Press Secretary Joe Lockhart, speaking before Lockhart said calling witnesses without granting Clinton’s lawyers adequate time to prepare “‘is like blindfolding us, andit’s like asking the president’s defenders to go into a process knowing far less than what the prosecution knows.” But White House attorney Gregory Craig said: “Any pro- ceedings from this date forward onlyserveto delay the final reso- Senate with respect to misconduct” by Clin- that his conduct falls just barely short of re- movalbutitis still reckless and damaging and inexcusable,” Bennett said. . During separate interviewswith Utah re- porters, the two senators insisted Congress’ senior chamberhad not degenerated into partisan squabbles, though only Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., voted out of syne with his arty. Bennett pointed to Feingold as evidence that even a liberal Democrat could find something to agree with in the Republicans’ view thatthe trial should continue and witnesses be called. Both Utah senators, however, already seem convinced that Clinton perjured himself and obstructed justice as the 13 House impeachment “managers” claim. Instead, the trial has revealed an ideological split, Bennett said, among those whoput the “rule of law”first and those who view Clinton’s troubles as more about “human frailty.” Congress, the presidency and the Americanpeople. trial. “We remain convincedthat the thatthe votes are notthereto con- national interest is best served by ending this process in a way that is fair, speedy and bipartisan, so viet and remove the president from office,” Craig said after the all of us can focusfull time on the vital business of the United States,” he said Craig did not say whether that meant the White House would drop its demand for time to exam- ine documents or whether it would forgo requesting addition- al witnesses. He did note, however, that victory appears within reach for the president, a com- “Today's events make clear two votes. 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