Impeachment Head Count

In the volatile and unpredictable Watergate controversy, new developments could abruptly shift the attitudes of the 38-member House Judiciary Committee. But according to TIME Congressional Correspondent Neil MacNeil, if the committee were to decide now, it would vote one or more articles of impeachment by a maximum margin of 29 to 9 and a minimum of 25 to 13.

At the moment, all 21 Democrats are seen as highly probable voters for impeachment. Even Democrats from Southern districts where Nixon is popular have been impressed by the evidence, and are offended and mystified by his refusal to yield subpoenaed tapes if he is, as he claims, innocent.

The pressure bears most heavily, of course, on Republicans. Many Republican voters will object strenuously to a pro-impeachment vote by their Congressman. Republicans now counted as favoring impeachment are Henry P. Smith and Hamilton Fish Jr. of New York, Thomas Railsback of Illinois and William Cohen of Maine. Leaning toward impeachment are Robert McClory of Illinois and M. Caldwell Butler of Virginia, plus possibly Wisconsin's Harold Froehlich and Maryland's Lawrence Hogan. That makes eight possible votes against Nixon from the committee's 17 Republicans.

McClory is the most anguished; he does not want to turn against a Republican President, but his concept of the processes of law has been violated by some Nixon activities. Butler, a conservative freshman, worries more about doing the right thing than about remaining in office. Representing an alienated Republican stronghold in Wisconsin, Froehlich could possibly be defeated if he votes against impeachment. Hogan has been a Nixon loyalist, but he is running for Governor of Maryland, and that state has been fed up with corruption in government ever since the Spiro Agnew scandal.

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