Henry Hyde: A Gentleman, Rest In Peace

Henry Hyde The nation is mourning the passing of Henry Hyde. He will be remembered for his low-key, impassioned speech on impeaching Bill Clinton (perjury and obstruction of justice) and for the Hyde Amendment.

Your Business Blogger remembers him as a gentleman. I met Congressman Hyde a time or two and every time I would see him he would stand and greet me.

Alert Readers will note that I am (much) younger than the deceased Congressman and I had no where near his status or rank.

But he stood up for me. And stood against a president lying and breaking the law. Hyde was a stand-up kind of guy.

He stood up for no-bodies and everyman, and everyman loved him. (Except the Clintons.)

Henry Hyde will be remembered for many things, but for most people, he was a gentleman.

Thank you (foot)notes:

When I grow up, I want to be a wise old man, like Henry Hyde.

Be a stand up guy. Arise when your boss enters the room. Arise when a woman enters a room. See Business Etiquette Between Manager and Employee. And Management Training: Etiquette for the Manager and Staff.

See Small Business Trends, Respect: The Ultimate Business Etiquette on being a stand up guy.

Alert Readers will remember that Bill Clinton lost his license to practice law for five years and paid a $25,000 (chump change) fine. In 2006 Clinton became eligible to practice law according to Josh Gerstein of The New York Sun. Trial lawyers everywhere danced in the streets. And welcomed home one of their own.

Hyde says [perjury] admission ‘vindicates’ impeachment,

Reaction in Congress was mixed along predictable lines. Hatch said Friday that Clinton’s statement showed the proceedings where justified.

“The combination of the president’s acknowledgement, the significant suspension of his Arkansas law license, and the imposition of a fine demonstrate that the allegations arising out of this investigation of President Clinton’s past actions were not based upon partisanship. They were based upon the facts and the law,” he said.

Illinois Rep. Henry Hyde, the Republican former chairman of the House Judiciary Committee who led the prosecution in Clinton’s Senate trial, said the admission “vindicates” the House impeachment effort. Hyde’s Democratic counterpart, Michigan Rep. John Conyers, called the deal “a sensible accommodation” that ends “this long national farce over an extramarital affair.”