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Beyond the Pale. As Breslin tells it the story is fascinating. O'Neill first realized that Nixon had gone beyond the political pale when he learned that Democratic businessmen in trouble with federal agencies were being clubbed into becoming Democrats for Nixon in 1972. The experience of George Steinbrenner, owner of an Ohio shipbuilding firm and part owner of the New York Yankees, was the eye opener. Steinbrenner had been a stalwart Democratic fund raiser during the 1968 campaign. Soon he was being investigated by IRS, and the Justice Department. "They are holding the lumber over my head," Steinbrenner told O'Neill when Tip asked him for contributions for McGovern in 1972.
Breslin describes how Steinbrenner was advised by a former Nixon law partner, Tom Evans, to see Herbert Kalmbach, Nixon's personal attorney. Speaking euphemistically about Steinbrenner's agency troubles, Kalmbach warned: "You do a lot of business in Washington; you would do well to get with the right people." Kalmbach suggested that Steinbrenner should give $3,000 to each of 33 Nixon committees and $1,000 to another. Total: $100,000. Steinbrenner did just that. After he reluctantly became a Democrat for Nixon, his Government troubles faded (though he later received a fine for illegally using corporate funds as political donations). When O'Neill heard Steinbrenner's story, he knew he was in the presence of a "plain, old-fashioned goddamned shakedown." Thereafter, he began saying of Nixon, "This fellow is going to get himself impeached."
In early 1973, well before the Ervin committee hearings, O'Neill told Speaker Carl Albert to prepare for impeachment proceedings. "Not being a lawyer,"
Breslin writes, "O'Neill did not know that he was using such terribly unsure methods as instinct, a little anger and a boxcar full of common sense. Soon the word was getting back to O'Neill, mirror fashion: impeachment was in the wind. Slyly, O'Neill labeled such talk "premature." He did not want a hasty vote that Nixon would probably win; once the facts were marshaled, he was sure the votes would be there.
Impeachment Timetable. After the October 1973 Saturday Night Massacre, in which Archibald Cox and William Ruckelshaus were fired and Elliot Richardson resigned, O'Neill and Albert quietly channeled the impeachment inquiry to Peter Rodino's Judiciary Committee, even though the House had not voted to do so. More smoke. Without any authority, O'Neill pushed Rodino into speeding the selection of an impeachment counsel, then into setting an impeachment timetable. John Doar was selected as counsel. O'Neill brandished pro-impeachment polls and the timetable at Congressmen. More mirrors.