Clemens, McNamee to meet before committee

BY KEN DAVIDOFF | ken.davidoff@newsday.com

February 13, 2008

WASHINGTON - No one knows how much Roger Clemens' and Brian McNamee's lives will have changed by the end of business here today. Yet it's anything but an exaggeration to say this: Never has a congressional hearing come with such a plethora of hype.

"It's been spirited," Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.), a member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said yesterday.

Clemens, McNamee and attorney Charlie Scheeler, who worked with former U.S. Senator George Mitchell on baseball's steroids investigation, will sit down today at 10 a.m. in Room 2154 of the Rayburn House Office Building. Clemens, the seven-time Cy Young Award winner, will try to clear his name of the charges of illegal performance-enhancing drug use that McNamee leveled in the Mitchell Report.

In a related development, sources say McNamee will testify today that he gave Clemens as much as 50 percent more injections of HGH or steroids than he previously acknowledged. The sources said the increased number McNamee alleges came from more thoroughly recollecting his memory of dealing with Clemens.

The stakes go beyond Clemens' legacy and Hall of Fame candidacy. If Clemens or McNamee is suspected by the committee of lying, he could face charges.

"If you can't believe that your highest level of government can get to the truth of matters, then something has gone awry," Davis said. "I think if we find that individuals deliberately lied to the committee, then the committee would seriously look at what kind of further action to take, to make sure there are some consequences.

"I don't think the committee would be willing to kind of turn its head and say that we discovered that this person deliberately misled us, or lied, and nothing happens. I think it's a serious, serious hearing."

With serious enmity between the two sides. The Mitchell Report came out Dec. 13, and for the bulk of the last two months, Clemens and McNamee have lobbed many accusations of dishonesty and impropriety at each other. There was the phone call between the two that Clemens' attorney Rusty Hardin played publicly, despite the absence of a verbal "smoking gun," which infuriated McNamee because it publicized the medical problems of his son. There were the syringes, purportedly those with which he injected Clemens, that McNamee gave to federal investigators.

There have been myriad supporting players, with familiar faces such as Andy Pettitte - whose testimony largely supported McNamee, Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) told Newsday on Monday - and Chuck Knoblauch.

Clemens was said to be meeting with more committee members yesterday, completing his odd lobbying effort of the very people who will question him today. He spent time with Tom Davis in the last week, a person familiar with the get-together said, and chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) entered and spoke with Clemens for about 10 minutes.

Although Clemens put forth enough goodwill to get a virtual public endorsement from committee member Edolphus Towns (D-Brooklyn), some committee insiders believe the evidence favors McNamee.

"It's pretty obvious that somebody has their facts kind of mixed up, misconstrued, or that somebody is just not telling the truth," Danny Davis said.

The committee excused Pettitte and Knoblauch, who were interviewed last week, from today's proceedings, and it never followed up on its initial invitation to Kirk Radomski, from whom McNamee purchased illegal performance-enhancing drugs. Pettitte's testimony figures to come into play, however.

"We've tried to compile the facts on this," a person involved in the committee said on the condition of anonymity. "[Today], we'll present the facts."

It will be an unforgettable day on Capitol Hill. And, given what has preceded it, probably an unpredictable one, too.

Staff writer Robert E. Kessler contributed to this story.

Today's lineup

The Committee

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is chaired by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.). The committee (23 Democrats, 18 Republicans) has been investigating the use of performance-enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball. Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) is the ranking Republican member.

Legal eagles

Rusty Hardin is the lead attorney for Roger Clemens; Earl Ward is the lead attorney for Brian McNamee.

At stake

Either Clemens or McNamee could face perjury if the committee determines one of them has lied and the committee could ask the Justice Department to investigate.

Also attending

Charlie Scheeler, investigator for former Sen. George Mitchell. Jeff Novitzky, the lead investigator in the U.S. government's probe of steroids in professional sports and an IRS special agent.

They're excused

Yankees pitcher Andy Pettitte and former Yankees second baseman Chuck Knoblauch, and Kirk Radomski, a former Mets clubhouse worker who has pleaded guilty to distributing steroids to baseball players.