Rep. Towns: I think Clemens was lying

BY JIM BAUMBACH | jim.baumbach@newsday.com

February 28, 2008

WASHINGTON - Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.), who all but said he believed Roger Clemens did not take steroids after a private sit-down days before the Feb. 13 congressional hearing, told Newsday yesterday that he now believes Clemens committed perjury.

"I think Clemens is guilty, of course I do," Towns said. "I think he was lying."

Towns spoke as he walked briskly through the hallway of the Rayburn Building, around the same time that House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) announced they were referring Clemens' case to the Justice Department to investigate.

"I think it is pretty clear he lied," Towns said. "Why would [Andy] Pettitte, who is his close, personal friend, all of a sudden say we talked about [using HGH]? I don't see [Pettitte] lying about that."

That's a far cry from statements Towns made about Clemens after they met Feb. 8. The two held a news conference after the meeting in which Towns praised Clemens as a role model for children and called Brian McNamee "weird" for holding on to evidence for six or seven years. Towns and his chief of staff also took pictures with Clemens.

Towns vehemently defended meeting with Clemens, saying one of the first lessons he learned as a Congressman was to listen to what people have to say. "We always meet with people before hearings," he said.

Towns insisted nobody on his staff had Clemens autograph anything. "That's ridiculous," he said.

Towns also said he is perturbed that he is being viewed as a supporter of Clemens because of that meeting, even though he did praise him in glowing terms afterward. "I was the 19th person to meet with him," Towns said. "Why am I the one being talked about?"

Towns said he missed the Feb. 13 hearing because he was sick; he said he just returned to work on Tuesday.

Maybe the time away from work made Towns consider how he looked supporting Clemens. As he entered the elevator after a brief chat with a Newsday reporter, he again made it clear he supports McNamee, not Clemens.

"Write that story," he said.