TIME: Almanac 1990/1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso/time/052989/05298900.039

Text File | 1990-09-22 | 4KB | 70 lines

NATION, Page 32

The Presidency

The Ethics Monster Rages

By Hugh Sidey


    Somebody in the tense corridors of the U.S. Capitol last week
called it the "ethics monster," an animal bred and trained by
Democrats to feed on sleaze in the Executive Branch over the past
20 years. But the beast has broken loose in Washington and is
devouring its congressional handlers. The consternation is
palpable.

    Jim Wright, the sinking Speaker of the House, summoned the
media to say he was delighted that the big hearing this Tuesday on
his motion to dismiss charges of breaking House rules will be wide
open and televised. This after he and his phalanx of lawyers spent
ten days fighting to keep the session off the screen. The monster
just would not heel. Television will likely encourage it.

    Troubles for Democratic whip Tony Coelho mounted with stories
of his profiting from favoritism by borrowing money to buy a
$100,000 junk bond from Drexel Burnham Lambert -- a deal that
ultimately netted him $6,882. Avenging Republicans hovered over fax
machines, gathering new items from the stories on Coelho in
California's crusading Fresno Bee.

    Coelho was sighted on Capitol Hill one morning having breakfast
with Mike Deaver, an early victim of the ethics monster. Was he
meeting for advice or commiseration? Coelho, a longtime friend of
fellow Californian Deaver, would not say.

    Meantime, former Speaker Tip O'Neill was seen jetting into the
capital, rumored to have been summoned by distressed old-line
Democrats who were profoundly concerned that the scandals were
gravely hurting the House and shaming the Democratic Party across
the nation. One unconfirmed story had it that O'Neill, who
disappeared as mysteriously as he came, had fingered the entire top
Democratic leadership of the House as damaged goods who should be
replaced by fresh men such as Indiana's Lee Hamilton and Missouri's
Dick Gephardt.

    Hamilton epitomized the Democratic anguish. He starred with
his morality lectures during the Iran-contra hearings and has
continued to be a scold about virtue in public life. He has been
oddly silent on Wright, his own leader, while admitting the
questions he gets back home in his district are becoming more
unsettling and more numerous. "Letting the process run," as he puts
it to his constituents, obviously has its limits. We may be close
this week.

    The Wright affair has a low-priority rating among most
Americans. That may change with the televised debate. It appears
that many people are just beginning to understand that the Speaker
is at the top of our political structure along with the President
and the Chief Justice of the U.S. An assault on his authority is
a historic event. No Speaker has been forced from office because
of personal scandal. The autocratic Joe Cannon was stripped of much
of his power back in 1910, and he withered away. But that was a
sheer political play by fed-up House members.

    At week's end the Capitol was in a hushed frenzy. Wright's
legal team was desperately organizing his case. Democrats were
gathering in clots to probe one another's views, phoning for news,
sometimes arguing angrily over how much loyalty they owed the
Speaker. The general feeling was that the disenchantment with
Wright may have reached critical mass midweek, and it would take
a miracle to cool it down. Miracles have been in short supply
lately, particularly for Democrats.

    One of them sighed, "He'll be gone by Memorial Day." That may
be an extreme view, but it is a measure of the despondency Jim
Wright has brought to the Democrats.