European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 15, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 columns the stars and stripes William Safire Senate shamed by prolonged Tower ordeal e , of Tuhn to pric the _ _ the ordeal of Joh Tower is the shame of the . Senate. The Man per mitting the prolonged be smearing of the next Secretary of defense is his successors chairman of the Senate armed serv ices committee sen. Sam Nunn a a. Nunn is a new Media icon he exude fairness and non partisanship the White House fears him and the voters of Georgia will elect him for life. Few note what his procrastination is doing to sen ate traditions and to the separation of Powers. Because the senator wants to be absolutely certain of Tower s sobriety morality and probity Nunn has permitted the confirmation hearings to drag on and on. As might be expected each wee with the nominee twisting in the wind invites some old political enemy or sex wife or disgruntled former staffer to make a new charge setting the Fri off on another investigation providing time for More new charges. The committee should have demanded weeks ago that the Fri answer a set of questions about the nominee against a reasonable deadline. Instead we have an open ended Hunt for any body who has seen the former senator drunk for a sexual Liaison that May have been a Security risk or for an aide on the take. Tower now stands accused of being drunk a Womanizer a new noun for which no female equivalent has been coined and a revolving door sleaze in fairness it should be recorded that he has not been charged with pederasty in Sider trading the smoking of Cornsilk orm Opery at least not yet. Will this hard bitten Little hard liner who is no drinking buddy of mine die the death of a thousand cuts Manyin Washington now expect him to relieve the president of the Public relations Bur Den and withdraw. I think he should not and will not. In our 200 years Only eight men selected by the president for his Cabinet have been turned Down by the  most recent was in 1959, when president Eisenhower s Choice for Secretary of Commerce adm. Lewis Strauss was refused confirmation by democrats led by sen. Clinton Anderson who personally despised the nominee in a Battle that had its overtones of anti semitism. The reason for the tradition to con firm is the separation of Powers the peo Leon Daniel pie elect a president and expect him Tobe free to choose his team to govern. The Senate has never presumed that his cab inet choices had to please the legislative Branch no More than its Choice of staff Shad to please the executive Branch. Respecting Cabinet choices has nothing to do with jointly selecting judges in which the two branches join to people the third. In our history fully one fourth of the nominations for supreme court have been turned Down by the Senate thus the recent rejection of judge Robert b9rk should not be seen in the same constitutional Ballpark As the investigation into the lifestyle of a Secre tary of defense. The deference paid to the president Scab net choices by the Senate is under girded in this Case by another tradition never in our two centuries has the sen ate turned Down a former senator chosen for the Cabinet. Senate service should count for plenty among senators and i this unbroken practice is lightly snapped other traditions like seniority would fray. But what about drinking in t it dangerous to appoint a Man charged in hear Ings with inebriation to be Boss of the Pentagon the responsibility for choosing a Secretary of defense with Cool nerves and a steady hand rests squarely on the presi Dent. We cannot All go sniffing breaths at the Cabinet table we elect presidents for their judgment on this. Fully aware of the talk George Bush vouches for John Tower who has sworn he has no drinking problem. It snot necessary that Sam Nunn assume that heavy presidential responsibility unless in the senator s Long association with the nominee in the Senate he can testify to the contrary. This is an endurance building ordeal for Tower a restraint measuring test for the Senate and a character trial for the president. The other night a former aide to Jimmy Carter advised that president Bush distance himself from the nominee rather than risk his prestige so soon. That was precisely the Craven action taken by Carter when his Choice for Cia came under fire causing the abandoned nominee to withdraw and signalling Washington and the world that the new president was a wimp. Bush should continue to support forthrightly the Man he chose. Tower should stand fast. The Senate armed services committee should Stop making a spectacle of itself and confirm. New York times Tower s links to defense Industry reason enough defense Secretary designate John Tower surely when the or mind cd a. Defens Secretary designate deserved our sympathy when his vindictive second wife Bra sided the Little texan with allegations of womanizing. And it was easy to Side with him when a Washington gossip columnist relying on an Anonymous eavesdrop per reported a mildly Lustful probably playful an certainly private remark by Tower to his companion in a hotel dining room. Conservative lobbyist Paul Weyrich got a lot of Inland to time with his sensationalized charges that the former Republican senator is some kind of a knee walking commode hugging drunk. Even those of us prepared to believe Tower May Betook fond of the grape were put off by the sanctimonious Weyrich known around town As a dowser which is what aussies Call an excessively puritanical person. But the question of whether Tower has a drinking problem quite properly is taken very seriously by the senators charged with deciding if he should be con firmed in the nation s top defense Job. It is known that several of them were not reassured when the nominee scoffed at the notion that booze might be a problem for him asserting rather pompously i m a Man of some  we Don t yet know for sure what the Federal Burea of investigation still scrutinizing Tower s private life has disclosed to the senators but there s a lot of speculation about bimbos As Well As booze. Inquiring minds want to know if the Gumshoe Are going to turn up some really Good stuff. One of the juicier titbits actually to reach print Wasa vaguely att buted and unsubstantiated report in the Boston Globe of an affair in 1987 with a soviet Balle Rina for whom Tower allegedly was providing lodging in a House in  b such spicy speculation obscures the Senate s be treason for rejecting the president s nominee. Although Tower no longer openly shares a bed wit the defense Industry he still is too closely identified with the Pentagon s discredited purchasing practice that in a nutshell is Why he should be denied the Pentagon s top Job. At his confirmation hearings Tower told the Senate armed services committee where he was once chair Man that Congress should close the revolving door High ranking Pentagon officials pass through on their Way to cushy jobs with defense  Tower proposes to use that door himself albeit in the opposite direction to return to govern ment service after pocketing $763,777 As a consultant to defense Indus nes. An Independent defense publication the army limes editorially has urged Tower to withdraw his name from consideration. Citing the appearance of conflict of interest the newspaper said though the charges against Tower May be unproven they undeniably create the impression of a Man much too cozy with the Pentagon s worst ways of doing  a if f?1 8 one nine a new administration professing the highest ethical standards should know it s that foxes should not guard Henhouse. Leon Daniel is up senior editor the opinions expressed in the columns and cartoon son this Page represent those of the authors and Are in no is. Of considered As representing the views of the stars and stapes or the United states government