European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 19, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes William Safire defend no wife s Honor shrewd move by Wright. ,. F a .1 a voice shaking with outrage Manly tears Sling ing his eyes. Inc speaker of the House Rose to defend the Honor Good Nam card integrity of his wife that was a shrewd move. _. Networks and newspapers led with his emotional defense of the s18,000 a year earned by a person that politicians used to put Down As the Little women. ,.the sound bite it offered was better for Wright s image than a red faced explanation of a the bulk sates to lobbyists of his junk Book which May have enabled him to slip past outside earnings limitations or b gifts from a business partner who benefited from inc speaker s support of a Tunas so and a development project. "  ,. Trying to Cushion the Impact of the House ethics committee i recounting of wrongdoing and expected reprimand Wright has Lien leaking the conclusions of i he Whelan report All Over your television screen this planned quaking has launched a tidal wave of Sanctimony from All quarters. A punctilious president notes that one must not eel the speaker to pay Back the savaging of John tower.-. 1iousf. Leaders Cluck Cluck at a Post Facto Chical standards and suggest justification because everybody did  a phrase that once was the object of some derision. Reporters who led the charge against de a Csc s cockeyed personal accounting now wonder aloud. Whether All this ethical fcrvor.ha5 gone too far. Sure sure sure new that the  up under 3democratic pot. We can expect More sympathy for the accused and great soul searching among the Veteran inquisitors. The prophetic bumper Slicker reads Georgia 2, Texas 0" a reference to Sam Nunn and Newt Gin Erich of Georgia and John Tower and Jim Wright of Texas. Hut Jurt As jul slice should not be Overly influenced h vengeance nobody s Gonna Oul Sancts Mestan Dards for judging Public servants should not be changed by a partisan Rush of pity. Having been Overly Puritan about sex and Boote the Congress cannot now transform itself into a Bunch of swingers on the subject of graft. Let us consider one item that makes his fellow Law makers squirm in the indictment of Jim Wright the employment of his wife. It is his preferred Battleground because it hit Banc to All members of Congress who supplement family income by employing their spouses or have them employed by Lobb ish interested in their com Mill pcs. Also the Issue May bring Many working women to the speaker s Side. 1 first wrote about this in Mike  s heyday. W. Dale Nelson the presidential aide arranged for a publicity firm to hire his wife and for the Republican National com Mitten to hire the firm. Illegal no. Unethical yes if the spouse had been hired for her relation ship rather than her Talent experience and Lime at  ease was a congressional wife who acted As a real estate agent. 1 did not write about this because ii turned out the  More adept Al her Job than ,was at his. Recently i queried the while House chief of staff about his wife s new Job Al the Republican governors association. 1 had called a few times and Shir was never Iacre. John Sununu vigorously inserted the propriety of the arrangement. His wife was experienced in political organi action would work hard and earn what she was paid. I it i hrs the Case it s no Story and hats off to the hard working couple. At Issue Here is not a spouses working or even a pub tie official s influence in gelling a spouse a Job. The ethical transgression is to pay a spouse who does network or to overlays spouse to contribute to an of i Cial s  employment is the Modem family in action to be hailed As partnership in the work ethic but dual employment Wanh the spouse not working is graft and the no show s salary is a corrupt political  should be the Standard for congressmen to judge their speaker s dual income not whether he Honor was besmirched but whether hit pocket was  he gets past that one higher hurdles follow but the ordeal by fire that the speaker has chosen to endure can be illuminating to the Public and ils optic gals. Wright is entitled to his Day on a Span As Are his accusers. Democracy is publicly training ils next generation of leaders. That is Why this is not a Basic of Lime As the every body did it set claims or primarily an indulgence in vengeance though that iss Relya part fit. On the contrary the in acuity of the speaker May give us an instructive and fairly conducted ethical de Bate reasserting standards thai Public officials should not find onerous. In old Days corruption charges were ignored i an i Al w Estek would not have understood the Jim Wright affair. When Webster was in the Senate from 1h2h to 1850, a fellow lawmaker charged thai he was bound hand and foot to wealthy backers who had come up with a fund to support his extravagant life style. What asked rep. William Varicy of Alabama was the Massachusetts senator being paid for Webster although he had accepted such a fund did t bother . Things have changed since then House speaker Wright " Texas Democrat charged with several dozen rules violations including accepting free use of a condominium and car from a Texas businessman has asked for a Chance to ans Cras soon As possible Webster gave no indication. Of being embarrassed when the matter of inc fund came up in Congress biographer Irving h. Barthell has written. That the Public might interpret such a transaction As evidence of the corruption fan elected representative of the people seems not to have occurred to him. Since Webster s Day however Mem Bers of Congress periodically have been i investigated for accepting financial or sexual favors and for other misdeeds. Four representatives and 15 senators have been expelled in the 200-year history of Congress beginning in 1797 when sen. William Blount of Tennessee was accused of conspiring with the British and the Indian tribes to conquer West Honda. The most recent member to be expelled and the first in 126 years was rep Michael Myers a Pennsylvania Democrat convicted in the a scam bribery scandal in 1980. Last year. Rep. Mario Biaggi . Convicted in the cd tech scandal re signed after inc House scheduled a Vole on an ethics committee recommendation to expel him censure the stifles punishment Short of expulsion has been voted for seven senators including Wisconsin re publican Joseph Mccarthy in 1954 and Thomas j. Dodd d-conn., in 1967. Mccarthy was censured for actions contrary to senatorial traditions in his  of alleged communism and Odilon financial grounds. 11 is More than a slap on the wrist. I think in must be hard for anyone who has Noi served in the Senate of the United so alas to comprehend Toiv devastating censure can be to a senator sen. Robert c. Byrd , the for Mer majorly Leader has said. Twenty three members have been censured by the House most recently reps. Daniel b. Crane rih and Gerry e. Studds d-mass., in 1983 for sexual Mac conduct with congressional pages. Crane a Defeated for re election the next car but Ludds is still in Congress. The Milf so form of punishment a reprimand was instituted in 197 and has been acied out to a half dozen Mcm bars of the House the. Most -.recent, was rep. A Sun Murphy a five term pen nys Kanwit Democrat rebuked in 1987 for having someone else cast votes for him on the House door. Murphy was re elected last year rep. George v. Hansen a Idaho was reprimanded in i9s4 after being convicted by a Federal court jury of filing false financial disclosure forms. He was Defeated for re election after his Convie. Tion but before going to prison where he served just Over a year one of the most sensational cases in recent years involved rep Wayne a. Mays. A Ohio who admitted a Persona relationship with staff member Eliza Belh Kay but denied hiring her to be his mistress. Hays resigned in 1976 after the ethics panel Voied to hold Public hear Ings on  the House ethics committee was formed in 1969, it did not conducts formal investigation until 1976, when i reprimanded rep. Robert Sikes of Flor Ida for a conflict of i  before the committee and its procedures however the House was disciplining its members. One of the first big scandals came in the ls70 a when rep. Oakes Ames of Massachusetts was censured for accept ing shares of Stock at bargain prices fro credit Mobil ice a construction company seeking to obtain favors and Block an