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Witness TellsAs PostmasterBy BASCOM N. TIMMONS Times Washington BureauWASHINGTON, Oct. 9.—A former Bluegrove, Texas, a c t i n g postmaster told Senate probers of alleged political job sales in Texas that she was removed fromI •her job six months after she wrotea letter to high administration officials complaining about handling of her application.Mrs. Clara K. Childs of Bluegrove also, told a Senate Civil Service subcommittee of a comedy of errors in which she was named acting postmaster, contributed $125 to the Republican state finance committee at the request of GOP National Committeeman Jack Porter, and then was removed from the job and replaced by the same man she originally replaced.Mrs. Childs was the third witness in an investigation aimed at alleged improper solicitation of political contributions and sale of postal jobs to the highest' bidder in Texas.Porter Letter ^ She said she was appointed acting postmaster Nov. it, 1953, to replace then acting Postmaster James Pennington, after applying for the vacancy and contacting S. Lester Hansard, then county GOP chairman,After taking the Civil Service examination in the spring of 1954, she testified, she received a letter from Porter asking for a eon-Jtributi^jpf $125 to help process (federal appointments in the state, j. “I was just like the others,” she testified. ”1 was so dumb I thought the money would go for processing my postmaster application so I sent* it.” \ ‘Mrs. Childs said that she was removed with “one day's notice”November, 1955, and replaced by Pennington.“The first thing I thought was ‘That’s what happened to mj $125,” she testified.In the Civil Service examina tion Pennington, a veteran, was rated first, and Mrs. Childs third Pennington was nominated for tin post in the last session of Con gress and confirmation is stil pending in the senate.Mrs; Childs testified that wher. she found out that she was nol going to get the job, she sent a summary of the case to President Eisenhower, Postmaster General Arthur Summerfield, GOP National Chairman' Leonard Hall, Porter, eolmunist Drew Pearson, and others.Letters Unanswered Under questioning by Chairman Olin D. Johnston (D-SC), Mrs. Childs said she did not receive a reply from many of her letters tcadministration officials.*. Sen. William Langer, only Republican member of the three-man subcommittee, pointed out that Summerfield had turned Mrs. Childs’ letter over to the Civil Service Commission, which in turn referred it to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for a full checkMrs. Childs admitted that FBI agents had contacted her in Bluegrove shortly thereafter. ... .Langer said the FBI had found “no cause for action” in the case and disputed Johnston’s statement that the administration had See INQUIRY, Page 31
Newspaper Details
Wichita Falls Times
Wichita Falls, Texas, US
Tue, Oct 09, 1956
Page 11
Full Page
Clipped by
Wichita F.
TX, USA 06 Nov 2018
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