Hide Article Text (OCR)
present holder of the speakership, if by any chance the House Ethics Com mittee finds his conduct marginally less than criminal but plainly “unethi cal” or otherwise improper? Ought he to resign, on the ground that he must be held to “a higher standards than mere avoidance of criminality? Of course, the House Ethics Com mittee is not a body noted for any es pecially piercing sensitivity to ques tionable conduct. It has taken a year long barrage, from within and without Congress, to induce it to look into conduct on the part of Speaker Wright that any objective observer would instantly recognize as dubious to say the least. His roles in the Fort Worth stockyards subsidy and the Texas savings loan investigation, his apparent violation of the House rule on book royalties, and his office's ressures on Amtrak to sell federal ands, all require intensive probing That is why Congressman Newt Gingrich (R.-Ga.) has called for the appointment of a special counsel to the committee to lead the investiga tion of Wright's behavior. Only a thor oughly qualified independent attor ney, with extensive prosecutorial experience and a clear mandate to put Wright through the wringer, can persuade the country that an incestu ous little committee of Wright's own House of Representatives will investi gate this arrogant carcus boss as he deserves to be investigated. Congressional Democrats ought to have no difficulty understanding wh anything less won't do. It was they, af ter all, who insisted upon the designa tion of “special prosecutors” to probe wrongdoing in the Executive branch the theory being that the Justice Department, as part of the Executive branch itself, could not be trusted to display sufficient zeal in pursuing malefactors within it on the assumption, then, that Mc Kay tosses the liberals in Congress and the media a bone or two in the form of some phrases criticizing Meese, let this constitute fair warning that loud demands for Meese's scalp will be matched, yell for yell, by de mands for Wright's. These Johnny come-lately moralists are going to discover that “higher standards” is a game that two can play. And if Wright is half as deep in funny business as the public record suggests, Tony Coelho may yet wind up visiting his old boss on the rock pile at Leavenworth.
Newspaper Details
Key West Citizen
Key West, Florida, US
Wed, Jun 08, 1988
Page 4
Full Page
Clipped by
Roger M.
USA 01 Jul 2026
Other Publications Near Key West, Florida
Key West OutPost
Key West Citizen
