Syracuse Herald-Journal, Thursday, Feb. 7, 1980-OP-ED
Dem Watergate unfolding
By MARY McGRORY
WASHINGTON — Embarrassment hangs over Congress like a heavy smog. Once again, the public is asking if there is any end to the greed and stupidity on Capitol Hill. Nobody has been charged with anything yet. But from what has been leaked, so far, it would seem at a minimum that eight members could be accused of being "born yesterday," taken in by cock-and-bull stories, lured to odd places at odd hours by fake Arab sheiks with millions of dollars under their robes. What made it worse was the Congress was stung by its favorite agency, the FBI.
For Democrats, the political fallout could be cosmic. This is an election year, and the worst time for public confidence in an institution that many voters feel is for sale anyway. The circumstances that led the FBI to set up its "sting" operation are mysterious. How it got from tracing stolen art goods to calling up congressmen to offer filthy riches from generous Arab friends" is one of the many aspects of the case that requires fuller explanation. But the members are so depressed and defensive that none has dared raise the bitter question of "entrapment," which, along with the leaks, could compromise prosecution.
At his daily briefing, the voice of Speaker Thomas P. O'Neill was scarcely audible. Over the crowd of reporters gathered around his desk, fragments of his answers floated out:
"the strictest code of ethics" ... "worried about political consequences."
The press pack then trooped over to the Rayburn Building, where the only Republican struggling in the dragnet, Richard Kelly of Florida, held a news conference of truly epic witlessness. Kelly, a large, fair-complexioned man, kept saying he had covered everything in his written statement, a four-line affair that simply concluded that he had "not been involved in any criminal activity-" He was there, he said, "to answer any questions the press might have" But he answered all of them with a blush. What would he think of a colleague who had been seen stuffing his pockets with money? Kelly said. "It would depend on the circumstances." He repeatedly was invited to say out loud that he was not a crook. He declined.
The next stop was the House Ethics Committee, meeting in emergency session. There the ghost of Watergate walked.
At the end of the table at the Republican side, with his arms folded and a quizzical expression on his face, sat Rep. Richard Cheney of Wyoming. He said nothing. He knows what scandal, even in its last stages, can do. He was the White House chief of staff for Gerald Ford, whose pardon of Richard Nixon may have cost him the presidency.
A Democrat, Rep. John Slack of West Virginia, moved at once to close the hearings. There was a notable bristling among the Republicans and a cry for "openness."
Beside Slack, there was an empty chair. It belongs to Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., understandably absent, since he is one of the eight alleged miscreants. To compound the irony, Murtha was elected in 1974, and was one of the first beneficiaries of Watergate. His victory in a Republican district was an early signal that the voters no longer believed Richard Nixon. Chairman Charles V. Bennett of Florida, looking melancholy, spoke of the availability of the videotapes, which allegedly show some of his colleagues pocketing cash. The discussion followed eerily the lines of the Watergate committee in its formative stages. Now — as then — it was a question of public hearings that might jeopardize court proceedings. It is a race for the evidence between a grand jury and a congressional committee.
Many painful questions must be faced by the shamed Congress. Should the members who have been leaked upon be allowed to keep their seats, allowed to vote, allowed, in the case of Reps. Frank Thompson, D-NJ., and John Murphy, D.N.Y., to preside over committees? One thing is perfectly clear: Rep. Richardson Preyer, D.N.C., spoke gravely of the need for a special prosecutor, Archibald Cox. the hero of Watergate, has just accepted appointment as chairman of Common Cause. He may have to leave that plow and bring his unquestioned integrity to the Democratic Watergate that is just beginning to unfold.
SBD