Word: coelho
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...atmosphere in Congress had truly turned poisonous in the week since Wright's position crumbled and majority whip Tony Coelho resigned rather than face similar investigations into his advantageous insider acquisition of a $100,000 junk bond. Republican Newt Gingrich of Georgia, who first leveled the charges against Wright, crowed over his victory and declared that at least ten other Democrats were guilty of similar violations...
...ethics becoming a tool for character assassination? Pennsylvania Congressman William Gray, the leading candidate to replace Coelho, had to ask Attorney General Dick Thornburgh to investigate the source of an apparently unfounded rumor that the FBI was looking into whether he had a no-show employee on his payroll. Majority leader Tom Foley, the likely successor to Wright, was asked to assure a group of conservative Democrats that nothing in his background would embarrass them...
While tattletales are no more appealing on Capitol Hill than in grammar school and scattered enforcement always seems unfair, it would be a mistake to conclude that Wright and Coelho are victims of a deranged political environment dominated by vengeful Republicans and gooey do-gooders. Although Coelho characterized himself as a martyr, resigning to save his family and Congress, he was actually getting out to save his neck. The $100,000 deal involving one of Michael Milken's junk bonds promised to be every bit as serious as Wright's transgressions. And the investigations have the same salutary effect...
Wrapped up in the furor surrounding the nomination of former Texas Senator John Tower as Secretary of Defense and the recent allegations of ethics violations involving House Speaker Jim Wright (D-Tx.) and Majority Whip Tony Coelho (D-Ca.), Congress itself is only now beginning to address the drug crisis...
NATION: As Jim Wright's fate is sealed, the Capitol Hill ethics purge also topples majority whip Tony Coelho...