Word: speaker
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...surprise was not in the tone of the document: it had been widely tipped to be "devastating," and it was. The charges for the most part had also been well rehearsed. Nonetheless, when the House ethics committee at last released its report on Speaker Jim Wright, the findings of the ten-month investigation still qualified as a bombshell. Bad enough were the accumulated allegations of venality: details of Betty Wright's alleged no-show job, accounts of the Speaker's staff shamelessly peddling his book, the description of a wildly lucrative -- and suspicious -- oil-well deal that few had known...
That unanimity crippled efforts by Wright and his allies to portray the report as a partisan Republican attempt to smear a powerful political opponent, and it tilted the odds against the Speaker. Only a few weeks ago, Wright had seemed likely to hold on to his job. Now close observers of Congress, such as lobbyists and Democratic powers outside the legislative chamber, think the best he can expect is to retain the speakership until late in the year, before being pushed into resignation. House Republican Whip Newt Gingrich, who first called for the Wright investigation, went even further, predicting that...
...Speaker also sought to make some headway by concentrating his defense not on himself but on his wife Betty. The committee charged that Betty was paid $18,000 a year by Mallick for doing no work. Wright indignantly defended his wife's integrity and insisted she did work as an investment adviser; he produced a list of proposed investments she had supposedly looked into for Mallick. Mallick seems never to have acted on any, but Betty explained to the Washington Post that her advice frequently had been not to buy. To the New York Times she complained that "they...
...speech excerpts slapped together by an aide). On the surface, at least, the sales look like a blatant attempt to slide around House limits on members' outside income; honorariums for speeches are restricted, but book royalties are not. In several cases Wright's staff members pointed out that the Speaker was near his limit on honorariums and suggested that organizations buy books instead of paying him directly. Wright refused to answer any questions about the book last week; if he or Oldaker has a plausible explanation, neither has come forward with...
...very day the purchase became final -- May 10, 1988 -- Mallightco resold the interest to Union Rheinische Petroleum Inc., a West German company, for $440,000. The well at the time showed some prospect of becoming a commercial producer but has since been plugged. Wright's trustee then sold the Speaker's interest in Mallightco for $350,000, less $80,000 to pay off debts to the firm -- a handsome profit from a hopeless dry hole. Wright insists he knew nothing about the well deal, but the ethics committee wants to probe deeper -- especially because the sale of the well...