Word: toweritis
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Quizzed behind closed doors, Weyrich was unable to cite specific incidents of Tower's misbehavior, but the genie was out of the bottle. The committee was inundated by telephone calls, many anonymous, reporting "sightings" of Tower misbehaving in public. The White House asked Nunn to delay a committee vote while some of the accusations were being checked out by the FBI. Referring to the leaks to the press, Tower privately protested, "They've practically got me dancing naked on top of a piano...
Nunn thus readily agreed to a second White House request to postpone a committee vote while the FBI looked into yet another Tower problem. This time it was an allegation, surfacing in the Ill Wind scandal, that some officials affiliated with Unisys Corp., a defense contractor under investigation, gave money in the early 1980s to a Tower associate, apparently to arrange meetings with the Senator. The payment was allegedly made as a campaign contribution...
...until last week that the FBI finally finished the last of its six reports on Tower. On Monday White House aides put the best possible spin on the findings, claiming that "there is nothing in this report to indicate that Tower is unfit for office." Next day the President joined the steamroller, declaring flatly, "The allegations that have been hanging over this ((nomination)) have been gunned down...
...Wednesday the committee Democrats were in open rebellion against what they saw as an attempted White House whitewash. Nebraska's James Exon declared that the President should start seeking a different nominee. Michigan's Carl Levin asked for more time to look into even newer allegations against Tower. Reading the growing sentiment, Warner suggested that a committee vote be delayed at least until week...
...Nunn had heard enough about Tower. In a closed meeting on Thursday afternoon, he proposed that the committee meet publicly that night, deliver any explanations it wished on how the members had made up their minds, then cast their votes. All along, Tower's fate in the committee had depended on Nunn's own decision. As the Senators debated Tower's strengths and frailties during the three-hour executive session, it was clear that Nunn would not accept the nominee...