Word: wrights
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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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...
...more than $9 million in honorariums last year. The more powerful the legislators, the more invitations come their way. Freshman Representatives without a good committee assignment hardly get invited at all, but Dan Rostenkowski, whose committee writes the tax bills, collected the most money of all, $222,500. Jim Wright so easily surpassed the $34,500 that legislators are allowed to keep for personal use that he allegedly used sales of his book to get around the limit...
...easier to understand the plight of the constituent-friend who would be hurt by a bill cracking down on reckless savings and loan executives than the plight of a constituent he does not know -- Joe Sixpack faithfully depositing his weekly savings into a 5% passbook account. When friends of Wright and Coelho who were heading up failing S & Ls came under investigation for fraud, the Democratic leaders were not only willing to take their calls and visits but to stall legislation and a federal investigation that would have cracked down on these people...
...Washington joke broker. The onslaught of one-liners about John Tower's reported drinking and womanizing helped scuttle his nomination for Secretary of Defense. Relentless gags about the Exxon oil spill undoubtedly aggravated the company's public relations disaster and spurred pressure for White House action. Deposed Speaker Jim Wright was tougher to lampoon -- the charges against him involved abstruse House rules rather than booze and women -- but that didn't stop the monologuists from trying. (Carson on Wright's negotiations with the House ethics committee: "Part of the deal was he would resign if the committee would...
Moments before House Speaker Jim Wright launched into his resignation speech last week, his nemesis Newt Gingrich was seen merrily whistling through the halls of Congress. When Democrats and then Republicans stood to applaud Wright's denunciation of "mindless cannibalism," Gingrich rose to his feet only grudgingly, hands jammed into his pockets. Afterward, Gingrich, the minority whip and second-ranking Republican in Congress, shunned the crowds of waiting reporters. When he finally did surface, he bristled with his usual attack-dog rhetoric: "Jim Wright is forced out, and he blames the rest of us for his resignation. He has insulted...