Dornan Won’t Apologize for Wimp Remark

Rep. Thomas J. Downey (D-N.Y.), after a shoving match on the House floor with Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove), who had called Downey “a draft-dodging wimp,” demanded an apology today but got none.

“It will be a cold day in hell before he gets an apology from Bob Dornan,” said Dornan aide Brian Bennett.

In a fracas that brought other House members rushing to the rear of the chamber on Monday, Downey and Dornan engaged in an animated nose-to-nose argument.

Downey accused Dornan of yanking his tie and threatening “bodily harm.” Dornan said he only “straightened” the tie.

Both congressmen agree the dispute started when Downey asked Dornan about a published report in which Dornan was quoted as calling the New York liberal “a draft-dodging wimp.”

Collar Grabbed

“He proceeded to get very excited about that and other issues,” Downey recounted. “When I attempted to walk away from him, he grabbed my collar. It’s difficult to turn the other cheek when someone’s got you by the collar and tie.

“He said, ‘It’s good you’re being protected by the sergeant-at-arms. If I saw you outside, it would be a different story.’ He threatened me with some form of bodily harm,” Downey said.

Dornan had a different account: “He (Downey) tapped me on the shoulder and wanted to know if I had called him a ‘wimp.’ I said, ‘Yes. You are a wimp.’

“He turned white. He was confronted with the truth. I didn’t pull on his tie at all. I just straightened it out for him. It was crooked and it needed to be straightened.”

Nicaraguan Issue

Dornan said he called Downey a “wimp” because of his repeated criticism of anti-government contra forces in Nicaragua who are supported by the Reagan Administration.

Downey, 36, is a graduate of Cornell University. His press secretary, Steve Solomon, said the congressman received a 1-Y medical deferment from the draft because of a perforated eardrum. “He’s had three operations on it.”

Dornan, 51, is a former Air Force fighter pilot and originator of the “prisoner of war” bracelet popular during the Vietnam War.