Victim of ‘Poison Arrows,’ Wright Says

House Speaker Jim Wright (D-Tex.), who is under investigation by the House Ethics Committee, Monday portrayed himself as a victim of a campaign of leaks and “poison arrows” by Reagan Administration officials.

Wright, who frequently has denied charges that he used his influence to benefit himself and his friends, insisted that he “would not be under the pressure” of an internal House investigation if he had not challenged President Reagan’s policy in Central America.

” . . . When you threaten the Administration’s domination, you become a target,” Wright told reporters who attended a lunch that he hosted in his private dining room. “ . . . (what) I wasn’t prepared for was the degree to which the Speaker would become the target for poison arrows from the other side.”

First Accusation

It was the first time that Wright has accused Administration officials of participating in what he previously has characterized as a politically motivated campaign against him. The charges currently under investigation by the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, as the Ethics Committee is formally known, were filed by Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and 72 other House Republicans.

Wright specifically singled out two Reagan Administration officials whom he accused of generating bad publicity about him. One is William Black, former chief of litigation for the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, and the other is Orson G. Swindle III, assistant secretary of economic development at the Commerce Department.

Wright said that Black “insinuated himself” into a meeting in February, 1987, between Wright and Edwin J. Gray, who was then chairman of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, and later leaked erroneous information to the press.

That information suggested that Wright had intervened with the bank board on behalf of Donald Dixon, who since has been charged with racketeering for his role in bilking the Vernon Savings & Loan of Dallas of at least $540 million, the Speaker said.

Cites Legitimate Role

Wright long has contended that he did not know Dixon and contacted Gray only as a “go-between” on behalf of Texas citizens, a legitimate role for members of Congress.

He cited a speech that Swindle made in Wright’s hometown of Ft. Worth on June 3, 1987, in which the Commerce Department official criticized the Speaker for secretly inserting an appropriation for $11.8 million into the federal budget for development of the Ft. Worth Stockyards. At the time, Wright’s friend and business partner, George Mallick, was believed to have had an interest in the stockyards project.

Swindle’s speech condemned Wright for failing to seek the grant for Ft. Worth through normal channels. “It’s simply not right,” Swindle said, according to an article that appeared at the time in the Ft. Worth Star Telegram.

Neither Swindle nor Black could be reached for comment. Swindle was said by his staff to be traveling on Monday and Black did not return a telephone call from The Times.

Fahrenkopf Charge

The Speaker recalled that Republican Chairman Frank J. Fahrenkopf Jr. also went to Ft. Worth and while he was there publicly accused Wright of improperly intervening on behalf of Dixon and other savings and loan executives who came under investigation.

Wright said that he fully expects Gingrich’s GOP supporters to demonstrate with “insulting placards and signs” outside the Democratic National Convention in Atlanta next month. The Speaker will be chairman of the convention.

He said that he had considered stepping down as convention chairman to avoid the embarrassment but decided against resigning after sounding out several key Democrats. “I could wish that this cup would pass from me,” he said.

Wright said that he has the support of Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis, who will be the party’s presidential nominee, and of challenger Jesse Jackson. He added that no Democrats have urged him to step aside.

When asked how visible he would be at the convention, he replied: “I’m not going to stand up there 24 hours (a day).”