CAMPAIGN ’88 : Senator’s on Party Line
Sen. James A. McClure (R-Ida.) disclosed Wednesday that his office has been listening--unintentionally--to telephone calls placed by other senators and their staffs.
McClure blamed the problem on a quirk in the new Senate phone system that has apparently puzzled repair crews asked to stop the inadvertent broadcasting of Senate calls in his office.
“These conversations are apparently being picked up through the speakers located on telephones in my office without anyone on my staff even touching the phones,” he said.
McClure said his staff overheard a senator’s office contacting the West Virginia Dukakis campaign and learned that an unidentified Massachusetts senator was discussing campaign strategy at one of the universities in his state.
In addition to political intelligence, McClure told the Senate, his staff listened to such trivia as senators’ offices making reservations at fashionable Washington restaurants.
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