NATION : Ex-Rep. Wayne Hays Dies at 77

Wayne L. Hays, a former congressman whose affair with U.S. House clerk Elizabeth Ray in 1976 touched off a payroll-sex scandal in the nation’s capital and destroyed his political career, died today. He was 77.

A family friend at the Hays home said Hays died at 1:30 p.m. at a hospital in Wheeling, W.Va., across the the Ohio River from this eastern Ohio town.

The woman, who spoke by telephone from the Hays residence, said Hays apparently suffered a heart attack about noon as he read a newspaper at home. He died at the hospital with his wife at his side, the woman said. The hospital refused to release any information, but Becks Funeral Home in St. Clairsville, Ohio, confirmed that Hays had died.