Balky Wright Witnesses Must Testify : House Ethics Panel Tells Them to Be in Capitol Next Week

The House Ethics Committee ruled today that reluctant witnesses who earlier refused to testify about an oil well deal profiting Speaker Jim Wright (D-Tex.) must comply with the panel’s subpoenas and appear before the committee next week.

If the witnesses again refuse, the committee will take “whatever appropriate action is necessary,” including possibly issuing contempt of Congress citations, Chairman Julian C. Dixon (D-Los Angeles) told reporters after a closed meeting of the committee.

Committee investigators want to question San Antonio, Tex., businessmen Doug Jaffe and his father, Morris, about an oil well sale they brokered involving Wright’s investment company.

Dixon and Rep. John T. Myers (R-Ind.) traveled to San Antonio earlier this week to obtain testimony from five witnesses as part of the committee’s inquiry--begun last June--of alleged violations of House ethics rules by Wright.

Objection Rejected

But the Jaffes refused to appear and their lawyer, Stanley Brand, argued in a letter that the committee was exceeding the scope of its original investigation.

Dixon, however, said he sent a letter to Brand on Wednesday rejecting the objection and rescheduling the Jaffes’ appearance for next Wednesday and Thursday in Washington. The committee today endorsed the ruling.

As a result of its investigation, the Ethics Committee has charged Wright with 69 violations of House rules on outside income and gifts. In addition, the committee is continuing to investigate the Texas oil well sale that profited Wright.

Doug Jaffe sold a 4% stake in the well, known as the North Sabine Lake Prospect, last May 10 for $9,120 to Mallightco, the investment company controlled by Wright and a friend, businessman George Mallick of Fort Worth.

West German Purchase

On the same day, a company controlled by a West German business partner of Jaffe, Friedemann Striegel, bought the same interest in the well for about $440,000. The deal produced a profit of $340,880 for Mallightco but the well later proved to be dry.

Wright maintains that he did not know anything about the oil well deal.