House Speaker Jim Wright

In spite of all the news coverage of the Wright affair, there is one important aspect which has been mostly overlooked. The Ethics Committee has been absorbed in the investigation for the better part of a year and the evidence considered has been voluminous. The committee membership is divided evenly between opposite political philosophies. The subject of the investigation is not only the man third in line to the presidency, not only a congressional colleague, but he is the one who makes committee assignments! In essence he is the boss of the panel members.

Yet after all these months the committee has been able to bring in a unanimous consensus on 69 counts. That is a monumental tribute to the skill of the chairman of the committee, Rep. Julian Dixon (D-Los Angeles). Walking that tightrope for so many weeks demonstrates a rare ability to maintain balance. Although a “reason to believe” is not to be confused with a conviction, and many more days of hearings and deliberations are yet to come, I think the country feels better knowing that the leadership of the committee will be in the capable hands of Dixon. We in Los Angeles--indeed in California--are justifiably proud to count Julian Dixon as one of our own.

JAMES SCHERR

Studio City