Wright’s Assets Drop Sharply as He Pays Off All Debts

House Speaker Jim Wright (D-Tex.), fighting charges that he violated House ethics rules, saw his financial assets shrink in 1988 along with his political fortunes, according to his annual financial report, made public Monday.

Wright paid off all his debts last year, reducing his net worth sharply, the report shows, even as the House Ethics Committee was compiling evidence that appears to be eroding his political capital among his colleagues.

Overall, the new figures present a classic portrait of a man eliminating liabilities and selling off assets to restore financial balance.

Assets Below $100,000

Wright repaid loans totaling at least $105,000 and possibly as much as $220,000, the report said. His assets, excluding his personal residence, were valued at less than $100,000 at the end of the year.

In addition, the Speaker drew a one-time refund of more than $28,000 from a civil service retirement fund, plus a $6,456 pension for his service in the Air Force Reserve.

His wife, Betty, 64, started drawing Social Security and civil service pensions and withdrew funds from an individual retirement account last year. She received a salary--reportedly $36,000--from the Pacific Institute, a company that sells motivational and self-help services to corporations.

The report shows that in 1988 Wright received no gifts and no book royalties, two items that led to his current difficulties.

He is accused of improperly accepting $145,000 in gifts from his business partner, George A. Mallick Jr. of Ft. Worth. The Ethics Committee has also charged him with evading a congressional limit on speaking fees by making bulk sales of his book to special-interest groups that heard him speak. He received an unusually high royalty rate of 55% of the book’s retail price.

The Ethics Committee is to hear arguments today by attorneys for Wright seeking dismissal of the two major charges against the Speaker. Wright’s defenders have said that his survival in office may depend on his success in persuading the 12-member committee to reverse itself on those key issues.

The Speaker’s financial disclosure report noted that he paid off a debt last year to Mallightco Inc., the firm formed by the Wrights and Mallick as an investment vehicle, along with a loan from the Republic Bank of Mineral Wells, Tex. Both loans were in the $50,000 to $100,000 bracket.

Wright repaid a smaller note--less than $5,000--from the Congressional Credit Union and a fourth loan in the $5,000-to-$15,000 bracket to Springhill Lake Investors Corp., a partnership that invested in land in nearby Prince George’s County, Md.

Wright listed his assets as having a value between $31,000 and $100,000, not including his personal residence. In 1987, by contrast, his holdings were valued between $305,000 and $430,000. His major asset then was his share in Mallightco, worth at least $250,000 by his account.

Among his assets in 1988, the Speaker listed stock in Jewell Enterprises, a defunct chain of nursing homes, as worth less than $5,000. Originally he paid $100,000 for the stock, borrowing the entire amount. It is now considered almost worthless.

Altogether, Wright’s 1988 income was between $188,183 and $203,579, including his House salary of $115,000.

He reported income of $5,000 to $15,000 in oil and gas well royalties from Southeastern Resources Inc., as well as smaller amounts in interest from a Texas bank, sale of stock in Central Texas Cable television and income from his Springhill Lake partnership.

He earned $30,000 in fees for 16 speeches to a variety of special-interest groups and collected ancillary expenses as well. The Washington lobbying firm of Campbell-Raupe paid his air fare and $2,000, for example, to deliver a talk at a conference in Bermuda last November.

House Republican leader Robert H. Michel of Illinois reported that his assets ranged between $165,000 and $400,000. He earned $60,500 in speaking fees in 1988 but gave $30,900 of that amount to charity.

House Democratic leader Thomas S. Foley (D-Wash.) supplemented his $99,500 salary with speaking fees and investment income that brought him $134,250 to $138,250.

In contrast, House Democratic Whip Tony Coelho (D-Merced) received $90,100 in speaking fees but gave $63,575 to charity. House members may keep speaking fees equal to no more than 30% of their House salary.

House GOP Whip Newt Gingrich of Georgia kept a total of $26,800 from speeches. He listed no investment income of his own and said that his wife’s investment income was between $1,000 and $2,500.