Partisan Push Threatened in Ethics Probes : Wright, Coelho Cases Prompt Plans for More House Inquiries

The House ethics war escalated Sunday as both Democratic and Republican leaders threatened to press partisan investigations in the aftermath of scandals battering House Speaker Jim Wright (D-Tex.) and Majority Whip Tony Coelho (D-Merced).

Reps. William H. Gray III (D-Pa.) and David E. Bonior (D-Mich.) suggested that the House Ethics Committee will examine the activities of at least three Republicans, particularly House Minority Whip Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), who prompted the ethics probe that is expected to lead to Wright’s resignation, possibly this week.

To Look at ‘Improprieties’

“I suspect that Mr. Gingrich will get at least as fair treatment as others have received recently,” Chief Deputy Majority Whip Bonior said a touch sardonically on ABC-TV’s “This Week With David Brinkley.” The House Ethics Committee “has looked at the Speaker,” he noted, referring to charges that Wright received improper gifts and evaded limits on outside income. And now the panel “will be looking at some improprieties” allegedly committed by Gingrich, Bonior added.

Meanwhile, Gingrich, charging that 35 years of House majority rule have corrupted the Democrats, suggested that Republicans will be pushing probes of at least nine additional Democratic legislators.

“The country is going to be further shocked when the news media dig deeper to discover that it doesn’t stop with Coelho and Wright,” Gingrich declared on CBS-TV’s “Face the Nation.”

Coelho Sees Plot

Later, Coelho, who faces a preliminary criminal investigation into his investment in a $100,000 “junk bond,” accused Gingrich of plotting to “destroy” the House so that Republicans can regain control. In an interview on the “CBS Evening News,” the California congressman called on President Bush to “stand up and fire those people who are unwilling” to heed his inaugural plea to, in Coelho’s paraphrase, “put aside partisan petty politics.”

Coelho acknowledged that he had made “a mistake” with the investment. But he contended that Republicans do not want him and Wright to step down because it would deprive them of a campaign issue in 1990. Similarly, he said, the Republicans fear the expected elevation of Majority Leader Thomas S. Foley (D-Wash.) to Speaker because “they know that he’d be a very forceful individual.”

While Bonior, Gray and Gingrich were turning up the heat on ethics, White House Chief of Staff John H. Sununu was apparently trying to lower it.

“I think you’ve got to stand back from (the ethics uproar) and look at it not in partisan terms, but really perhaps in a little bit more human terms,” he said from Rome on CNN’s “Newsmaker Sunday.” Calling the scandals “a tragedy for the people that are involved and their families,” Sununu warned that investigations into the slightest “flaw” could deprive the government of “good people.”

Both a Democratic congressman and Common Cause, the citizens lobby, have requested a House ethics probe concerning the $105,000 promotion of a Gingrich book by 21 campaign contributors and supporters. Gingrich has denied any impropriety.

Gray, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, indicated on CBS’ “Face the Nation” that the Ethics Committee would take a close look not only at Gingrich but also at Reps. Joseph M. McDade (R-Pa.) and Donald E. Lukens (R-Ohio).

Common Cause has questioned McDade’s role in winning Navy business for a company whose officials gave him more than $45,000 in campaign gifts and speaking fees and in addition provided a consulting contract to a top aide to the congressman.

Lawmaker Convicted

Lukens was convicted last Friday of contributing to the delinquency of a minor in a case in which prosecutors said that he had sex with a 16-year-old girl.

Meanwhile, Gingrich made clear on the CBS program that what he called Democratic “retaliation” would not go unanswered by Republicans.

In a telephone interview Saturday, he said that he has collected material indicating that “somewhere between 10 and 25 Democrats have very serious ethics problems.” Three he named were Rep. Roy Dyson of Maryland and Rep. Gus Savage of Illinois and non-voting Delegate Walter E. Fauntroy of the District of Columbia.

Questions were raised in news stories about Dyson’s financial ties to defense contractors after a top aide committed suicide last year on a trip to New York with the congressman. The trip was organized by Unisys Corp., one of many defense firms that have given campaign contributions and speech honorariums to the Armed Services Committee member.

Fauntroy is under Justice Department scrutiny for placing Savage’s son, Thomas, on his payroll at the same time the younger Savage allegedly was in Illinois running for the state Legislature.

Both Gray and Bonior are seeking the House majority whip post being vacated by Coelho, who announced Friday that he was resigning from Congress next month. Coelho faced a Justice Department investigation and possible inquiry by the Ethics Committee into the purchase of a $100,000 “junk bond” underwritten by Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc. with the help of a $50,000 loan from Columbia Savings & Loan Assn.

A third whip candidate, Rep. Beryl Anthony Jr. (D-Ark.), also has suggested that Republicans can expect investigations following the Gingrich-inspired probe of Wright.

In a related development, Rep. Ed Jenkins (D-Ga.) said that he is reconsidering whether he wants to run for the No. 2 House Democratic post--majority leader--now that Rep. Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.) has entered the contest.

Jenkins told United Press International that he had felt more confident running against Coelho, who originally sought the job.

Some have urged Jenkins to lower his sights a notch and enter the whip’s race. The slot is expected to go to a Southerner if Foley and Gephardt take the top posts. Jenkins, a behind-the-scenes power on the Ways and Means Committee, did not mention a possible switch in his talk with UPI.