THE RESIGNATION OF JIM WRIGHT : Angry Democrats Appear in No Mood to Forgive

In his emotion-charged speech Wednesday, House Speaker Jim Wright called for an end to “self-appointed vigilantes carrying out personal vendettas against members of the other party” and offered his own resignation as “a propitiation for all of this season of bad will that has grown up among us.”

It was clear Wednesday, however, that angry Democrats were in no mood to take such advice.

“No way” can Democrats forgive or forget the trauma of Wright’s resignation, declared Rep. Bill Richardson (D-N.M.). “I feel like I’m in a battle zone . . . What is this, Nail a Congressman Day?”

‘Hounded From Office’

“It was his (Wright’s) intention to lift this cloud over the House but there are an awful lot of people who feel pain today, who feel he was hounded from office,” agreed Rep. Gary L. Ackerman (D-N.Y.) as he stood on the steps outside the Capitol. “I’d hope we can resolve all this but I just don’t see how it stops here.”

Wright’s extraordinary speech, which held the House spellbound for more than an hour, capped a somber, wrenching day that many Democrats said was unparalleled in their political careers. As rumors that Wright’s resignation was imminent were heard in the House, stories began spreading about other members who also allegedly would be the target of investigations.

Already reeling from the Wright affair and Majority Whip Tony Coelho’s announcement last week that he would resign from Congress rather than face a lengthy ethics investigation, Democrats were further shaken Tuesday by disclosures that Rep. William H. Gray III (D-Pa.), the highest ranking black member of Congress, may be the target of a Justice Department investigation.

The seeming cascade of troubles prompted some members to question whether the House Democratic leadership is out of control. “Where does this end?” asked Richardson.

On Wednesday, an angry Gray reiterated his denials that he is under investigation. He distributed copies of a letter he had written to Atty. Gen. Dick Thornburgh in which he challenged the timing of leaks from the Justice Department to various news media. Gray, who chairs the House Democratic Caucus, has announced his candidacy to succeed Coelho in the No. 3 position in the Democratic leadership.

David Runkel, a spokesman for the Justice Department, responded that Thornburgh will look into the situation and said that he shares Gray’s concerns over leaks of governmental information.

A federal law enforcement source said that the FBI is conducting a preliminary investigation into alleged payroll padding in Gray’s office. However, the source said that he does not think Gray is considered a target of the inquiry at this time.

None of this mollified Democrats anxious about where the next ethics bombshell might hit. Members “are holding their breaths around here,” said Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles), “waiting to see what happens from day to day. I’ve never seen anything like this.”

Wright’s lengthy and forceful speech had an extraordinary effect on his colleagues. Members who commonly conduct noisy conversations with each other while colleagues speak from the rostrum sat riveted by his words. Some had tears in their eyes when he finished.

Democrats and Republicans leaped to their feet and applauded when Wright urged them to end the spreading ethics controversies and return to the pressing policy issues before the House. They listened in silence when he thundered that none of them would want to be judged as he had been judged.

Perspiring under television lights, the trembling, emotional Wright paused repeatedly to wipe his brow before continuing. When he finished, Democrats rushed to his side, some pumping his hand, others clapping him on the back or giving him bear hugs. Spectators in the galleries, who are usually admonished to refrain from any kind of display, stood and cheered.

For some Republicans, the sight of House Democrats twisting in the wind was not unsatisfying. But they offered mixed reactions to the Speaker’s political swan song.

Wright’s speech reminded Rep. C. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach) “of the closing scene of (the film) ‘Inherit The Wind,’ where you’ve got Fredric March playing William Jennings Bryan, totally consumed in his own rhetoric, self-deluded, without any remaining perspective.”

Wright, Cox said, “spent over an hour attempting to justify what could not be justified and attempting to call partisan that which was obviously nonpartisan. . . . He believes he has some special entitlement to the position (of Speaker) and is therefore unable to deal logically with bipartisan criticism.”

Another California Republican, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher of Lomita, said: “This is not a day for gloating for Republicans. It’s a sad day, but it’s necessary as well.”

Rohrabacher, a former speech writer in the Ronald Reagan White House, called Wright’s remarks “dignified and courageous,” but added that Wright is no victim. “It’s clear to everyone that he made some bad decisions and that now he’s unfortunately having to suffer the consequences of those decisions.”

He added that the climate in Washington now is one in which “there is an extraordinary level of malevolence and ill will and personal attacks,” most of which he blamed on Democrats seeking to move into leadership positions. “If there is an ugly cloud over Washington, the Republicans did not put it there,” Rohrabacher asserted.

Wednesday’s events began, appropriately enough, on a funereal note. House members offered speeches in memory of Rep. Claude Pepper (D-Fla.) who died Tuesday. But as one member after another rose to eulogize Pepper, they seemed more upset over the business that lay ahead.

“What we’re doing now, death, that’s the good news today,” said Rep. Thomas J. Downey (D-N.Y.). “Later on, that’s another matter entirely.”

The mood grew more macabre as news spread in the House Democratic cloakroom that Rep. James A. Traficant Jr. (D-Ohio) took an expenses-paid trip to West Germany in 1986 against the advice of the House Ethics Committee and failed to report the money on his annual financial disclosure report, according to a story in the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Soon a joke began spreading among aides that many congressional offices were no longer fielding journalist’s inquiries, and instead were answering their phones with the comment: “He’s already resigned.”

Staff writer Robert W. Stewart contributed to this story.