Gephardt Admits Writing 28 Overdrafts : Ethics: The House majority leader’s defense of actions is seen as easing impact of release of panel’s final list of check abusers.

House Majority Leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.) acknowledged Tuesday that he had written 28 overdrafts against his account at the House bank and subsequently has assessed himself $614 in penalties, which he has sent to the Treasury Department.

His announcement Tuesday appeared timed to soften the impact of the House Ethics Committee’s release--scheduled for Thursday--of the final list of congressmen who wrote bad checks on their accounts at the now-defunct bank.

That Gephardt’s disclosure was accompanied by an elaborate defense--including an independent audit focusing on bank errors and tardy posting of deposits--illustrates how seriously lawmakers are taking the issue. Already, several of them have decided not to seek reelection.

The list to be released by the Ethics Committee contains the names of more than 300 current and former House members who wrote one or more overdrafts in a 39-month period ending last October. Earlier, it listed 22 current and former members as the worst “abusers” of the House check-cashing facility.

While Democrats outnumbered Republicans on the list by a ratio of 6 to 1, the political fallout has affected prominent members of both parties. House Minority Whip Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), for example, has acknowledged “20 or 30” overdrafts.

Gephardt, relying on a bank report last fall for a one-year period, had said that he wrote only three bad checks. But he said Tuesday that the ethics panel had identified 28 checks from July, 1988, to last Oct. 3 that put his account into the red because of insufficient funds.

“Throughout the time I used the bank, I was never notified of an overdraft, my account was balanced each month, no checks bore markings that they were held for insufficient funds, and my statements never showed either an overdraft or a negative balance,” Gephardt said.

“I only wrote checks on the account believing that I had an adequate balance to cover them,” he said. “Nonetheless, I not only accept personal responsibility for my own account, but have taken responsibility and actions in dealing with the bank problems as majority leader.”

He said that five of the overdrafts were caused entirely by bank errors and 11 others occurred because he withdrew his paycheck a day early or miscalculated the amount of his paycheck.

Financial consultant Lee M. Donovan, who audited Gephardt’s account, said that the worst example of a bank error was a three-day delay in posting a $10,000 deposit. The error caused Gephardt’s account to be overdrawn by that amount for three days in December, 1988, he said.

Meanwhile, Rep. Bill Lowery (R-San Diego) announced that he is withdrawing from his primary battle with Rep. Randy (Duke) Cunningham (R-San Diego). Lowery has acknowledged writing 300 overdrafts worth almost $104,000 and said that he anticipated a negative campaign focused on the House bank issue.

Cunningham, who has admitted to one overdraft, had been airing radio ads on the check issue. Lowery is the 45th member of the House to quit so far this year, approaching the record number of 49 voluntary departures set in 1978.