Rostenkowski Unsure if He’s Target in Post Office Probe

Rep. Dan Rostenkowski (D-Ill.), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said Thursday he does not know whether he is a target of a federal grand jury investigating the operations of the House post office.

The Chicago Democrat brushed aside news reports that a postal supervisor, who was sponsored for his job by Rostenkowski, told U.S. prosecutors that he exchanged vouchers from Rostenkowski’s office for cash in transactions that totaled $18,000 or more over the last five years.

Asked by reporters whether he was now regarded as a target of the grand jury investigation, Rostenkowski replied: “I don’t think so. I don’t know.”

Questioned about the $24,000 his office spent on postage stamps from 1986 to 1991, he said: “I mail a lot.”

On a day when he tried to elude reporters by dashing down a little-used stairway on the Republican side of the House floor, the news accounts of his alleged dealings with the post office sent a shock wave through the chamber.

“I think leaks that come out of an official investigation are reprehensible,” said Speaker Thomas S. Foley (D-Wash.). “That isn’t to suggest that they are true, or that they are reliable, or that they are accurate, but they are published.”

Rep. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.), a friend of Rostenkowski’s, said House members “are very skeptical of these charges. They do not fit the man as we know him. And everyone feels it’s very unfair . . . to be subjected to this onslaught of rumor and innuendo.”

In another development, grand jury subpoenas were issued for three House post office employees as part of the inquiry that U.S. Atty. Jay B. Stephens is conducting into alleged improprieties at the post office. The names of the three were not immediately available.