Packwood Apologizes After Sex Harassment Is Charged : Ethics: Senator’s statement stops short of saying he made unwanted advances, as alleged by 10 women. Democrats in Oregon may seek inquiry.

Sen. Bob Packwood (R-Ore.), a leading advocate of women’s rights during his 24 years in the Senate, issued an apology but refused to discuss allegations Sunday that 10 women, most of them former staff members, were victimized by his unwelcome sexual advances over the years.

The Washington Post reported several of the women’s names along with their detailed accounts.

The Democratic Party in Oregon might seek a Senate Ethics Committee probe of Packwood, said Paddy McGuire, past executive director of the Oregon Democratic Party.

And in the meantime, Packwood “needs to deal with these allegations in a more straightforward and truthful manner,” McGuire said.

Packwood apologized in a statement late Saturday night, while stopping short of admitting that he had made any unwanted sexual advances.

The Post reported that in the days before his Nov. 3 reelection, Packwood flatly denied the allegations. The Post also said that before the election, Packwood supplied the newspaper with embarrassing information on some of the 10 women’s sexual histories and personal lives to cast doubt on their credibility, while praising his own record of hiring women.

But on Saturday night, Packwood said that “if any of my comments or actions have indeed been unwelcome, or if I have conducted myself in any way that has caused any individual discomfort or embarrassment, for that I am sincerely sorry.”

The statement said: “I have always tried to be mindful and respectful of the wishes of others. The reports to the Washington Post indicate that I have not always succeeded in that.”

Packwood aides turned aside requests for interviews.

Packwood’s defeated Democratic challenger, Rep. Les AuCoin, praised the 10 women for their “courage” in telling their stories to the newspaper. “I feel a great sense of sorrow for the tragedy” in the women’s lives, AuCoin added.

Former Packwood staffer Julie Williamson said the senator grabbed at her clothes, pulled on her ponytail and stood on her toes, but he couldn’t get her girdle off in a 1969 incident in his Portland, Ore., office.

A former mail clerk for Packwood told the Post that he’d called her into his office, locked the door, embraced her and forcefully kissed her in 1976 when she was 21.

“It was very clear that it was a sexual thing,” Paige Wagers told the newspaper. “It was very hard to get him to let go of me.”

In another incident, Packwood grabbed and kissed Mary Heffernan, founder of the Oregon chapter of the National Abortion Rights Action League, during a visit to his office in the early 1980s, Heffernan told the Post.

She did not tell anyone at the time what had happened, partly because she was embarrassed, said Heffernan, who is now executive director of the Women’s Foundation of Oregon in Portland.

Heffernan said she believes that Packwood “genuinely respects the intelligence that women bring to their work.”

But she said she was troubled by the imbalance of power in their relationship. She did not feel she could afford to alienate a key senator. “For me, abortion rights were on the line,” she said.

And Maura C. Roche, who was 22 when she served as an intern in Packwood’s office in 1989, said Packwood once read her several sexually explicit jokes.

The alleged incidents occurred as late as 1989, with several of the women saying Packwood made advances when he had been drinking.

None of the former staffers said Packwood punished them for rejecting him, but several decided to leave their jobs within months. Several pointed out that Packwood was married when he approached them. He and his wife divorced last year after 27 years of marriage.

None of the women made formal complaints. Some told the newspaper they feared no one would believe them and that their careers might suffer.