Packwood Apologizes, Vows Not to Resign : Ethics: Senator offers to meet with complaining women to tell of his regret over incidents of sexual misconduct. But calls for him to step down persist.

Sen. Bob Packwood (R-Ore.) Thursday voiced his first formal apology for past sexual misconduct toward women that was “just plain wrong” but said that he would not resign his Senate seat.

At a news conference that ended 18 days of seclusion since the charges were made public, Packwood also offered to meet with the complaining women and offer a personal apology for his behavior. “I just didn’t get it,” he said. “I do now.”

“I will not debate the recent accounts of my actions toward my staff and those who worked with my office,” he said of allegations that he grabbed, kissed and fondled more than a dozen women on his staff or female lobbyists over a 20-year period.

“The important point is that my actions were unwelcome and insensitive. These women were offended, appropriately so, and I am truly sorry.”

Even so, leaders of some women’s organizations renewed their demands for the resignation of the 60-year-old senator, who was reelected in November to a fifth term.

Assuming that there are no additional damaging revelations, however, Packwood appeared likely to weather the storm of criticism that has arisen since the Washington Post reported on Nov. 22 that he had made unwanted sexual advances toward women during his 24-year Senate career.

The Senate Ethics Committee has authorized a preliminary inquiry into the charges, but few expect the panel to recommend the harshest possible penalty--expulsion--even if they find Packwood guilty of sexual harassment.

“They’re probably looking for an excuse to do nothing,” Rep. Patricia Schroeder (D-Colo.) said of the committee. The Senate has not expelled a member for misconduct for more than 100 years.

There was renewed criticism of the senator despite his admission of wrongdoing.

Julie Williamson, a former aide who charged that Packwood once tried to pull her clothes off, said that the senator is still trying to deceive the people of Oregon. “The thing that made me particularly angry were his allegations that he didn’t remember the incidents,” she told the Associated Press.

Leaders of women’s groups also remained highly critical.

“It seemed a little bizarre to me,” Harriett Woods, president of the National Women’s Political Caucus, said of his comments. “I thought he was trying to save his political life but was not yet dealing with the lives of the women he victimized.”

Schroeder, who has called for a General Accounting Office investigation of the extent of sexual harassment in the House of Representatives, said that the Packwood affair “hasn’t been a pretty thing to watch. The issue is what he’s going to do in the future. The ones who have the right to say this was enough are the victims.”

But Patricia Ireland, president of the National Organization for Women, said that she personally believes the Oregon lawmaker should step down. “I certainly think he has abused his public trust.”

Gloria Allred, a Los Angeles lawyer who heads the Women’s Equal Rights Legal Defense and Education Fund and who filed the initial complaint against Packwood, also called for his resignation. “If he really wants to show leadership on women’s rights, he must resign and suffer the real-life consequences of his wrongful conduct. . . . What the senator did was not just ‘wrong,’ but it was damaging to women and their right to enjoy a workplace free of sexual harassment.”

Packwood, with his face reddening at times under tough questioning by reporters, refused to discuss the allegations in detail or to comment on his earlier efforts to find damaging information on the women who accused him of making unwanted sexual advances.

Addressing Oregon voters directly, Packwood said: “The bond of trust between us is stretched thin right now but I am committed to repairing that bond. I ask for the chance to earn back your respect.”

Until Thursday’s news conference, Packwood’s fullest response to the charges had been a statement, issued through his office, expressing regret and suggesting that his behavior was at least partly influenced by alcohol. He underwent a weeklong evaluation at an alcohol treatment facility after the allegations were published.

Packwood said Thursday that his previous consumption of alcohol was no defense for his conduct. He said, however, that he is not drinking now and he volunteered to seek professional counseling.

“What I did was not just stupid or boorish,” he said. “My actions were just plain wrong and there is no better word for it.”

The only allegation that Packwood has denied was made by Tiffany Work, an accountant who said that he fondled her buttocks in 1973 when she was 13 years old. Packwood said through an aide that her charge was “an outrageous lie.”