New Packwood Allegation Is Said to Involve a Minor

One of the two additional sexual misconduct complaints that has delayed an ethics investigation of Sen. Bob Packwood (R-Ore.) stems from an allegation involving a minor, sources said Tuesday.

In a complaint filed with the Senate Ethics Committee, the unidentified woman said that Packwood grabbed and kissed her in 1983 when she was employed in his office as a 17-year-old, college-bound intern.

Repeating charges that were first published by the Washington Post in 1993, the woman, who is now in her 20s, told Senate investigators that Packwood insisted on coming to her parents’ home in Bethesda, Md., when she was alone to deliver a letter of recommendation he had written for her.

As they stood in the library of her family’s house, Packwood unsuccessfully tried to hug her, she said. Then, she added in the Post interview, “he laid a juicy kiss on my lips. I could feel the tongue coming” before she was able to push him out of the house.

Another complaint was lodged by Celia Lighthill, a 55-year-old woman, who testified last week before the committee that Packwood allegedly grabbed and kissed her during a camping trip on the Snake River in 1971, according to a report published Tuesday in the Portland Oregonian.

The two additional cases bring the number of complainants to 19.

The ethics panel has found that 17 women have raised “substantial credible evidence” that Packwood may have breached Senate rules of conduct through a pattern of sexual misconduct on 18 occasions between 1969 and 1990. The committee also found that Packwood sought jobs for his then-estranged wife from lobbyists and business executives with interests in legislation and that he altered his diaries after learning that they might be subpoenaed in the investigation.

The two new complaints that surfaced last week prompted the Ethics Committee to delay a decision on what sanctions to impose on the senator while the new charges are being investigated. The committee could recommend actions to the full Senate, ranging from a mild reprimand to expulsion from the Senate.

Last week, the Senate voted largely along party lines not to require the Ethics Committee to conduct public hearings in the matter.

Officials said that the allegation that Packwood made inappropriate advances on a minor is among the most serious. That charge could increase the prospect of the committee recommending a more severe punishment, although it is unclear what impact it will have or whether Packwood will face criminal charges related to it.

If the Ethics Committee finds that criminal activity has occurred, it would be obligated to refer those charges to the Justice Department, said one Capitol Hill source.