The Congressional Journal of Barber B. Conable, Jr., 1968-1984 by Barber B. Conable & Bill Kauffman

Author:Barber B. Conable & Bill Kauffman [Conable, Barber B. & Kauffman, Bill]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Biography & Autobiography, Political, Political Science, American Government, Legislative Branch, Commentary & Opinion
ISBN: 9780700632091
Google: QqYNzgEACAAJ
Goodreads: 56123653
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
Published: 2021-01-15T07:40:20+00:00

May 26, 1976

Wayne Hays, the tyrant of the House, has been suffering a terrible embarrassment lately after disclosures by the Washington Post that he had hired a woman to be his mistress and put her on the committee staff.7 I would believe almost anything of Wayne Hays, but it had not occurred to me that he would achieve that level of arrogance, and I am surprised to find that most of my colleagues believe everything that is said about him in the papers. He made an emotional speech to the House yesterday in which he acknowledged an illicit relationship with the woman, saying that he had lied primarily because he had wanted to defend his new marriage against slander and calumny. I signed a letter to the Ethics Committee asking that his conduct be investigated, but I must acknowledge that it was not a courageous act, despite Wayne’s reputation of being a buzz saw, because before the letter was sent, he had requested such an investigation on his own.

Bill Archer tonight came to me and stirred me up on a subject I have been interested in before: how to take advantage of Democratic malfeasance and scandal in the conduct of Congress so as to encourage the election of Republicans to Congress by people who intend to hook congressional elections on the coattails of presidential candidates or otherwise simply to return incumbents to office. Before the last election, I went to John Rhodes and suggested that a task force be put together to document and to accuse the Democrats of many sleazy practices we all know they engage in as part of the arrogance of their safe control of the House of Representatives. John immediately became defensive, fearing that such a campaign might embroil some Republicans and backfire on us, since we do not control the sources of information. I took the position that if there were Republicans who were abusing their position here, our party could do well to expose them as well as the Democrats, and that it was my feeling that probably the Democrats were far worse than the Republicans in any allowance abuse or personal scandal.

Archer told me I should try to interest Bob Michel in this campaign, asking if he didn’t think it would be a good idea to put together a task force to gather the documentation necessary so that we would not appear to be making wild and unsubstantiated charges. Bob acted quite uncertain about it, but this is something I would go with some joy to do, confident that I am myself invulnerable because of my puritanical practices, and feeling that it is important to purge the House of its seamy side at a time when Wayne Hays’s peccadillos have so attracted attention to unhappy generalizations about politicians in general and a congressman in particular. I find the clublike aspects of our institution quite distressing and doubt that there will be any vigorous movement toward cleaning house. I have always thought the Republicans

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