
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, November 23, 1993                   TAG: 9311230104
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

PANEL SUES TO GET DIARIES OF PACKWOOD

The Senate Ethics Committee Monday filed suit to force Sen. Bob Packwood, R-Ore., to comply with its subpoena for his private diaries, saying two passages raise questions about whether Packwood's solicitation of financial support for his wife was "linked to his performance of official acts."

In papers filed in U.S. District Court here, the committee suggested that Packwood, in fighting the subpoena on privacy grounds, was less interested in protecting his privacy than in keeping the Ethics Committee from discovering possible misconduct.

"Sen. Packwood appears concerned not so much about the irrelevant private matters in his diaries, but about the relevant information that the committee may discover in reviewing the diaries," the panel said in asserting its need for the diaries to carry out its "constitutionally-based mandate" to assure ethical conduct of senators.

The committee asked the court to order Packwood to respond by Dec. 6 and schedule a hearing during the week of Dec. 13.

The committee has been investigating allegations that Packwood made unwanted sexual advances to more than two dozen women since coming to the Senate in 1969.

In reviewing the first 5,000 pages of his diaries, the committee came across what it described as information about possible criminal activities unrelated to the original charges but was blocked by Packwood from obtaining and copying the material.

by CNB