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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, December 15, 1993                   TAG: 9312150145
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Knight-Ridder/Tribune
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

DIARY ALTERED BY PACKWOOD, EX-AIDE SAYS

They asked a federal District Court to immediately seize from Packwood the diaries and all other materials subpoenaed in the Senate committee's probe of charges that he engaged in sexual misconduct and sought favors from lobbyists.

The request raised the question of whether Packwood, R-Ore., had obstructed justice.

A former Packwood secretary, Cathy Wagner Cormack, who transcribed Packwood's diary entries, told Senate investigators Friday that he had changed some of the diary tapes after the investigation began.

According to the papers filed with the court Tuesday, Cormack testified that Packwood "took back some tapes in my possession which I had not yet transcribed. At a later time, it appeared to me that he may have made some revisions to those tapes. Subsequently, he confirmed that he had."

"It is now apparent that the integrity of Senator Packwood's diary tapes is not guaranteed," the court papers noted. "The revelation of alteration of evidence reinforces the [ethics] committee's need for prompt access to all subpoenaed material."

It was not clear how the tapes might have been altered.

Neither Packwood's spokeswoman nor his attorney, Robert H. Bennett, were available for comment Tuesday. An aide in Packwood's office said his employees were instructed "not to answer any questions about this."

In addition to voicing fear that the diary tapes had been altered, the court papers Tuesday charged that Packwood improperly had paid Cormack from his Senate office account and, later, his campaign fund to transcribe the diary tapes. Senate attorneys called the diary essentially a private undertaking for which public funding should not be used.

They also said that campaign funds cannot legally be converted to personal use.

Packwood's diary, dating to 1969, has become a focal point in the investigation. He initially had granted access to it but later balked when investigators unearthed indications that he improperly had solicited help from lobbyists in finding a job for his former wife.

When the committee subpoenaed the diary materials, Packwood refused to hand them over. A hearing on the subpoena request is scheduled for Thursday.