ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, January 19, 1997 TAG: 9701200145
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: The Washington Post
TOP DEMOCRATS GAVE their approval to the ethics committee's recommendations, which were issued Friday.
The Democratic leadership agreed Saturday to support the findings of the House ethics committee in the complaint against House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., and not seek any further action against him.
The decision marked a somewhat abrupt end to weeks of rancorous partisan haggling and made it likely that the full House would approve an ethics committee recommendation to make Gingrich reimburse the House $300,000 and to reprimand him for disregarding House rules.
Ethics committee sources said the members had made no decision on whether to turn over case documents to the Internal Revenue Service or the Justice Department. Committee member Steven Schiff, R-N.M., said Friday that the panel's Republicans had agreed to ``make available'' documents to the IRS.
The committee Saturday made public four volumes of case documents - a hodgepodge that included press releases, fund-raising reports, tax forms and Gingrich's own handwritten memos.
Early Saturday, Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, D-Mo., called a meeting of his top lieutenants to discuss the ethics committee findings with the four Democratic members of the committee.
The ethics committee voted 7-1 late Friday to recommend that Gingrich be reprimanded by his colleagues and pay a $300,000 penalty for disregarding House rules in misusing tax-exempt funds to promote his conservative political agenda. All four Democrats approved the recommendations.
Notably in agreement were both Gephardt, who had earlier threatened to offer a privileged resolution ``vacating'' the speaker's chair, and Minority Whip David Bonior, D-Mich., Gingrich's chief tormentor, who late Friday had said, ``The speaker should step aside.''
Democratic Caucus Chairman Vic Fazio of California noted, however, that while he too wanted Gingrich to resign, ``We're in the minority. The Republicans have to decide if they want Newt Gingrich as their speaker, and apparently they do.''
LENGTH: Short : 47 linesby CNB