THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 15, 1994 TAG: 9409150474
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 91 lines
After a crackling and unusually personal debate over the handling of a sexual harassment case, the Senate on Wednesday delayed until next week a decision on Atlantic Fleet commander Adm. Henry H. Mauz Jr.'s nomination to retire as a full admiral.
Republicans, among them some of Mauz's most vocal advocates, pre-empted a scheduled vote by using his nomination as a parliamentary vehicle to force debate over President Clinton's presumed plans to invade Haiti. Clinton is expected to discuss his intentions in a nationally televised speech tonight.
As senators wrangled over his future, Mauz joined Defense Secretary William Perry in seeing off Haiti-bound troops aboard the aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower in Norfolk. An Atlantic Fleet spokeswoman said Mauz didn't watch any of the televised Senate skirmishing and he was unavailable for comment on it.
The Senate's three-hour discussion on Mauz reflected the continuing battle between women members who contend the service is not moving quickly or aggressively enough to root out sexual harassment and others, mostly men, who praise the Navy's efforts. It also gave fresh display to the tender scars the Senate has borne concerning sexual harassment since the stormy 1991 hearings over allegations against Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas.
Women senators ``are not the gender cops of the United States Senate, but we do believe we need to stand sentry over seeing that questions raised are questions answered,'' said Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, D-Md.
Mikulski and several other women urged a public hearing on what they said are incompletely answered questions about how Mauz dealt with the case of Lt. Darlene Simmons, a Navy lawyer who was a sexual harassment victim in May 1992. Simmons claims Mauz did nothing to protect her from reprisals by other officers aboard the submarine tender Canopus after she filed her harassment claim.
But Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, said her review of the case convinced her Mauz ``has done an exemplary job of handling a very difficult situation.'' As Simmons pressed her harassment claim up the Navy chain of command, Mauz interceded repeatedly to make sure she was treated fairly, Hutchison said. Hutchison is the only woman on the Senate Armed Services Committee, which unanimously endorsed the Mauz nomination. In April, she joined Democratic women in opposing the four-star nomination of then-Chief of Naval Operations Frank B. Kelso; they narrowly failed in an effort to strip Kelso of two stars in retirement because of his alleged involvement in the Tailhook scandal.
Other Mauz defenders on Wednesday praised his 35-year Navy record and decried what they charged is a trend among some senators to try to micromanage the military.
``The Senate is becoming far too deeply involved in matters such as this,'' Sen. John W. Warner, R-Va., a Mauz defender and senior Armed Services Committee member, said in an interview. ``If we don't get it behind us, you're going to see a deterioration in the morale of the senior officer corps.''
While the Navy agreed that Simmons was harassed by a superior officer aboard the Canopus, she alleges that she was punished repeatedly for making the complaint, including being confined for four days in a psychiatric ward in October 1992.
The psychiatric referral is a key element in the controversy about Mauz's role in the case; critics suggested the Navy has ducked questions about whether Mauz knew of the action in time to block it. A Navy spokesman said the memories of those involved are unclear over whether Mauz was told of the referral just before Simmons went into the hospital or just after she was discharged.
Other Mauz defenders noted Wednesday that whatever the admiral's knowledge, the referral was made by the ship's doctor, a woman, who they said was motivated by concern for Simmons' health rather than a desire to take part in reprisals over her harassment complaint.
Without Senate approval to retain all four of his stars, Mauz would retire with just two stars and would take a $1,275 cut in his monthly pension check.
In addition to the Simmons case, the debate over Mauz Wednesday touched on allegations by a Navy senior chief petty officer, George R. Taylor. He charges that Mauz took part in reprisals against him after he blew the whistle on a trip the admiral made to the Bermuda Naval Station in 1992. Taylor complained that Mauz and other Navy brass used the station as a private resort, traveling and staying there at public expense.
Taylor was transferred and then arrested on a variety of charges after an ABC television broadcast on the Bermuda allegations. All charges against him were dismissed. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Mauz
KEYWORDS: TAILHOOK SEXUAL HARASSMENT HAITI by CNB