THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, March 13, 1996 TAG: 9603130510
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 90 lines
A veteran senator on Tuesday angrily accused the Navy of bending its standards to push a promotion for Cmdr. Robert Stumpf, a Virginia Beach-based aviator whose career is on the line because of alleged misconduct at the notorious 1991 Tailhook Association convention.
``If this had been a group of enlisted who'd had the same thing happen - not an officer . . . not an admiral, not a hotshot pilot - I'm afraid I have to come to the conclusion there would have been heads rolling all over the place,'' said Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga.
Instead, Navy leaders continue to push for Stumpf's advancement to captain - the secretary of the Navy and the service's top admiral reaffirmed their support for him Tuesday - and the aviator's lawyer has sharply criticized the Senate Armed Services Committee, which last year effectively blocked Stumpf's promotion.
``I deeply resent the pounding'' given the committee, Nunn said, particularly because the panel's desire to protect Stumpf's privacy has prevented it from releasing evidence that he said would support its position against the promotion.
``The more you try to protect individuals in this town, the more you're excoriated,'' Nunn fumed.
Since the committee declared its opposition to Stumpf, veterans groups and conservative activists have made the aviator something of a cause celebre, lobbying lawmakers and editorial writers on his behalf. A Wall Street Journal editorial that precipitated Nunn's outburst Tuesday depicted Stumpf as a victim of ``Tailhook fevers,'' blasting his treatment by the committee and John H. Dalton, secretary of the Navy, who it suggested should have promoted him over the panel's objections.
Stumpf, a decorated veteran of the Persian Gulf War and formerly head of the Navy's famed ``Blue Angels'' team of precision fliers, was cleared by the service of allegations that he witnessed illegal sexual activity at Tailhook. The Navy also exonerated him on allegations related to his use of an F/A-18 Hornet to fly to the 1991 gathering in Las Vegas.
But Nunn, for years considered Congress' leading voice on military matters, insisted the evidence against Stumpf is essentially the same as the evidence the committee and the Navy have relied on to deny other promotions.
``What're we going to do, go back'' and restore those other officers, he asked.
``I think standards have to be consistent all up and down the line in the U.S. military.''
While Nunn was critical of Stumpf and the Navy, Arizona Sen. John McCain was apparently leading a drive to have the committee reconsider the case and withdraw its opposition to the promotion. The panel met privately for about two hours Tuesday night to discuss its stand, but apparently did not reach a final decision and was expected to convene again today.
In a public hearing earlier in the day, McCain led Dalton and Adm. Mike Boorda, the chief of naval operations, through a series of questions about Stumpf, getting the two leaders to detail their own investigations of the allegations against him and their conclusions that Stumpf should be promoted.
In particular, McCain asked about allegations that Stumpf had witnessed a striptease act in a hotel suite that ended with an airman engaging in a sexual act with the stripper.
Dalton said he quizzed Stumpf about the incident in detail and was satisfied that the flier had left before the sexual act occurred.
Both Dalton and Boorda added that they're satisfied that Stumpf was not involved in sexual misconduct, in which dozens of Navy and civilian women were assaulted by drunken aviators.
``We made, as a Navy, a lot of mistakes (at Tailhook) and it's tainted us,'' Boorda said. ``Our actions were not clear, nor were they timely, nor were they always fair . . . But those actions are completed and like them or not it is time to move on.''
He has tried to look at the entirety of Stumpf's career, Boorda added, and believes he should be promoted.
That's the same standard he's tried to apply to others, he added.
``The uniformed part of the Navy and . . . the secretary of the Navy are playing this straight up, being totally honest,'' Boorda said. The promotion is ``a very hard call and I realize there isn't a person in this room who isn't suffering'' in trying to resolve it, he said.
Charles Gittins, Stumpf's civilian lawyer and a particular - though unnamed - target of Nunn's ire Tuesday, insisted that he's done nothing improper in advancing his client's case.
``I don't think we have anything to hide from,'' he said.
Gittins added that Stumpf has no objection to the release of the committee's complete file.
The Navy has said it cannot release its own detailed investigation files without a written release from Stumpf.
KEYWORDS: TAILHOOK U.S. NAVY SEXUAL HARASSMENT
ASSAULT TRIAL AFTERMATH by CNB