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

DATE: TUESDAY, November 2, 1993                   TAG: 9311020142
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

SENATE ETHICS PANEL ARGUES FOR PACKWOOD'S DIARIES

A hushed, edgy Senate on Monday began consideration of an unprecedented ethics committee subpoena for the personal diaries of Sen. Bob Packwood, R-Ore.

Committee members of both parties argued they had the right and duty to pursue any evidence of misconduct in the diaries.

Committee Vice Chairman Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., joined Chairman Richard G. Bryan, D-Nev., in asserting a need for the diaries for the committee to conduct a thorough investigation of sexual misconduct allegations and possibly other charges against Packwood.

McConnell and Sen. John Warner, R-Va., took issue with Bryan's statement last week that the diaries contain entries raising questions about possible violations of criminal law by Packwood, describing the information as "inconclu- Packwood sive" and Bryan's action as "injudicious and inappropriate."

But McConnell solidly supported the committee's right to gain access to the diaries that Packwood has been keeping for 20 years. "The committee has an absolute right - as well as a duty - to examine those diary entries," and arguments that the subpoena violates Packwood's right to privacy are "not persuasive," McConnell said.

Taking the floor in his defense, Packwood invoked a constitutional right to privacy for what he described as "very, very personal" entries and accused the panel of acting as "prosecutor, jury and judge" in pursuing the case against him.

Packwood said an agreement might be worked out to turn over specific information if the committee spelled out exactly what it wanted, but he said he would continue to resist anything more than narrow requests for precise information.

Packwood, as did members of the ethics committee, alluded to the intense discomfort that colleagues felt in weighing a senator's right to privacy and the Senate's need to assure the public of the institution's integrity and self-discipline.

Packwood has objected to any limits on debate, and Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, D-Maine, announced after about seven hours of argument that the debate would continue today.

The controversy arose out of the committee's inquiry into allegations that Packwood made unwanted sexual advances to more than two dozen women, attempted to intimidate them from talking and improperly used his staff in the alleged intimidation.

Keywords:
INFOLINE

by CNB