Final Reckoning

A House probe's meager results

After 22 months of investigating Korean Rice Broker Tongsun Park's influence peddling on Capitol Hill from 1967 to 1976, the House Ethics Committee last week took the first step toward punishing sitting Congressmen for wrongdoing.* It voted to begin disciplinary proceedings against four Democrats:

> John McFall, 60, of California, majority whip from 1973 to 1977, for not reporting to the House clerk $4,000 in contributions from Park and for making personal use of the funds.

> Edward Patten, 72, of New Jersey, for contributing $1,000 of Park's money to the Middlesex County Democratic Committee and saying it came from him.

> Edward Roybal, 62, for not reporting a $1,000 cash gift from Park, converting it to his personal use and lying about it.

> Charles Wilson, 61, of California, for lying to the committee in claiming that he had not received anything worth more than $100 since Jan. 1, 1970, when he had accepted $1,000 from Park in 1975.

The committee cleared eight other Congressmen of misconduct, including House Speaker Tip O'Neill and Majority Whip John Brademas. O'Neill allowed Park to throw two birthday parties for him at a cost of about $7,500; Brademas accepted $2,950. Nonetheless, the committee found that neither had violated any laws or House rules. The report wound up the House investigation for the most part, and the results seemed likely to gall Republican critics. The next step is for the committee to schedule a hearing tantamount to a trial. If the four Congressmen, who deny any wrongdoing, are found guilty, the House will set punishments, ranging from reprimands to expulsion.

*Former Congressman Otto Passman of Louisiana faces trial on charges of accepting $200,000 from Park. Former Congressman Richard Hanna of California, who also received $200,000 from Park, is serving a 30-month prison sentence.

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