Friends: Wright All But Decided to Resign

WASHINGTON--House Speaker Jim Wright (D-Texas) has all but decided to resign, friends said yesterday, but he remained torn over details of his leaving and insisted he had "done no serious wrong" despite numerous ethics allegations.

Congressional sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said plans were being made for Wright to make a farewell address to the House on Wednesday.

House Majority Leader Tom Foley of Washington appeared to be the odds-on favorite to replace him in the top post in the House.

Wright, first elected to Congress 34 years ago, remained in his Capitol office during the day. From there, he issued a statement proclaiming there would be "no deal" in which he would quit his post in exchange for dismissal of some of the ethics committee charges.

But his departure seemed ever more likely.

"There are plans for Wednesday, but we don't know if he'll do it," said one friend of the Texas Democrat. "He's torn between wanting to be heard [in an ethics committee hearing] and doing what's best for himself and the House."

The speaker was said to have been personally hurt by reports on Wednesday that he had sought to negotiate a plea bargaining arrangement with the ethics committee, which charged him April 17 with 69 violations of House rules.

In his statement, he said, "There is no deal now. There will be no deal in the future....I earnestly believe that I have committed no serious wrong in the conduct of my official duties or of my private affairs."

But it was clear that there had been a flurry of proposals and counterproposals between Wright's representatives and the ethics panel on Wednesday. Those efforts fell short of agreement, but some Wright allies still held out hope that a negotiated settlement could be achieved.

Rep. Robert Torricelli, D-N.J., a member of Wright's legal defense team who was involved in the talks, said he believed a consensus was emerging among ethics committee members that charges Wright improperly accepted gifts from a business executive friend with a direct interest in legislation were not well founded.

The other serious charge against Wright--that he evaded House limits on outside income through bulk sales of his book to groups to which he had delivered speeches--was believed by panel members to be on solid ground, Torricelli said.

Wright spokesperson Mark Johnson said the Texas Democrat planned a weekend getaway with his wife Betty to an undisclosed location. One lawmaker close to the talks speculated that Wright would spend the time writing his final speech.

"I think he just wants his day in the well," said the source, referring to the front of the House chamber.

The ethics panel was scheduled to meet again next Thursday, but that session could be rendered moot if Wright stepped down and resigned his House seat the day before.

Foley publicly dismissed assertions that Wright was poised to resign. But fellow House Democrats were already privately assuming he would shortly be speaker.

Rep. Richard Gephardt (D-Mo.) was said by friends to be running hard to replace Foley as majority leader, the No. 2 position. It was unclear whether the third-ranking Democrat in the House, majority whip Tony Coelho of California, would seek to move up or would be prevented from doing so by separate ethics questions that have arisen over his business dealings.