Wright Says Ethics Panel Counsel Warps Testimony

WASHINGTON — House Speaker Jim Wright today attacked the Ethics Committee’s outside counsel, accusing him of distorting testimony in an effort to implicate the Speaker on House rules violations.

Wright also charged that the ethics panel had permitted itself to be misled by counsel Richard Phelan’s selective use of evidence.

Wright said his lawyers had been “profoundly shocked by the lack of professionalism and prevalence of distortion and inaccuracy contained in the Phelan report” and called the committee’s investigation “one-sided.”

But committee chairman Julian C. Dixon (D-Los Angeles) defended the panel’s process and said its 12 members, six Democrats and six Republicans, had studied original transcripts and had not relied solely on Phelan’s report.

Asked whether he was disturbed by Wright’s strategy of attacking Phelan, Dixon said he was not but added: “I’m glad you recognize that that is the strategy.”

At the same time, Wright’s new legal defense team today prepared motions asking that the two primary charges against him be dismissed on grounds that the Ethics Committee’s special counsel has misread House rules.