Reeling - House speaker Jim Wright

JIM WRIGHT may be the only man in the Western Hemisphere who can envy Manuel Noriega's situation. Every day brings new woes: a new conflict of interest surfaced when it transpired that Wright had invested in a nursing home while fighting Medicaid cuts; the IRS is reportedly weighing criminal prosecution against him for tax evasion; his fellow Democrats have privately told him it's over, would he please step down and spare them further damage. Republicans are hoping he'll hang in there as long as possible.

The turning point came with the revelation that Wright hadacquired his chief aide, John Mack, by pulling wires to save him from a prison term for trying to murder a young woman with a hammer and a knife. It was an old story (we reported it last year), but it came back with fury in the midst of Wright's troubles when the Washington Post gave it a huge Style-section profile, including an interview with Mack's bitter victim. Fishing Mack out of the pen may have been the most benevolent act of Wright's life, but that's not saying much: Mack was his daughter's brother-in-law. Mack has now resigned, but the public had finally snapped to attention and had seen vividly how Wright operates.

Taking a leaf from Noriega, Wright enhanced his image by attacking special prosecutor- Richard Phelan as a liar, and a foul rumor about the sex life of Wright's likely successor as Speaker, Thomas Foley of Washington, emanated from the general direction of Wright's office. The Democrats finally prevailed on Wright to behave himself a little. It was too late.

By displaying his true colors, Wright told the public a great deal about the House that had elected him to lead it. His colleagues could hardly have failed to know his character-as, it is said, the Senate knew John Tower's-when they chose him to succeed Tip O'Neill in 1986. Ever since then, Wright's arrogance has been amazing, especially for one so vulnerable. He has run the House with a nasty partisanship that has made Republicans look back on O'Neill with nostalgia, and he antagonized the Reagan Administration with his unprecedented attempt to take over foreign policy. In one memorable incident he actually endangered the Nicaraguan opposition by asserting publicly that an anti-Sandinista demonstration had been underwritten by the CIA. Nobody will miss him.

His downfall will be a special triumph for the new Republican Whip, Newt Gingrich, who has been urging his phlegmatic GOP colleagues for years to take the attack. They used to write Gingrich off as a guerrilla; it took Wright to make them willing to fight the Democratic leadership. Gingrich's approach has paid off with a victory even he couldn't have foreseen. Portrayed in the media as a rabid airhead, Gingrich is actually as intelligent and imaginative as he is aggressive. He looks like a good bet to assume the role of the nation's foremost political conservative.

COPYRIGHT 1989 National Review, Inc.
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