USA: EX-CONGRESSMAN URGES WIDE PROBE OF GINGRICH ETHICS.

Date: Jan 26, 1995

By Michael Posner

WASHINGTON, Jan 26 (Reuter) - A former Georgia congressman asked the House Ethics Committee Thursday to make a sweeping probe of possible ethical violations by House Speaker Newt Gingrich that include his controversial deal to write books.

Democrat Ben Jones filed a seven-count complaint against the Republican leader asking the committee to investigate. He also said precedent calls for it to name an outside counsel to probe the charges.

A spokesman for Gingrich, Tony Blankley, dismissed the complaint. He told Reuters that "it appears Mr. Jones, whom Newt thrashed in the election, is feasting on a bunch of sour grapes." He added that Jones has established "a pattern of filing frivolous ethics complaints against Newt" and expects more "as Mr. Jones' creative juices flow from time to time."

Jones, an actor who played "Cooter" the bumpkin auto mechanic on the TV series "Dukes of Hazzard," had served two terms in Congress from Georgia until 1992. He tried a political comeback last November in Gingrich's congressional district but Gingrich crushed him in the November election.

Last September, Jones asked the ethics committee to investigate allegations Gingrich improperly used official House resources and violated tax law to finance a college course Gingrich teaches in Georgia, a course Jones said was designed to advance Gingrich's partisan political goals.

But that complaint went unresolved by the ethics committee in the prior Democratic-controlled Congress. Like then, the ethics committee makeup is split between Republicans, who now control Congress for the first time in 40 years, and Democrats with seven members each.

Jones' new, amended complaint charges Gingrich "has violated House rules, statutes and standards of conduct" and extends to a book arrangement between Gingrich and HarperCollins, a publishing firm controlled by media magnate Rupert Murdoch.

The book deal has caused a furore since it became public in December. At first Gingrich was to have received a $4.5 million advance from the publisher who had bid for rights to publish two of Gingrich's books.

After critics said it appeared Gingrich was putting his high office on the block to the highest bidder, Gingrich rejected the advance and said he would accept the normal 15 percent of the book sales in royalties.

Jones said Murdoch has substantial business matters pending before the government and his control of the Fox TV network is being challenged by NBC. He took Gingrich to task for quietly meeting with Murdoch and a Murdoch lobbyist Nov. 28. Both Gingrich and Murdoch's spokesman have denied anything improper about the discussions.

But Jones said the book arrangement is "inconsistent with the responsibilities of the full-time responsibilities of holding high public office."

Other charges levied by Jones include allegations Gingrich improperly solicited corporate funds to buy copies of tapes from his college course and intervened improperly with the Food and Drug Administration on behalf of a firm promoting a home testing kit for AIDS.

"Many questions surrounding Mr. Gingrich's political empire and his co-mingling of official, political, educational and publishing ventures need to be scrutinised and they need to be put to rest," Jones said at a news conference.

"Taken together, they show a clear pattern of disingenuous disrespect for this manual," he said, holding up the House ethics manual.

"Mr. Gingrich's actions represent clear violations of the rules of the house and the ethics manual."

The ethics committee can recommend the House take action against members of congress for violation of House rules on standards of conduct, ranging from reprimands to even expulsion from Congress.

(c) Reuters Limited 1995. All rights reserved.