WX

Post R

owland E

vans and Robert N

ovak O

CT 1

1973

Bad T

imes for the W

atergate Com

mittee

The h

um

iliation v

isited u

pon th

e S

enate Watergate C

omm

ittee by presi-den

tial speech

writer P

atrick J. B

u-

chan

an's v

irtuoso

perfo

rman

ce as a w

itness has confirmed a judgm

ent pri-vately but w

idely held here: although the com

mittee's early phase w

as more

successful, it has turned in one of the poorest jobs in m

emory on a m

ajor in-vestigation.

What's m

ore, b

lame is u

niv

ersally

put n

ot o

n th

e com

mittee ch

airman

S

en. Sam

Ervin of N

orth Carolina, but

on h

is chief co

unsel, P

rof. S

amuel

Dash of G

eorgetown U

niversity Law

S

chool. Dash, enjoying m

uch greater autonom

y than the ordinary comm

ittee counsel w

ithout day-by-day supervision from

Ervin, w

as treading into a highly political aren

a buttressed

by n

ot o

ne

iota of practical political experience. C

onseq

uen

tly, attitu

des to

ward

the

Sen

ate investig

ation h

ave sh

arply

ch

anged

. Whereas, th

e orig

inal sto

p-

the-hearings movem

ent was launched

by W

hite H

ouse p

ropag

andists as a

means of easing the heat on P

resident N

ixon, it is now influential D

emocrats

who are so

undin

g th

at them

e. They

fear the anti-clim

actic last phases can neith

er enlig

hten

the p

ublic n

or h

elp

the Dem

ocrats. T

he B

uch

anan

fiasco p

oin

ts up, in

ex

aggerated

terms, th

e flaws o

f the

Senate investigation that have signifi-

cantly

limited

its effectiven

ess from

th

e start. The d

ecision to

call Bu-

chanan as a witness, over m

ild protests fro

m th

e Rep

ublican

min

ority

staff, w

as made by D

ash and assistant coun-sel T

erry Lenzner w

ithout closely con-sulting E

rvin. L

enzner, a leftish ideologue who w

as fired from

the Nixon adm

inistration's L

egal Services program

for being too m

uch

an activ

ist, is in ch

arge o

f the

com

mittee's cu

rrent - "d

irty trick

s" phase. H

is eye, no more politically at-

tuned than Dash's, perceived B

uchan-an

's mem

os —

subpoen

aed fro

m th

e C

omm

ittee for the Re-E

lection of the P

resident (CR

EE

P) —

as dynamite. In

line with the staff autonom

y, senators had little or no chance to evaluate the I aterial.

The S

umm

ary of the staff's interview

with B

uchanan did not reach the sena-tors until the night before he appeared in open session. O

ne Dem

ocrat, Sen.

Dan

iel Inouye o

f Haw

aii, did

not re-

ceive h

is until th

at morn

ing. H

ad h

e seen it earlier, the politically shrew

d In

ouye w

ould

hav

e urg

ed th

at Bu-

chanan not be called. T

he result was B

uchanan's meticu-

lous demolition of P

rof. Dash. W

hile D

ash unsuccessfully attempted to im

-pute ev

il to B

uch

anan

's schem

es against the D

emocratic P

arty, Chair-

man

Erv

in co

mm

ented

under h

is

bre

ath

that h

e c

ould

see n

oth

ing

wrong w

ith much of it.

Buchanan is not the first w

itness to dom

inate the Watergate hearings. D

at-ing back to John W

. Dean III, w

itness after w

itness has determined the scope

and d

irection o

f the in

quiry

in a fo

r-m

at heav

ily stack

ed ag

ainst th

e wit-

ness. But this lack of control scarcely

flows from

an excessive fervor for civil lib

erties, as witn

ess the treatm

ent o

f ex

-White H

ouse p

olitical o

perativ

e C

harles W. C

olson. A

s Mr. N

ixon's top political hatchet-m

an in days past, Colson rates little if

any sy

mpath

y an

d w

as so treated

by

the Ervin C

omm

ittee. At first anxious

to testify

, Colso

n's ap

pearan

ce was

postp

oned

four tim

es and fin

ally p

ut

off until after the August recess. W

hen his law

yer th

en co

nfid

entially

in-

form

ed th

e com

mittee th

at Colso

n

faced possible grand jury indictment,

that information w

as promptly leaked

to th

e press. T

he co

mm

ittee nex

t re-fused to postpone C

olson's appearance in closed session an•d then insisted he go th

rough th

e hum

iliation o

f takin

g

the fifth amendm

ent. T

he comm

ittee's Dem

ocratic mem

-bers shed no tears over C

olson's treat-m

ent b

ut w

ere mortified

by B

uch

an-

an's success. "It may have been D

ash's decisio

n, b

ut B

uch

anan

mad

e dam

n

fools out of all of us," one Dem

ocratic

mem

ber co

mm

ented

to a co

lleague.

Conseq

uen

tly, th

ere are rum

blin

gs

about a tighter rein over the staff. Sen.

Joseph Montoya of N

ew M

exico, for one, w

ould like to pass on future wit-

nesses. M

any Dem

ocrats not on the comm

it-tee w

ant more. O

ne important liberal

senato

r feels the co

mm

ittee has ad

-duced sufficient data for legislation and "ought to close up shop —

now." M

ore politically, a senior D

emocrat outside

Congress feels any m

ore repetitions of the B

uchanan fiasco will "m

ake every-body fo

rget w

hat really

hap

pen

ed at

Wftterg

ate." His so

lutio

n: en

d th

e hearings.

But L

enzner (called by angry critics th

e R

asp

utin

of th

e W

ate

rgate

C

om

mittee) h

as prep

ared h

is dirty

tricks case, and the hearings w

ill con-tinue this w

eek. How

ever, Republican

counsel Fred T

hompson tells D

ash that he has tw

o or three weeks of potential

hearings on Dem

ocratic dirty tricks in 1972.

The o

utco

me m

ay b

e a neg

otiated

settlem

ent — each side holding back

full rev

elations o

f the o

ther's d

irty

tricks in the interest of time. T

hat con-trasts sh

arply

to th

e bip

artisan m

ood

last May

when

the co

mm

ittee em-

barked on a solemn inquest into histor-

ically tragic events. p 1973, F

ield Enterprises, Inc.

WX

Post R

owland E

vans and Robert N

ovak O

CT 1

1973

Bad T

imes for the W

atergate Com

mittee

The h

um

iliation v

isited u

pon th

e S

enate Watergate C

omm

ittee by presi-den

tial speech

writer P

atrick J. B

u-

chan

an's v

irtuoso

perfo

rman

ce as a w

itness has confirmed a judgm

ent pri-vately but w

idely held here: although the com

mittee's early phase w

as more

successful, it has turned in one of the poorest jobs in m

emory on a m

ajor in-vestigation.

What's m

ore, b

lame is u

niv

ersally

put n

ot o

n th

e com

mittee ch

airman

S

en. Sam

Ervin of N

orth Carolina, but

on h

is chief co

unsel, P

rof. S

amuel

Dash of G

eorgetown U

niversity Law

S

chool. Dash, enjoying m

uch greater autonom

y than the ordinary comm

ittee counsel w

ithout day-by-day supervision from

Ervin, w

as treading into a highly political aren

a buttressed

by n

ot o

ne

iota of practical political experience. C

onseq

uen

tly, attitu

des to

ward

the

Sen

ate investig

ation h

ave sh

arply

ch

anged

. Whereas, th

e orig

inal sto

p-

the-hearings movem

ent was launched

by W

hite H

ouse p

ropag

andists as a

means of easing the heat on P

resident N

ixon, it is now influential D

emocrats

who are so

undin

g th

at them

e. They

fear the anti-clim

actic last phases can neith

er enlig

hten

the p

ublic n

or h

elp

the Dem

ocrats. T

he B

uch

anan

fiasco p

oin

ts up, in

ex

aggerated

terms, th

e flaws o

f the

Senate investigation that have signifi-

cantly

limited

its effectiven

ess from

th

e start. The d

ecision to

call Bu-

chanan as a witness, over m

ild protests fro

m th

e Rep

ublican

min

ority

staff, w

as made by D

ash and assistant coun-sel T

erry Lenzner w

ithout closely con-sulting E

rvin. L

enzner, a leftish ideologue who w

as fired from

the Nixon adm

inistration's L

egal Services program

for being too m

uch

an activ

ist, is in ch

arge o

f the

com

mittee's cu

rrent - "d

irty trick

s" phase. H

is eye, no more politically at-

tuned than Dash's, perceived B

uchan-an

's mem

os —

subpoen

aed fro

m th

e C

omm

ittee for the Re-E

lection of the P

resident (CR

EE

P) —

as dynamite. In

line with the staff autonom

y, senators had little or no chance to evaluate the I aterial.

The S

umm

ary of the staff's interview

with B

uchanan did not reach the sena-tors until the night before he appeared in open session. O

ne Dem

ocrat, Sen.

Dan

iel Inouye o

f Haw

aii, did

not re-

ceive h

is until th

at morn

ing. H

ad h

e seen it earlier, the politically shrew

d In

ouye w

ould

hav

e urg

ed th

at Bu-

chanan not be called. T

he result was B

uchanan's meticu-

lous demolition of P

rof. Dash. W

hile D

ash unsuccessfully attempted to im

-pute ev

il to B

uch

anan

's schem

es against the D

emocratic P

arty, Chair-

man

Erv

in co

mm

ented

under h

is

bre

ath

that h

e c

ould

see n

oth

ing

wrong w

ith much of it.

Buchanan is not the first w

itness to dom

inate the Watergate hearings. D

at-ing back to John W

. Dean III, w

itness after w

itness has determined the scope

and d

irection o

f the in

quiry

in a fo

r-m

at heav

ily stack

ed ag

ainst th

e wit-

ness. But this lack of control scarcely

flows from

an excessive fervor for civil lib

erties, as witn

ess the treatm

ent o

f ex

-White H

ouse p

olitical o

perativ

e C

harles W. C

olson. A

s Mr. N

ixon's top political hatchet-m

an in days past, Colson rates little if

any sy

mpath

y an

d w

as so treated

by

the Ervin C

omm

ittee. At first anxious

to testify

, Colso

n's ap

pearan

ce was

postp

oned

four tim

es and fin

ally p

ut

off until after the August recess. W

hen his law

yer th

en co

nfid

entially

in-

form

ed th

e com

mittee th

at Colso

n

faced possible grand jury indictment,

that information w

as promptly leaked

to th

e press. T

he co

mm

ittee nex

t re-fused to postpone C

olson's appearance in closed session an•d then insisted he go th

rough th

e hum

iliation o

f takin

g

the fifth amendm

ent. T

he comm

ittee's Dem

ocratic mem

-bers shed no tears over C

olson's treat-m

ent b

ut w

ere mortified

by B

uch

an-

an's success. "It may have been D

ash's decisio

n, b

ut B

uch

anan

mad

e dam

n

fools out of all of us," one Dem

ocratic

mem

ber co

mm

ented

to a co

lleague.

Conseq

uen

tly, th

ere are rum

blin

gs

about a tighter rein over the staff. Sen.

Joseph Montoya of N

ew M

exico, for one, w

ould like to pass on future wit-

nesses. M

any Dem

ocrats not on the comm

it-tee w

ant more. O

ne important liberal

senato

r feels the co

mm

ittee has ad

-duced sufficient data for legislation and "ought to close up shop —

now." M

ore politically, a senior D

emocrat outside

Congress feels any m

ore repetitions of the B

uchanan fiasco will "m

ake every-body fo

rget w

hat really

hap

pen

ed at

Wftterg

ate." His so

lutio

n: en

d th

e hearings.

But L

enzner (called by angry critics th

e R

asp

utin

of th

e W

ate

rgate

C

om

mittee) h

as prep

ared h

is dirty

tricks case, and the hearings w

ill con-tinue this w

eek. How

ever, Republican

counsel Fred T

hompson tells D

ash that he has tw

o or three weeks of potential

hearings on Dem

ocratic dirty tricks in 1972.

The o

utco

me m

ay b

e a neg

otiated

settlem

ent — each side holding back

full rev

elations o

f the o

ther's d

irty

tricks in the interest of time. T

hat con-trasts sh

arply

to th

e bip

artisan m

ood

last May

when

the co

mm

ittee em-

barked on a solemn inquest into histor-

ically tragic events. p 1973, F

ield Enterprises, Inc.