Bill & Kay & Martha & WETA

Even without a subpoena, Attorney General John Mitchell would probably testify that wives can get husbands into trouble. Last week, in fact, Martha Mitchell got a husband into trouble--and he was not even her own husband. It seems that Martha's new press secretary, Kay Woestendiek, is married to a man in the Liberal Eastern news media. Or, rather, Bill Woestendiek was in the media, as the editor of a news program on Washington's public TV station WETA. After Kay joined Martha, he lost that post.

Did Martha tell Kay to tell Bill that he ought to quit to prove he wasn't an effete snob? No. Station Manager William McCarter told Bill to tell Kay to quit to prove there was no conflict of interest between Kay's employer and Bill's news duties. Bill refused. So Bill was fired.

The dismissal divided the Washington press corps, and even got a lively airing on Woestendiek's former program, Newsroom. Those who backed the firing, though not necessarily its peremptory manner, argued that if newsmen are to judge the ethics of others, they should be absolutely free of taint themselves.

But is a man necessarily tainted by his wife's choice of employer? WETA at least could have waited to see if Woestendiek's news judgment did in fact suffer from Kay's flacking for Martha. And if WETA really wanted to adopt a

Caesar's-wife attitude on conflict of interest, why had it not bothered to fire Station Chairman Max Kampelman, who is an adviser to Hubert Humphrey? Perhaps the unkindest cut of all was in the Woestendiek family's income. Kay isn't sure yet what she'll be earning from Martha, but it hardly will make up for Bill's lost salary of $50,000.

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