Charlie's Woes

Congressman Wilson is accused of ethics violations

During most of his nine terms in the House, California Congressman Charles Wilson, 62, was best known not for his legislative record (meager) nor for his oratorical skills (weak) but for his fondness for occasionally dressing like a race track tout (garish plaid suit, green and black loafers, pearl and diamond stickpin). That is, until 1978, when Wilson gained national headlines for his part in the "Koreagate" scandal. The House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct found Wilson guilty of lying to conceal the fact that he had received an illegal cash gift of $1,000 from Tongsun Park, the Korean influence peddler, and the entire House voted overwhelmingly to "reprimand" him.

Now Wilson is again the subject of an inquiry by the House Ethics Committee. He stands accused of 15 counts of violating House rules and the Code of Ethics for Government Service. Wilson, the head of a subcommittee on the post office, is charged with dealing irregularly with Lee Rogers, a California millionaire, who runs a mail order firm. The Ethics Committee accuses Wilson of accepting $15,500 from Rogers between 1971 and 1973 "under circumstances which might be construed as influencing the performance of his [Wilson's] governmental duties." The committee also claims that Wilson employed Rogers at a salary "not commensurate with the duties performed." House records show that Rogers was paid $47,500 during four years in the '70s. In addition, the Ethics Committee accuses Wilson of converting nearly $29,000 in campaign contributions to his personal use between 1971 and 1974.

Wilson is not likely to appear before the Ethics Committee until mid-February, but TIME Washington Correspondent Jonathan Beaty found him hotly denying the charges last week. Wilson admitted pocketing certain campaign donations, but only during the years 1975 and 1976, when the House did not forbid the practice. "They're trying to apply the morals of today to yesterday," Wilson argued. He asserted that Rogers worked for him as a consultant and earned his pay. (Wilson has said he accepted money from the Los Angeles businessman; he says the sums were loans, which are still not repaid.)

But Wilson did make some remarkable admissions during the interview with Beaty: he acknowledged receiving help from an alleged mobster ("It wasn't much money") and said he had used his influence to help his supporter ("We tried to help with a Government-guaranteed loan but it didn't work, and they had to get the money from the Teamsters").

Charlie Wilson has operated imaginatively in other ways. When he married a Korean beauty named Hyun Ju Chang, four receptions were staged in their honor. All yielded handsome returns; indeed, at the one held in a Washington, D.C., restaurant, envelopes of cash from lobbyists and well-wishers were collected at the door. For those without the foresight to bring money, Wilson staffers accepted credit card payments, which were exchanged for cash by the restaurant.

The Congressman contends that all the cash donations were legal because they went to pay for the party and defends such collections in Wilsonian style. "You think I got money?" he asks. "You should have seen my son's wedding. He married an Italian girl, and Momma stood at the door with a bag in her hands. They made out like bandits."

How Charlie Wilson himself will make out at the House Ethics Committee hearings remains to be seen, but he has already lamented the passing of another age. "The House isn't the high class legislative body it once was," he has groused in the past. "It started with Watergate. We got a big group of new members in '74 from Common Cause. Everybody got so moralistic."

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