Towering Troubles

By GEORGE J. CHURCH

John Tower, Secretary of Defense-designate, is a full-fledged member of the Capitol Hill old boys' network. Before retiring from Congress after the 1986 election, he put in four terms as a Republican Senator from Texas. For six years he served as chairman of the Armed Services Committee, the panel now judging his fitness to run the Pentagon. His old friends in the upper chamber are eager to confirm his appointment, either because of personal regard or because it would further a kind of quasi alliance between Congress and the Bush Administration that both need for their own purposes. But . . .

But no one dares ram through a confirmation unless Tower, 63, can decisively dispel rumors of drinking and womanizing that have dogged him for years. Last week those charges arose at the next-to-last moment to haunt him yet again. The Armed Services Committee had scheduled a vote for Thursday that looked certain to be affirmative and to pave the way for confirmation by the full Senate. That morning, however, Committee Chairman Sam Nunn of Georgia and ranking Republican John Warner of Virginia agreed to put off the vote indefinitely. Their explanation: new allegations serious enough to demand a check by the FBI.

Nunn and Warner would not disclose the charges. But after Paul Weyrich, a former Senate staffer, became the first committee witness to talk publicly about Tower's alleged drinking and sexual escapades, the committee was inundated with calls reporting "sightings" of Tower either in a less than sober state or with women, both before and after the FBI conducted a supposedly thorough background check in January. (It was learned last week that the FBI actually completed only the first part of a three-part investigation before Bush sent Tower's name to the Senate.) Committee insiders say many callers were pranksters, but several gave names and addresses and agreed to talk to investigators. At week's end the White House authorized a renewed FBI background investigation of Tower.

It seems unlikely that anyone could come up with evidence of misconduct strong enough to swing a majority of the Senate against Tower. But at minimum, the momentum has leaked out of his confirmation drive. Tower already has the unenviable distinction of being the first Cabinet hopeful in memory to be asked point-blank if he is a drunk.

That happened after Weyrich, who heads the archconservative Free Congress Research and Education Foundation, charged in an open hearing that Tower could become a "national embarrassment" as Secretary of Defense. "Over the course of many years," he explained, "I have encountered the nominee in a condition, a lack of sobriety, as well as with women to whom he was not married." Nunn would hear no more right then, though he promised Weyrich a chance to elaborate in closed session. In a later open hearing, Nunn asked Tower "whether you yourself have any alcohol problem." Tower's answer: "I have none, Senator. I am a man of some discipline."

Another line of questioning, however, may eventually damage Tower even more. Between 1986 and late 1988, he was paid $750,000 in consulting fees by several major defense contractors. He had earlier served as chief American negotiator in START talks aimed at limiting strategic nuclear missiles. He told the committee that his firm provided both Martin Marietta and LTV with information on the impact a separate INF treaty banning medium-range missiles might have on their businesses. Michigan Democrat Carl Levin suggested those contacts might create the appearance that Tower had leaked to the contractors secret information about the U.S. arms negotiating position. No, said Tower, he provided only "a sort of academic speculation on what was likely to happen." But why would the contractors pay so much for mere "speculation"? The words "influence peddling," while not pronounced, hung heavy in the air.

None of this is likely to erode the White House's strong support for Tower. The diminutive Texan's 1962 success in becoming the first Republican Senator from the Lone Star State since Reconstruction helped inspire oilman George Bush to enter Texas G.O.P. politics. Last year Tower was one of the first prominent Republicans to endorse Bush, and he stumped hard for Bush throughout the campaign. Tower has coveted the post of Secretary of Defense for at least eight years; he asked Ronald Reagan for it in early 1981 and renewed his request immediately after Bush won last year. By then it had become a job of squeezing down a bloated military establishment. Even if Tower survives the confirmation process and takes over the No. 2 post in the Cabinet, it could be as a drastically weakened Pentagon boss, beset by continuing suspicions that have been neither proved nor disproved.

With reporting by Michael Duffy and Bruce van Voorst/Washington