Who Shot J.R.?

By Nancy Traver/Washington

Jack Russ must have been surprised by his own success. The son of a gas- station operator from Picayune, Miss., he moved to Washington in 1967 and worked as a part-time doorman on Capitol Hill. He rose through the ranks to chief page and in 1983 became sergeant-at-arms of the House of Representatives. In that capacity Russ helped command a force of 1,265 black- suited police officers and oversaw the security of the 435 members of the House.

The most important part of Russ's $115,092-a-year job was to hand out lawmakers' monthly paychecks and supervise a House bank that adjoined his spacious office. Russ regularly permitted members to carry large interest-free overdrafts, some of which were outstanding for years. But the House bank closed last year, after investigators found that lawmakers had written more than 8,000 bad checks in one year alone.

Last week the House ethics committee completed its probe into the scandal and recommended that the House disclose the names of its 24 biggest offenders. Russ, 46, found himself at the center of the scandal. Criticized for mismanaging the bank, he was also accused of cashing $10,000 worth of his own rubber checks while running the bank.

Russ's problems, as it turned out, were only beginning. As some House members called for his dismissal, Russ reported last week that he had been the victim of a bizarre holdup and shooting. He claimed to have been walking his sheep dog near the Capitol one night when he was accosted by two men. Russ claimed that one of the men put a gun into his mouth while the other took his wallet and Rolex watch. The gunman pulled the trigger but the bullet only ripped through his left cheek. As he recuperated at home last week, Russ called reports questioning his account of the shooting "ludicrous" and "ridiculous." Police have not found the gun, bullet or suspects.

A protege of House Ways and Means Committee chairman Dan Rostenkowski, Russ also enjoyed the backing of former House majority whip Tony Coelho and ex- House Speaker Jim Wright. But he was unable to earn the trust of House Speaker Tom Foley. Two years ago, after the General Accounting Office disclosed that the House bank had cashed $232,000 in bad checks in the 12 ! months ending June 30, 1989, Foley directed Russ to halt overdrafts in the free check-writing and check-cashing service. Russ never did.

Republican members of the House ethics committee plan to introduce a resolution that would call for all House bank records to be made public -- and for the hiring of a professional manager to modernize and carefully audit Congress. That could mean only bad news for Russ -- a former doorman with no management training who had found himself with power, prestige and a six- figure salary.