American Notes CONGRESS

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Known throughout his five congressional terms chiefly for his bombast, Democrat Gus Savage of Chicago is in a peck of trouble. He has been accused by a woman Peace Corps volunteer of engaging in sexual misconduct.

On a junket to Zaire last March, Savage found himself in the company of the 28-year-old volunteer, who was assigned to brief him on Peace Corps activities. She says that during a two-hour tour of the night spots of Kinshasa, Zaire's capital city, Savage fondled her in his chauffeur-driven car and asked for sex. "He kept saying, 'That's the way the world works,' " she told the Washington Post. The woman says she escaped Savage's advances when an embassy worker intervened. The next day U.S. Ambassador William Harrop rebuked Savage, and soon afterward the volunteer was sent back to the U.S. for counseling.

Savage, 63, reacted to the charges by calling the accusations racist. When a woman reporter approached him for comment, he growled, "Stay the f--- out of my face!" Now in his face is the probability of an investigation by the House ethics committee.