The Senate: Dodd's Defense

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It hardly seemed an even contest. There was Mississippi Democrat John Stennis, backed by a reputation for judicial probity and five fellow members of the Committee on Standards and Conduct, demanding the censure of Connecticut Democrat Thomas Dodd for perpetrating "a grievous wrong" against the entire Senate. And there was Dodd, his name sullied by 18 months of accusation and investigation, his own records and statements hurled as weapons against him, his only asset an instinct for political survival.

Yet for four days on the Senate floor last week, the Connecticut Democrat fought doggedly and at times eloquently to prove "my honesty and my honor." In defense of what Dodd called "these marks of my manhood," he cried out to his peers and judges: "I am telling you the truth and concealing nothing! May the vengeance of God strike me if I am doing otherwise."

"Character Assassins." Dodd portrayed himself as the aggrieved party rather than the offender. The Senator depicted four former staff members, who started his ordeal by stealing his private records and passing them to Columnists Drew Pearson and Jack Anderson, as victims of a "pathological desire for vengeance." He branded the columnists as "the most unscrupulous character assassins ever spawned by the American press." No doubt this argument had its effect, for hardly any Senator would relish having his employees hand private documents from his files to a pair of muckrakers.

Dodd even rounded on the ethics committee, which was well intentioned, he allowed, but judging him "completely on the basis of nonexistent standards." Dodd clearly scored points, forcing his opposition to work harder than it had anticipated. A vote had been expected last week, but Dodd obtained a weekend extension in which to prepare still further arguments.

"Forger & Thief." Although numerous other accusations of peculation and improper use of his office have been made against Dodd, the Stennis committee based its formal recommendation for censure on two charges: that Dodd billed both the Senate and private groups for the same travel expenses, and that he wrongfully appropriated to his personal use at least $116,083 from political campaign funds.

Dodd's arguments seemed to create enough question about his role in the double-billing episodes to make some Senators accept his word above that of Michael O'Hare, one of the aides who stole Dodd's records. O'Hare had testified that Dodd ordered him to collect travel money from both the Senate and private organizations. Last week Dodd contended that if he had wanted to cheat in this manner, he could have done so on a grand scale rather than take merely $1,700 over five years. It was all O'Hare's fault for sloppy bookkeeping, Dodd argued, calling him "a liar and a forger and a thief." Moreover, Dodd declared, if the Senate really believed one of its members guilty of larceny, it should expel him outright rather than censure him. It was a shrewd challenge. At week's end the Senate agreed to vote separately on the billing and campaign-fund counts.