Nation: Among the Accused

Of the eight legislators implicated by the Abscam investigation, several have had noteworthy careers:

Richard Kelly, a third-term G.O.P. Congressman from Florida, was once a state circuit judge who was impeached by the state's house for harassing lawyers and fellow judges (the senate subsequently dismissed the charges). Later ordered by the Florida judicial qualifications commission to undergo psychiatric examination, Kelly visited a hospital on his own and earned a clean bill of health. That enabled him, on entering the House in 1975, to claim: "I'm the only member certified to be sane."

In Congress, he has forcefully attacked labor unions and bureaucrats while opposing aid to New York City. So staunch a champion of fiscal responsibility is Kelly that he refused in 1976 to pocket a congressional pay raise and donated the more than $1,000 to churches and the U.S. Treasury. He and his fourth wife, Judy, 28, his former secretary, whom he married in 1978, live relatively frugally, but Kelly managed to spend about $12,000 more for his office account last year than the $290,000 allowed him; he had to get a bank loan to pay back the amount.

John Murphy, a New York Democrat who has represented a Staten Island district for 17 years, is an honors graduate from West Point and a veteran of World War II and Korea, where he won the Distinguished Service Cross, Bronze Star, Purple Heart and six battle stars. He is also no stranger to charges of corruption. He has been accused of using his powerful chairmanship of the House Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee to solicit political contributions. The House Ethics Committee and the Justice Department have been separately investigating Murphy for failing to register as a lobbyist for foreign interests. House Ethics Committee staff ers claim to have proof that Murphy accepted money from the Iranians for favors under the regime of the deposed Shah. Murphy keeps in his office desk a device that tells whether a visitor is wired to record him.

Frank ("Thompy") Thompson, witty, irreverent, profane, debonair, has been sent to Congress by his New Jersey constituents since 1954. On Capitol Hill, he soon became an intimate of the Kennedys and a hero to organized labor. He co-founded the liberal Democratic Study Group and, as chairman of the House Subcommitee on Labor-Management Relations, has pushed for federal financing of jobs for urban youths. He also helped create the National Endowment for the Arts. Though he took campaign contributions from the South Korean lobbyist Tongsun Park, Thompson has been regarded by his fellow Congressmen as an honest politician. In fact, he enthusiastically advocated public financing of election campaigns. "The House," he said not long ago, "needs to be taken off the auction block."

Harrison ("Pete") Williams, has been a Democratic Senator from New Jersey for 21 years and one of the state's biggest vote getters. In that time he has faithfully and consistently backed organized labor. Aid to mass transit has been another favorite Williams cause. But for all his seniority (he chairs the important Labor and Human Resources Committee), the New Jerseyite is widely regarded as a weak Senator. He is shy and occasionally self-effacing. His colleagues—and the voters—respect his having defeated a serious drinking problem and talking publicly about it.