Restless Estes

THE CONGRESS Restless Estes Scanning Senate Democratic committee assignments this session, Syndicated Columnist Doris Fleeson last week sniffed some skulduggery at the political crossroads. Ignoring seniority and the sensitivity of Tennessee's Estes Kefauver, the Democratic Steering Committee also had ignored the Keef's restless desire to sit on the prestige-weighted Foreign Relations Committee. Instead, the lone Foreign Relations opening was awarded to Massachusetts' able young (39) Jack Kennedy, narrowly beaten by Kefauver at Chicago last summer for the Democratic vice-presidential nomination. Aware of Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson's subtle touch in every sphere of Senate partisan activity, Columnist Fleeson saw the committee appointments as "the opening gun of an effort to put across a Johnson-Kennedy ticket at the Democratic National Convention in 1960."

If Kennedy's assignment could be charged off as a 1960 political gambit, it could also be explained by a ruling handed down four years ago when Lyndon Johnson assumed floor leadership. Johnson's dictum: every Democrat should sit on at least one committee of his choice; even first-termers, wherever possible, should have an interesting committee assignment. Estes Kefauver already ranked high on not one but two prime committees, i.e., second Democrat on Judiciary, fourth on Armed Services. On the other hand, Kennedy had served his apprenticeship on the mediocre Labor and Government Operations Committees, was due under Lyndon Johnson's mandate for a better job. ... While Democrats last week were at least showing some spirit over committee assignments, Senate Republicans hewed grimly to strict seniority in passing out posts. To the lowly District of Columbia Committee went two capable newcomers, Kentucky's Thruston Morton (who also got Post Office) and New York's Jack Javits (who also got Rules). Faring only slightly better, Kentucky's other Republican, former Ambassador to India John Sherman Cooper, was awarded Labor and Rules. Yet to Indiana's Neanderthal Republican Bill Jenner, a second-termer, went the most coveted G.O.P. vacancy: a seat on the powerful, tax-patrolling Finance Committee.

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