The Acceptance Factor

After its inglorious handling of the Bobby Baker scandal, the U.S. Senate is understandably loath to inquire into yet another case involving its mores and members. Last week, nonetheless, the world's most exclusive club was faced with two impending investigations. The subject of inquiry this time was no expendable retainer but one of the Senate's own: Connecticut Democrat Thomas Joseph Dodd.

One inquiry, by the Internal Revenue Service, may result in either a civil or criminal suit against the Senator if the IRS finds evidence that Dodd raised money ostensibly for campaign costs and then used the funds for personal expenses. The Senate Select Committee on Standards and Conduct also announced last week that it would hold public hearings on the "alleged relationship" between Dodd and Julius Klein, a public-relations man and lobbyist who represents West German interests.

Concatenation of Cumshaw. Dodd's affairs have become the Dodd affair because of a muckraking series of articles by Columnists Drew Pearson and Jack Anderson. On the basis of files fed to them by at least one disgruntled former assistant to Dodd, they charged that the white-haired, square-jawed former FBI agent accepted a concatenation of cumshaw from all manner of individuals and companies seeking official favors from him. The payola, claimed the columnists, included a sapphire ring for his wife, a television set for his office, shoes for some of his family, carpeting for his house, a re-plate job for his silverware, and the use of an Oldsmobile for himself.

As for Klein, a popular man-about-politics, the columnists said he gave Dodd "expensive gifts" and rent-free use of his New York apartment. In exchange, they charged, Dodd delivered

Senate speeches written by Klein on behalf of his clients, and even visited West Germany in 1964 to defend the lobbyist before officials in Bonn after a U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing had generated adverse publicity about his activities.

"The American Way." The roughest of the Pearson-Anderson series came in March and April, when the columnists accused Dodd of diverting to his personal use more than $100,000 raised at testimonial dinners in 1961 and 1963, at which then Vice President Lyndon Johnson was the guest of honor. Later, it developed there was a third dinner last year featuring Vice President Hubert Humphrey. Under persistent badgering from the press, the IRS said that such income was tax-free--even if not spent on legitimate campaign purposes --provided that the donors intended the money as personal presents rather than campaign contributions. Dodd's office then gave out a disingenuous statement --later disowned by the Senator--defending his fund-raising procedures as "part of the American way of life" and necessary to "enable a poor man to remain in office."

Last week Senator John Williams, the Delaware Republican gadfly who was largely responsible for keeping the Bobby Baker investigation going, accused the IRS of attempting "to create confusion" about the regulations by privately suggesting to members of Congress that there might be loopholes in the law concerning political contributions. Williams then read into the Congressional Record the invitation to the 1963 "Dodd Day." It stressed the "heavy financial burden" that Dodd's 1964 campaign would involve and the necessity to "lend whatever aid we can to assist him in presenting a vigorous campaign." Next day--five weeks after the accusation had appeared--the IRS announced an investigation of Dodd's use of campaign funds.

"Malicious Untruth." The Standards and Conduct Committee was also tak ing its time. Created in 1964 as a result of the Baker case, it existed only on paper for a year. When three Democrats and three Republicans were finally appointed to it last July, the chairmanship went to Mississippi Democrat John Stennis, who had voted against establishment of the committee.

The committee did nothing for the first month of the Pearson-Anderson series. Only after Dodd himself demanded an investigation and offered to deliver all his files in February did the committee timidly consent to enter the case. Even then, it took continued nagging by Williams, a few other Senators and the press before the committee would agree to hold a public inquiry. "These hearings," Dodd said, "will demonstrate not only the malicious untruth of the charges against me, but also the systematic theft of documents from my office, and the motivations of those who conspired in that theft."

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