Bob Packwood

Why does Susan Estrich (Opinion, July 16) seem to express wonder that the enthusiastically pro-choice Sen. Bob Packwood (R-Ore.) has treated women so badly? As a former bartender who has spoken with thousands of men, I observed that many of the guys who were most adamantly pro-choice were playboy jerks who viewed abortion as a way of not taking responsibility for their own evil behavior toward women. THOMAS J. SINSKY Encino In response to "Public Hearings on Packwood--and Clinton," Column Right, by Susan Carpenter MacMillan, July 19: There is a major difference.

Whatever else he had hoped to accomplish with his little toe-dipping tour around Oregon this spring, former U.S. Sen. Bob Packwood returns to Washington with at least one modest achievement--the ability to appear in public in his home state without a lynch mob in hot pursuit. That might seem like being damned with very faint praise, but there was a time not long ago when Packwood could not have hoped for even that much.

Oh, Bob, you naughty boy. You got caught with your hand in the old cookie jar. And you didn't get off with a light tap on your lecherous paw. I think it's fair to say you got whacked, and it was apparently long overdue. The further we delved into your closets, the more skeletons we seemed to dig up. I have to admit, I was skeptical at first. Not of the probable truth of the allegations, but of the consequences. After the Anita Hill debacle, it seemed like the Old Boys Club was running strong.

Barely a year after leaving the Senate under charges of sexual harassment and improper dealings with lobbyists, Bob Packwood is back in business--as a lobbyist. He joins a growing list of his former colleagues. Packwood filed papers to incorporate his new lobbying firm, Sunrise Research, just 11 days after the legal one-year moratorium on lobbying expired last month.

Mark Hatfield came home to Oregon a dashing, popular World War II veteran and settled into leafy Willamette University, becoming faculty adviser to the campus Young Republicans and setting his gaze on the Legislature. Bob Packwood, one of his prize students, sat out the Korean War because his eyesight was too bad. Packwood is remembered as the quiet protege, an insatiable reader who sat at Hatfield's side in the cafeteria, but was too shy to date much.

The races themselves are interesting enough: In today's primary for the Senate seat Bob Packwood vacated, Oregon Democrats are choosing between two veteran House members whose battle turned nasty, while state Republicans will decide whether to veer from their moderate tradition and embrace a more conservative candidate. But garnering as much attention as the outcome of this special election is the process-- an experiment in postal democracy.

For the first time in its history, the U.S. Senate will probably try one of its members for "sexual misconduct." To be found guilty, Sen. Bob Packwood, an Oregon Republican accused of sexual harassment and assault by more than 20 women, must be found in violation of a law or of "engaging in improper conduct which may reflect upon the Senate."

Barely a year after leaving the Senate under charges of sexual harassment and improper dealings with lobbyists, Bob Packwood is back in business--as a lobbyist. He joins a growing list of his former colleagues. Packwood filed papers to incorporate his new lobbying firm, Sunrise Research, just 11 days after the legal one-year moratorium on lobbying expired last month.

At the end, standing drained and exhausted in the well of the Senate to announce his capitulation, Bob Packwood tried to summon up memories of the good days spent and good battles fought with his comrades in arms. The 1986 fight for tax reform. The countless efforts to protect Israel. The rafting trip with fellow-environmentalists and the fight to save the Hells Canyon gorge from a massive dam.

THERE ARE TIMES WHEN A PANTY GIRDLE can be a girl's best friend. For Julie Williamson, the moment came one afternoon in 1969, not long after the smart, ambitious, 29-year-old legal secretary had gone to work for Bob Packwood in the freshman senator's Portland office. She was alone talking on the telephone when her 36-year-old employer strode in and kissed her on the back of the neck.

Former Oregon Republican Sen. Bob Packwood will not be prosecuted over allegations he altered his diaries to obstruct an investigation into sexual and official misconduct, his lawyers said. Packwood was notified of the decision by the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section. Packwood said the investigation was the last unresolved issue from the events that led to his resignation from the Senate last year amid charges of sexual misconduct involving 17 women.

Last-minute voters braved frigid winds and icy roads to drop off their ballots Tuesday at the close of Oregon's U.S. Senate special election, the nation's first major vote-by-mail contest and an early barometer of the 1996 political year. No results were available at press time for this edition Tuesday night.

In a special primary that also served as a report card on the nation's first all-mail election for a statewide office, a veteran Democratic congressman and a Republican state legislator won nomination Tuesday to face off for the seat of disgraced former Sen. Bob Packwood. With about 80% of the vote counted, U.S. Rep. Ron Wyden of Portland held a solid lead over House colleague Peter A. DeFazio in the Democratic race.

In the news: Argus Hamilton, on citizen groups' complaints about expensive political fund-raising dinners by both parties: "They don't understand. In Washington, the three basic food groups are cash, check and money order." Cutler Daily Scoop, on former Sen. Bob Packwood opening a political consulting business on Capitol Hill: "Bob Packwood Political Consulting: for those groping for solutions."

The races themselves are interesting enough: In today's primary for the Senate seat Bob Packwood vacated, Oregon Democrats are choosing between two veteran House members whose battle turned nasty, while state Republicans will decide whether to veer from their moderate tradition and embrace a more conservative candidate. But garnering as much attention as the outcome of this special election is the process-- an experiment in postal democracy.

Mark Hatfield came home to Oregon a dashing, popular World War II veteran and settled into leafy Willamette University, becoming faculty adviser to the campus Young Republicans and setting his gaze on the Legislature. Bob Packwood, one of his prize students, sat out the Korean War because his eyesight was too bad. Packwood is remembered as the quiet protege, an insatiable reader who sat at Hatfield's side in the cafeteria, but was too shy to date much.

State Sen. Rod Monroe (D-Portland) announced Tuesday that he will seek the Democratic nomination for the Senate to take on GOP incumbent Bob Packwood.

An overwhelming majority of voters, including those in his home state, say Sen. Bob Packwood (R-Ore.) was trying to save his political career rather than expressing genuine remorse when he apologized for making unwanted sexual advances toward women, according to surveys by the Washington Post and ABC News.

Friday was the last day of work for two lawmakers forced to leave Congress in disgrace--Republican Sen. Bob Packwood of Oregon and Rep. Mel Reynolds, an Illinois Democrat. Packwood, accused by more than a dozen women of unwanted sexual advances, performed his regular duties to the end, saying in an interview: "As long as you're a U.S. senator and you're in office, then you ought to do the job you were elected to do."

Oh, Bob, you naughty boy. You got caught with your hand in the old cookie jar. And you didn't get off with a light tap on your lecherous paw. I think it's fair to say you got whacked, and it was apparently long overdue. The further we delved into your closets, the more skeletons we seemed to dig up. I have to admit, I was skeptical at first. Not of the probable truth of the allegations, but of the consequences. After the Anita Hill debacle, it seemed like the Old Boys Club was running strong.