MURPHY CALLS ON WHEAT TO RETURN CONTRIBUTION FROM ROSTENKOWSKI

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Marsha Murphy Wednesday urged one of her primary election opponents to return a $2,000 contribution he received from former House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dan Rostenkowski.

Murphy alleged that by accepting the contribution Jan. 4 from the America's Leaders Fund PAC, U.S. Rep. Alan Wheat may have felt obliged to vote against investigations into the House Post Office scandal in March.

Murphy, who is serving as Jackson County executive, said Wheat voted on the same day against an investigation into alleged misconduct in the House Post Office.

She said he also voted against a proposal to instruct the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct to do an investigation in coordination with the justice department.

"I hope Congressman Rostenkowski's $2,000 had nothing to do with Congressman Wheat's votes," said Murphy at a press conference in front of the Federal Building. "But, at the very least it looks bad and feeds the public's growing cynicism towards Congress. It is a symptom of a system that is sick."

Alex Sachs, a spokesman for Wheat's campaign, said that Murphy "is way off base" on her charge. "She is criticizing a vote Alan cast in March, a vote sponsored by Majority Leader Dick Gephardt to keep Congress from interfering in an ongoing investigation by the U.S. Attorney's office," said Sachs.

"Marsha is suggesting some kind of cover-up of this post office investigation when what they were doing is following a specific request of the U.S. attorney."

Sachs furnished copies of a letter sent to House Speaker Tom Foley and Minority Leader Bob Michel on Feb. 23 from U.S. Attorney Eric H. Holder, Jr. urging Congress to hold off on any action. He feared congressional action might hamper criminal work by a federal grand jury.

Sachs said the federal grand jury investigation led to the 17- count indictment of Congressman Rostenkowski in May.

Murphy said she would have voted for the House investigation and bucked Democratic Party leadership and the U.S. attorney's request.

If elected to the Senate, Murphy said if she views an issue the Democratic Party takes a stand on as a mistake or harmful to the interests of Missouri, she will buck the party.

"I will vote my conscience and for the best interests of the people of this state," said Murphy. "But the real issue is returning public trust to government officials. This cynicism is just running rampant."

Sachs argued that Wheat has a clear record of voting for appropriate investigations into the House Post Office scandal and in seeing that this information is made public.

In 1992, Sachs said Wheat voted to authorize the House Administration Committee to investigate questions surrounding post office operations, and also voted to turn over secret files of the House to the ethics committee and Department of Justice.

On June 9, Sachs said Wheat voted to make public records from the congressional probe of the House Post Office.

Said Sachs, "Once again this is a situation where Marsha Murphy is making shrill negative attacks and where she is not talking about issues the people of Missouri want to talk about."

But Murphy contends that public confidence in elected officials is a major issue in this campaign.

She pointed out that Wheat also took $600 from Rostenkowski in 1989 and $500 in 1990.

"Congressman Wheat has clearly become part of the Washington establishment. He has raised the vast majority of his money from corporations, special interest groups and PACs that have a vested interest in the federal government," said Murphy. "It is a nefarious relationship. If you take their money, you have to play their game."

As Jackson County executive, Murphy said she forced through the county legislature a plan to form an ethics commission and also pushed for enactment of a tough ethics law for county officials. She vetoed a weaker version of the ethics law first approved by the legislature.

One of the campaign finance reforms Murphy said she would like to see enacted would end the practice of members of Congress accepting donations for their campaigns and then contributing it to other campaigns.

Murphy said a decision last month by State Rep. Steve Carroll of Hannibal to withdraw from the U.S. Senate race and seek a state Senate post instead, "is a real boost to our effort."