Secrecy Has Its Place, and This Isn’t It : In light of new charges, committee decision on Packwood hearings should be reconsidered

New allegations of sexual harassment involving a minor and Sen. Bob Packwood warrant public hearings by the Senate Ethics Committee, which is investigating numerous accusations of misconduct by the Oregon Republican. The panel has decided to forgo open hearings, and last week the Senate voted 52 to 48 along party lines not to require the Ethics Committee to conduct open proceedings.

On the day after the Senate vote, the committee said that two more women had filed complaints about Packwood. Earlier this summer, the panel found “substantial credible evidence” that Packwood had made unwanted advances to 17 women, tampered with evidence in his case and sought a job from lobbyists for his estranged wife.

The allegations concerning the minor are especially disturbing. The woman, now in her late 20s, was a 17-year-old intern working in Packwood’s Washington office in 1983 when the senator made unwanted sexual advances toward her, she said. The unidentified woman said that Packwood insisted on visiting her parents’ home in Bethesda, Md., when she was alone to deliver a letter of recommendation that he had written for her. Repeating charges that were first published by the Washington Post in 1993, she said that Packwood unsuccessfully tried to hug her. He then “laid a juicy kiss on my lips. I could feel the tongue coming.” Eventually, she was able to push him out of the house, she said.

The Portland Oregonian reported that in the second complaint, Celia Lighthill, 55, said Packwood grabbed and kissed her in 1971.

Since the new disclosures were made, the Ethics Committee has postponed meetings and the release of documents relating to the Packwood case until September. When panel members and other senators return home during the August recess, they are likely to get an earful about Packwood. Recent polls showed that Americans want public hearings. Not to hold them is unprecedented in such a Senate ethics case.