Former U.S. House Speaker Wright, who quit in scandal, dies at 92

[May 07, 2015]  By Will Dunham
 
 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Jim Wright, a Texas Democrat fond of hardball politics who quit as U.S. House of Representatives speaker amid accusations of financial impropriety and decried the "mindless cannibalism" of his colleagues, died on Wednesday at age 92.

Wright, who held the House's top post from 1987 to 1989 after succeeding Washington legislative heavyweight Thomas "Tip" O'Neill, died at a nursing home in Fort Worth, Texas, according to a local funeral home.

Known for his bushy eyebrows and bursts of temper, he was elected to the House in 1954 and served for 34 years before becoming the first speaker to resign midterm amid allegations of wrongdoing.

"He was a committed public leader and a proud World War II veteran who dedicated much of his life to serving his country," President Barack Obama said.

Current House leaders praised Wright. Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi called him "a person of deep courage, brilliant eloquence and complete mastery of the legislative process." Republican Speaker John Boehner lauded Wright's "lifelong commitment to public service."

Wright was speaker for 29 months before resigning from Congress after a yearlong investigation that left him facing likely conviction in the House on charges that his financial dealings violated the chamber's rules.

"All of us in both political parties must resolve to bring this period of mindless cannibalism to an end," Wright told House colleagues in his resignation speech on May 31, 1989.

The House ethics committee found Wright had taken $145,000 in gifts from a Fort Worth developer, including an $18,000-a-year salary for his wife, Betty, for which she did no actual work as well as the use of a condominium and Cadillac.

Wright called the allegations politically motivated, insisting he and his wife did nothing wrong and abided by House rules, but decided to quit to spare the House further trauma.

"I don't want to be a party to tearing up the institution. I love it," Wright said in his resignation speech, saying Congress had become a place where "vengeance becomes more desirable than vindication."

Wright's downfall represented an early manifestation of the hyper-partisanship that grew in subsequent decades, often condemning Washington to partisan gridlock and dysfunction.

'AN INSULT'

As speaker, Wright amassed power and influence over legislation in a way that inspired growing resentment from minority Republicans.

At the time, Democrats controlled the House and Senate during the presidencies of Republicans Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.

Republican Congressman Newt Gingrich, beginning his ascendancy in the House, seized upon an independent watchdog group's report to accuse Wright of unethical conduct, formally asking the ethics committee to investigate.

Gingrich called Wright's resignation speech "an insult to the ethics committee and an insult to institutional decency."

Gingrich served as speaker from 1995 to 1999. In 1997, he became the first speaker disciplined for ethical wrongdoing when his colleagues voted to reprimand him and fine him $300,000 for using tax-exempt money to promote Republican goals and giving the House ethics panel false information.

James Claude Wright Jr. was born in Fort Worth on Dec. 22, 1922. He earned a Distinguished Flying Cross while flying South Pacific combat missions in B-24 Liberators during World War Two.

Wright was elected to the Texas legislature at age 23. Three years later he became mayor of Weatherford, his boyhood home. In 1954, the ambitious Wright challenged and beat an incumbent Democrat in his race for the U.S. House. He became the No. 2 House Democrat in 1976.

Wright was considered more moderate than many of his white Southern colleagues and supported the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that guaranteed voting rights to black Americans.

(Additional reporting by Jon Herskovitz in Austin, Texas; Editing by Doina Chiacu and Mohammad Zargham)

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