The Speaker's Family

House Speaker John McCormack is known for his almost puritanical probity. He lives simply, drives a 14-year-old car, has amassed few worldly goods. Thus he sounds in character when he professes ignorance about the influence peddling that has emanated from his Capitol Hill office for years. What plagues McCormack--and threatens his winning another term as Speaker--is that the serial revelations about Martin Sweig, McCormack's now suspended aide, and Nathan Voloshen, the Speaker's longtime friend, make it increasingly incredible that McCormack could have overlooked their activities.

McCormack has attempted to pass Voloshen off as simply a personal friend with no special access to the Speaker's official or political world. Investigations by the Justice Department, the FBI, federal grand juries in New York and Baltimore and journalists have found dozens of conspiracies involving Voloshen, including attempts to get favors for convicted mobsters, to profiteer in land schemes, to get Congressmen and executive agencies to do favors for Voloshen's clients. Investigating Voloshen's activities and his association with McCormack, TIME Correspondent Sandy Smith last week reported: -- Voloshen has been close to McCormack for at least 24 years. Last week McCormack said that he had been introduced to Voloshen by an unremembered Congressman "some years ago, more than ten years ago, maybe more than that." Sweig has said privately: "Voloshen was here when I came in"--and that was in 1945. An even closer associate of McCormack's recalls that "the Speaker looked upon Nat Voloshen as his friend and as a member of his family--his political family."

> A real member of Speaker McCormack's family is Nephew Edward McCormack. The Speaker regards Edward almost as his own son and surely as a protege. In 1966, Voloshen brokered political and financial labor union support for Edward McCormack's unsuccessful campaign for Governor of Massachusetts.

> In 1963, Voloshen joined forces with Bobby Baker, then secretary to the Senate Democratic majority, who was later convicted of theft, conspiracy and tax evasion. Their scheme was to buy the Bank of Miami Beach. Baker promised to swing deposits of Government funds into the bank, and Labor Racketeer Jack McCarthy agreed to pour union money into the vaults. Voloshen was to put together a syndicate to buy the bank. The deal collapsed when Voloshen was unable to meet his part of the bargain.

>According to Herbert Itkin, an FBI informant, Voloshen worked both for and against the Haitian government of Franc,ois ("Papa Doc") Duvalier. In 1963, Voloshen offered to persuade Congressmen to speak against continuance of U.S. aid to Haiti, for a fee of $5,000 per legislator. A year later, for a retainer from the Haitian government, Voloshen said he would invoke his influence to speed $4,500,000 in U.S. funds to build a Haitian airport. Itkin reported the scheme to U.S. officials, and the funds were immediately frozen, depriving Voloshen of his fee.

> On one occasion in 1964, Voloshen was angered by the reluctance of Teamster racketeers to release money to be used for kickbacks on three loans from the union's pension fund. He dispatched an aide of a former New England Senator to demand the payment at the Union's Washington headquarters. The money--$25,000--was paid.

For his part, Voloshen pleads that he is not guilty of any impropriety. In an interview with Smith, he said: "People hired me because of my ability to present their cases [to Government officials], and my perseverance. I have done nothing wrong. In 35 years in Washington, I never gave anyone a $2 bill." Voloshen conceded that "people" in Washington intervened with Government officials to provide him access. "That's done every day," he said. "Of course, I received money for doing that. That's how I make my living."

Asked about the extent of his influence, Voloshen held up his hand with the tips of his thumb and forefinger pressed together to form a zero. He is too modest. In 1961, for instance, Voloshen fastened himself onto a federal payroll as a "labor consultant" to Adam Clayton Powell, who was chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee. Robert Kennedy, then Attorney General, took the unusual step of exerting pressure which cost Voloshen his job. The incident was kept quiet, but it would be curious if McCormack, the most powerful man in the House, could have remained unaware of his friend's reputation. Yet the Speaker continued to lunch with Voloshen frequently.

Cash Payment. Though there is no evidence that McCormack accepted any money in Voloshen's deals, the Speaker is alleged to have at least helped out once. Life Magazine this week reports that Russell G. Oswald, chairman of the New York State board of parole, received a telephone call on behalf of Edward M. Gilbert, a convicted corporate swindler who had paid Voloshen $75,000 for assistance. It is well known in Washington that both Voloshen and Sweig were able to imitate McCormack's voice, a fact of which McCormack was vaguely aware. On one occasion, McCormack recalled, he had a call from a general who referred to an earlier call from the Speaker. "He thought he had spoken to me," said McCormack. He had not. McCormack cautioned Sweig to identify himself correctly on the telephone. In the Gilbert case, LIFE charges, it was the Speaker himself who made the call to recommend an early parole for the embezzler. McCormack denied making any such call, or even knowing who Gilbert was.

LIFE also asserts that McCormack knew as far back as midsummer that two federal grand juries were investigating Voloshen's affairs. As a result, says LIFE, McCormack held a series of urgent conferences with Sweig and Voloshen. Yet Sweig was not suspended until two weeks ago. Both Sweig and Voloshen had supplies of the Speaker's official stationery--blank except for McCormack's letterhead and his purported signature. So open was Voloshen's use of the Speaker's suite that in 1965 Voloshen accepted a $5,000 payment in cash to help fix a tax-fraud case while sitting in the Speaker's chair.

Last week McCormack denied any implication of complicity. He also asserted that last month he told Voloshen not to come around any more. Still stunned by Sweig's maneuverings, McCormack said: "It could happen to anyone. You don't know who is using your name until you run across it."

Already tainted by his unfortunate connection, John McCormack may have to face further allegations in the weeks to come. He insists, at 77, that he will run for his 23rd House term next year and stand once more for the Speakership. His House seat is probably safe as long as he wants it. But even before the Voloshen scandal, younger Democrats were growing restless under McCormack's weak leadership. He could well be deposed in 1971. For now, however, the House is maintaining a respectful silence. Even the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct has no plans to intervene.

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