CongressionalBadBoys.com | home | Wright James Claude Wright, Jr. Democrat, Texas (1955-1989) The Honorable Jim Wright, Speaker of the House, quickly ended his long career by resigning in 1989.  He went to the well of the House of Representatives in May of that year to announce his resignation from the Speaker's position and his seat in Congress, passionately decrying the "mindless cannibalism" that was consuming Congress.  The chief cannibal--Newt Gingrich.  In his memoirs, Wright later wrote:  "Gingrich is like an arsonist who torches the building without supposing that the flames could consume his own bedroom."  [For other pearls of wisdom, check the Quote Board]. Wright was charged by the House Ethics Committee with a string of improprieties:  improper lobbying efforts on behalf of constituent with whom Wright had an interest in a private gas well;  intervention on matter before Department of Interior on behalf of Texas Oil and Gas Company;  improper use of campaign funds to pay for book that Wright wrote;  improper use of government resources for the book;  improper use of Fort Worth condominium;  undue influence with officials of Federal Home Loan Bank Board on behalf of four Texas businessmen.  Altogether, Wright was charged with 69 individual violations of House rules. Wright was charged with receiving more than $140,000 in gifts from business associate George Mallick, in the form of cut-rate condominium, a Cadillac, and $72,000 paid over four years to Wright's wife, Betty, for which there was no evidence of a "work product." He resigned before the House got a chance to mete out a punishment.   Gingrich mercilessly went after Wright for the royalties he received from his book, "Reflections of a Public Man."  Those royalties got him in trouble.  After reaching the limit of $30,000 in speaking fees (since banned), Wright and his staff, according to the Ethics Committee, persuaded interest groups to buy copies of his book in lieu of speaking fees.  Wright got 55 percent in book royalties (normally, that figure is 10 to 15 percent).  The book sold 100,000 copies, 98 percent of which came in bulk sales.  Former Speaker Tip O'Neill received a $1 million advance for writing his book;  and Gingrich got, but later turned down, a $4.5 million advance from Rupert Murdoch to publish his memoirs.  Wright's money, by contrast, was peanuts.  Joined at the hip:  Jim Wright and his chief antagonist, Newt Gingrich, are the only two Speakers of the House who were charged with ethical violations by the House Ethics Committee.  Wright resigned;  Gingrich resigned, but not just because of the ethics charges.  Sources:  Michael Kranish, "The Resignation of Speaker Wright," Boston Globe, June 1, 1989, 1;  Tom Kenworthy, "Wright Resigning Friday Won't Try to Regain Seat," Washington Post, June 27, 1989, A4;  Sam Howe Verhovek, "To Jim Wright, What Goes Around . . . " New York Times, Jan. 5, 1997, 12.