The Week

Unless Albany sends him lots of cash, says Mayor John Lindsay, he’ll have to fire ninety thousand municipal employees. Yes, but that, replies Governor Rockefeller, “would about bring the city back to where it was when he took over.”

Insiders say House Democrats are worried about Majority Leader Hale Boggs (La.). According to veteran Washington newsman Willard Edwards, Boggs’ tirade against J. Edgar Hoover, in which he accused the FBI of tapping congressmen’s phones in emulation of “the tactics of the Soviet Union and Gestapo,” is only the latest in a long string of outbursts. At a formal dinner early this year, says Edwards, Boggs grabbed Sen. Peter Dominick (R., Colo.) by the lapels and began bellowing in his face. In March, at the Gridiron Club dinner, Boggs’ noisy, abusive remarks about the Nixon Administration led to a washroom fist-fight with an Indiana Republican. Last month, Boggs appeared uninvited at a meeting of top-level House Democrats and made “a number of impromptu speeches”; also last month, friends urged him to call off a speech at a function in Florida because of his “exuberance.” Called on the carpet (privately) by House colleagues after the Hoover outburst, Boggs offered the curious excuse that he is under medical treatment for a “blood ailment.”

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Unless Albany sends him lots of cash, says Mayor John Lindsay, he’ll have to fire ninety thousand municipal employees. Yes, but that, replies Governor Rockefeller, “would about bring the city back to where it was when he took over.”

Insiders say House Democrats are worried about Majority Leader Hale Boggs (La.). According to veteran Washington newsman Willard Edwards, Boggs’ tirade against J. Edgar Hoover, in which he accused the FBI of tapping congressmen’s phones in emulation of “the tactics of the Soviet Union and Gestapo,” is only the latest in a long string of outbursts. At a formal dinner early this year, says Edwards, Boggs grabbed Sen. Peter Dominick (R., Colo.) by the lapels and began bellowing in his face. In March, at the Gridiron Club dinner, Boggs’ noisy, abusive remarks about the Nixon Administration led to a washroom fist-fight with an Indiana Republican. Last month, Boggs appeared uninvited at a meeting of top-level House Democrats and made “a number of impromptu speeches”; also last month, friends urged him to call off a speech at a function in Florida because of his “exuberance.” Called on the carpet (privately) by House colleagues after the Hoover outburst, Boggs offered the curious excuse that he is under medical treatment for a “blood ailment.”