A MOUNTAIN OF PACKWOOD EVIDENCE

The massive investigation that led to Wednesday's charges against Senate Finance Committee Chairman Bob Packwood had a foundation hard as rock, Senate ethics committee members said today. Karen Tumulty, TIME congressional correspondent, reports that the committee staff spent 11,000 hours on the case, interviewed 254 witnesses and took 111 depositions -- theresults of which will be delivered to Packwood in a 16,000-page packageas soon as Monday. Though the Oregon Republican's alleged sexual advances have dominated headlines, Tumulty says charges of altering his personal diary transcripts during the preliminary probe could be most damaging. "It is easily provable, and if the Justice Department finds that he did that, he could wind up in jail." The process could now drag on for months as Packwood prepares his defense. No matter what, Tumulty adds, the Senate -- which has expelled no member of the club since the Civil War -- is unlikely to force him out. In the meantime, Packwood, who has strongly criticized the tax cuts prominently featured in the House budget passed today, will be in no position to lead the Senate opposition to them.