(2 of 2)
That off his chest, "The Man" began to answer specific committee charges in a 13,000-word statement. The Morrissey Cadillac had been a Christmas present ("It's just an old Southern custom").
Said Bilbo of the $3,000 he had borrowed from Abe Shushan to make a divorce settlement with his wife: "I still owe $2,250 on this alimony nightmare." The swmiming-pool bill and the Morrissey loan, he vowed he would pay.
But the charge that really outraged The Man was the one that he had deposited money collected for the Juniper Grove parsonage in a special fund from which he alone could draw. "Gentlemen of the committee," said he, bitterly, "that was a sacred fund and I want you and the world to know that if I ever forget the teachings of my sainted father and want to get money wrongfully I would never start by stealing from the church."
After he had denied or explained everything, Senator Bilbo asked the committee if it had any further questions. Icy-voiced Senator Ferguson had one: Did the witness know that it was against the law for political candidates to accept campaign contributions from Government contractors?
Bilbo, who up to that moment had -"Living in mud." maintained that the committee had no legal goods on him, wilted noticeably and croaked that nothing had come out of the Government's purse. "It all came out of the Government," roared Ferguson.
"I don't think it applies. I don't think I violated any law," muttered The Man as the committee prepared to adjourn.
Although the hearing was not officially closed, the subcommittee's lawyers were already at work on a strong anti-Bilbo report to the Senate. Its main point: that Bilbo had "acted improperly" in accepting gratuities from war contractors.
Since some Democratic Senators are almost certain to back Bilbo, right or wrong, the question of how to unseat The Man will devolve on the Senate's 51 Republicans. Their problem: whether to refuse Bilbo a seat on charges that his election was "irregular" (which would take only a majority vote), or seat and then attempt to oust him on charges of "moral turpitude" (which would require a two-thirds vote).
Republicans will try to find the answer at their Party caucus on Dec. 30.
* "Living in mud."