Evening star., 1940-03-03
Liquor Probe's Scope
Expected 10 Touch OFF
Battle Tomorrow
Kennedy Girds to Thwort
Apparent Move
To Wreck Inquiry
BY JAMES E. CHINN.

BY JAMES E. CHINN.
Another controversy over the au-
thorized scope Of the investigation
Of liquor control conditions here Is
expected to flare up tomorrow at the
regular weekly meeting of the House
District Committee.
Representative Kennedy, Demo-
crat, of Maryland, who inspired the
inquiry, plans to go before the COM
mittee to stymie an apparent move
to wreck it.
He intends to show that the COM
mittee ordered sweeping investi-
cation of the liquor situation and
that the special subcommittee con-
Quoting the inquiry has not ex-
ceeded its authority as charged by
Representative Shafer, Republican,
Of Michigan.
Three days ago Representative
Eberharter, Democrat, of Pennsyl-
vania, chairman of the investigat-
ing subcommittee, said he knew q
decided movement" was on foot to
bring the probe to an abrupt halt,
with the view perhaps in mind of
not having the subject of the ad-
ministration of the Alcoholic Bev-
erage Control Act thoroughly gone
into and any abuses corrected"
Kennedy Expresses Stand.
Mr.. Kennedy issued a long pre-
pared statement last night in which
he took issue with Mr.. Shafer and
pointed out that the motion he
made February called for creation
of special subcommittee to look
into the whole matter"
Mr.. Shafer contends the subcom-
mittee was authorized to investi-
gate only the cases of Leo j. Ros-
sitter and Ralph A. Lee, restaurant
proprietors, whose applications for
licenses to sell liquor by the drink
had been denied by the Alcoholic
Beverage Control Board. Since
these two licenses were subsequent
ly granted, Mr.. Shafer said, the
subcommittee has no authority to
proceed further.
Mr.. Kennedy, in his statement,
also expressed the hope Mr.. Shafer
would "retract" the remarks he
made at a hearing of the subcom-
mittee Thursday implying that the
A. B. C. Board had been "influ-
enced' by "a Maryland Representa-
tive" in granting license to Mr.
Rossiter and Mr.. Lee.
Sees Full Inquiry Desired.
AS for the authorized scope OF
the investigation, Mr.. Kennedy said: !:
Il have gone to the trouble of
reading the transcript of the min
utes of the meeting of the full COM
mittee on February S, at which time
the matter of creating this special
subcommittee was discussed. This
discussion lasted for nearly one
hour and a half. It was opened
by me by making reference to the
Rossiter and Lee cases. However,
several other members of the COM
mittee, in addition to myself, dis
cussed other matters of alleged i'm
proper action of the A. B. c. Board
and after these discussions a mo-
ton was made by me to have spe-
cial subcommittee appointed to look
into the whole matter. This motion
was adopted and a committee ap-
pointed. .-e ~.
There is no doubt In mind as
to the author of this motion, and
after examination of this record it
was the intention of the committee
to look into the administration of
the A. B. c. Board with the view of
determining if there is any founda-
ton of fact in the number of COM
plants consistently being rumored
In and around the District. If on
the other hand the board has con-
Quoted itself in proper manner
the committee could so report and
put an end to these rumors for once
and all"
Kennedy Denies Pressure.
Regarding Mr.. Shafer's charges
that the only reason the investiga-
ton was ordered was because Mr..
Rossiter is the brother of an influen-
tial political figure in Maryland and
that a Maryland Representative de-
manded" the inquiry, that Mr.. Lee
"entered the picture" in some way
unknown to him and that political
pressure" was brought on the full
committee, Representative Kennedy
said:
II made no request of the board
for the renewal of Mr.. Rossiter's
license, nor to grant the license of
Mr.. Lee, and, therefore, any in
ference that pressure was put on
the board by me is absolutely un-
true.
II cannot recall any cases before
the board that have interested my
self in other than these two, except
several conversations about cases,
the names of which I do not recall
ut this time"
Mr.. Kennedy then pointed out he
had been a member of the District
committee for more than seven
years, is its oldest member in the
point of service, and called atten-
ton to the other committees on
which he serves, including the
Claims Committee, which, he said,
handles more legislation than any
other House committee.
He Worked Long for d. C.
'I am entirely too busy" he de-
clared, "to be bothered about in
fluencing District officials, even If I
had the slightest desire to do so.
LAS member of the District
Committee, however, I have worked
diligently and to the best of my abil-
ity to carry out my duties, to the
end that the people Of the District OF
Columbia will get fair treatment
insofar as I can give it to them
This has caused me to work many
hours on matters of the District