The Central New Jersey Home News from New Brunswick, New Jersey • 4

4 RESIGNATION THE HOME NEWS FRIDAY, MARCH 12, 1982 Williams called persistent, but naive "He was the people's representative in Congress," said David Wilentz, former New Jersey attorney general. "Everything about him, his manner, his looks, his conduct, was always exemplary. What has happened to him with' his predicament, for me, was just like a death in the family." never one to display boredom or tiredness, even at the end of a long day. He always seemed to take things in the right spirit. George Meany (the former head of the AFL-CIO and a dominant force in American labor for many years) was intolerant of people who were timid and who vacillate, and he liked Pete.

Pete didn't play games and he didn't posture." Several New Jersey Democrats who were politically close to Williams linked his downfall to another person- ality trait. "He was naive," said one of these people, asking not to be identified. "He was completely trusting. I don't believe he had his hand out, I really don't. I think he was trying to help people he shouldn't have helped.

It was the people he picked to trust that is so hard to understand. That's what proved to be his undoing." The course that Williams began to travel in 1953, when he was first elected to the House, ended yesterday afternoon amid a web of complex emotions as he spoke his last words from the Senate floor, then slumped back in his seat with one hand covering his face. After it was over, senators who had known him over the years, from both parties, approached him and spoke softly with him. Sen. Charles Percy, went upstairs to the gallery where Jeanette Williams had watched and wept as her husband announced his resignation.

Sen. Danial Inouye, D-Hawaii, who defended Williams on the Senate floor, also stopped to spend a few moments with Mrs. Williams in the gallery. These were personal visits, and the senators rushed in and out without stopping to talk to reporters. Outside, walking across the Capitol parking lot in the waning afternoon sunshine, Sen.

Henry Jackson, who has served in the Senate almost as long as Williams, stopped to say, "He accomplished a lot while he was here. It's a very long list. That's the tragedy of this." By ALLAN JALON New Jersey News Service WASHINGTON "I have fought the good fight, I have stayed to the end of my course With those words Harrison A. Williams bade farewell to his Senate colleagues yesterday. At that moment, he was describing his two-year struggle to clear his name of the stain of the Ab-scam scandal that forced him to resign.

But, to his admirers and there have been many over the years the words could characterize his whole 24-year career. "His outstanding quality was persistence," said Sen. Alan Cranston, a longtime colleague who favored censure for Williams rather than expulsion. "The same persistence he has displayed in fighting this thing." Williams faced Senate discipline following his conviction for having agreed to accept a hidden share of a $100 million investment in a titanium mine in exchange for agreeing to use his government influence on its behalf. In the years before the Abscam scandal ended his Senate career, people who admired Williams often lamented that he did not receive, or actively pursue, the recognition they thought was due him for his work on Capitol Hill.

Yet, among his colleagues, he won a reputation as a quiet but effective legislator. An aide to Sen. Daniel Moy-nihan, said that while musing recently on the Abscam case and Williams' predicament, Moynihan spoke with envy of Williams' track record. The first Democrat from New Jersey to be elected to the Senate in 22 years, "Pete" Williams worked his way up to the chairmanship of the Labor and Human Resources Committee, which has jurisdiction over labor, health and education legislation. In that capacity, Williams was one of the main authors of legislation to provide wage and health protection for migrant workers, to assure the handicapped of educational opportunities if I i -V 'I Ll 'i- i and to improve safety standards for factory and mine workers.

"He was the people's representative in Congress," said David Wilentz, a former New Jersey attorney general and Democratic political power broker who was among those who selected Williams as a candidate when he first ran for the Senate in 1958. "Everything about him, his manner, his looks, his conduct, was always exemplary. What has happened to him with his predicament, for me, was just like a death in the family," added the 87-year old Wilentz. As a member of the Banking Committee, he wrote the nation's first assistance act for urban mass transportation in 1964. Former Gov.

Robert Meyner, a Democrat who also played a major role in putting Williams in the Senate, said, "The head of one of New Jersey's leading corporations once told me that if he wanted something done (in Congress) he'd get a hold of Williams, not Case (former New Jersey Sen. Clifford Case, who died this week.) "I picked him as a candidate for his youth and his integrity and his honesty," said Meyner, governor between 1954-62. "I thought it was time that New Jersey emulate the South and elect someone who would get enough seniority to do something for the state and he did." Meyner picked Williams as a candidate to run against Robert W. Kean, the father of Thomas H. Kean, the state's current governor and the man who now must chose a replacement for Williams.

In that race, Williams won by a margain of 964,000 votes to 378,000. He never won in a general election by fewer than 250,000 votes. In 1976, he beat Republican candidate David F. Nor-cross by 626,000 votes. When the Abscam scandal broke and unraveled his chances for a political future, Williams was reportedly considering a run for governor.

Many in. the state thought he would be unbeatable. His strength was never his charisma. If he spoke out for an issue, said people who have worked for many with him for many years, it was from conviction rather than a desire to grab headlines. Ray Denison, director of legislative affairs for the AFL-CIO, who worked with Williams for a decade, said, "He often had to deal with complex matters that could become tedious, but be was HARRISON WILLIAMS speaking to reporters after resignation call for expulsion N.J.

public opinion 1 'HI Bradley's reflected By JOE CANTLUPE Home News staff writer Push almost came to shove by the time Harrison A. Williams Jr. quit the U.S. Senate seat he held for 23 years yesterday. Williams' New Jersey colleague Sen.

Bill Bradley provided some of the push on Wednesday when he said he would support a move to expel Williams. The Bedminster Democrat made that decision moot by resigning. Bradley had said, according to an aide, that he felt "pressure like each and every senator" who were considering whether to expel Williams based on the former senator's Abscam bribery and conspiracy conviction. Bradley's Washington office reported that he received hundreds of letters whose writers by a 2-1 margin urged him to vote to expel Williams. A Bradley spokeswoman said, at last count, there were 225 letters supporting the move to expel Williams, and 130 letters opposing it.

Sources close to Bradley believe some of the letters in sympathy of Williams were sent by supporters of Lyndon LaRouche, the U.S. Labor Party leader who opposed the FBI's tactics. BILL BRADLEY felt "pressure" Bradley, also a Democrat, "certainly kept himself apprised" of the constituents' opinions, the aide said. The Central Jersey congressional delegation reported that they did not receive many letters concerning Williams. "We got one or two a day, and mostly they were adamantly in favor of his WILLIAMS AND FRIEND The FBI said this photo, released in March 1981, showed Sen.

Harrison Williams with FBI agent Richard Farhardt posing as an Arab sheik named Yassir Habib. The FBI charged that Williams promised to introduce legislation favorable to the phony sheik in return for an interest in a titanium mine. Williams' constituents relieved, not convinced of his innocence expulsion," said an aide for Rep. Milli-cent Fenwick, R-5th of Bernards-ville. Richard Lerner, a Bradley aide, last night declined to say whether the public opinion against Williams had any effect on the senator's dramatic decision Wednesday to announce his intention to vote to expel his senior colleague.

"He (Bradley) has said he did not want to provide any further analysis of his decision-making process or how he approached it," Lerner said. Williams indicated he was surprised by Bradley's announcement, which broke a two-year silence the former Princeton University All-American basketball star had kept in connection with Abscam. One New Jersey congressman, who declined to be identified, said he believed Bradley's decision might have "tilted" Williams toward resigning instead of fighting a probable expulsion. But that's not necessarily so, said Lerner. Bradley was informed by another senator prior to his announcement Wednesday that it was "99 percent sure" Williams would resign, according to Lerner.

Name change for MetroPark now possible WOODBRIDGE His political career was sullied by the Abscam bribery conviction, but Harrison A. Williams name still stands in a place of honor for thousands of commuters daily. The rail station commonly known as MetroPark is officially called the Harrison A. Williams Jr. MetroPark station, named in honor of the former senator three years ago for his legislative contributions for mass transit.

"That's right, isn't it?" asked one New Jersey congressman, when reminded that the MetroPark station was named after Williams. "I've always referred to it just as Metro-Park," said the congressman, who declined to be identified. A spokesman for NJ Transit which owns the lot, said nobody has discussed any plans to change the name of the rail station, despite Williams' bribery conviction and forced resignation from the Senate yesterday. "It hasn't been mentioned. Nothing's been said," the spokesman added.

David Crabiel, a Middlesex County freeholder who serves on the state's Northeast Transportation Coordinating Committee, said NJ Transit officials may have to form a subcommittee to study the question of a possible name change. "It depends a lot on public opinion," Crabiel said yesterday. "My feeling is it should stay the same at least until he (Williams) exhausts his appeals. If there is any considera tion for a name change, a subcom mittee should look into it." Crabiel pointed out that during his 23 years in the senate, Williams "has a record that is tremendous when it comes to transportation That's why MetroPark was named after him. "That part of his record is secure for all time," Crabiel said.

JOE CANTLUPE N.J. lawmakers express sadness over resignation New Jersey News Service WASHINGTON New Jersey lawmakers were saddened by Sen. Harrison A. Williams' resignation yesterday, but they agreed that it was the right decision. "In view of the course the Senate debate had taken, I think Sen.

Williams made the right decision in resigning," said Rep. James J. Howard, D-3rd Dist. "I sincerely believe that Sen. Williams' decision to resign rather than suffer certain expulsion was the right one," said Rep.

William J. Hughes, D-2nd Dist. Rep. Millicent Kenwick, K-5th called the Williams' case "a tragedy from beginning to end. for him.

for his family, for the people who trusted him, for the state and above all the Congress." Mrs. Fenwick, who is seeking election to Williams' seat, expressed confidence that Gov. Thomas H. Kean would appoint an able successor. "Whatever the governor does is OK by me and will not change my opinion of him," Mrs.

Fenwick said. "He has my high respect." Rep. James J. Klorio, D-lst who said he was "saddened" that Williams' 23-year-career has ended in "disgrace," also urged Kean to appoint a successor "as quickly as possible." On the Senate floor yesterday, both Republicans and Democrats assailed the Justice Department's handling of the Abscam investigation as unconstitutional, and vowed an extensive inquiry on the matter. But Rep.

Chris Smith, R-4th predicted Congress would not spend much time on the promised investigation. "I think the most important thing right now is to get back to the economic issues that's our top priority," said Smith. He expressed the hope that Congress would not be overzealous and restrict surveillance and other investigative techniques that now allow law enforcement officials to pursue drug traffickers and other criminals. All New Jersey lawmakers were quick to praise Williams' accomplishments. "He was a champion of senior citizens, students and the working man," said Howard.

Senator won't lose benefits AP photo KATHERINE WALTERS "shouldn't have waited" regardless of what he claims he believes in. He should have turned his back," said Nancy Harrity of the Iselin section of Woodbridge. Mark Haberman of Richboro, who works in the New Brunswick area, was more philosophical in his views. "The Senate is a hallowed body and its members must be above suspicion of any type." he said "(Williams) aroused suspicion." Haberman, who lives in the outskirts of Philadelphia, said he has been following the Abscam investigation and trial since officials in that city were charged and then convicted on bribery charges. "Williams has been a good senator and loyal to the pecple of New Jersey," he said.

"However, the Senate is looking for people who can circumvent human temptation. It's sad, but he did it to himself." A if By CATHY SABIK Home News staff writer NEW BRUNSWICK Some of his constituents were pleased and relieved that Harrison A. Williams resigned from the Senate yesterday. "His resignation made it a happy day," said Gordon Howe of New Brunswick. "He lied to the people and to his fellow senators.

Therefore, I lost all faith in him. The agony for the people of New Jersey couldn't go on anymore." Howe's reaction was typical of many people who were interviewed yesterday afternoon at the New Brunswick train station. "It was the only honorable thing to do," Susan Abano of Piscataway said of Williams' decision to step down from a GORDON HOWE "a happy day" i 1 I 1 1 1 i post he has held for 23 years. "It saves the people of New Jersey a lot of trouble." Added Edwin Gorda of New Brunswick, "It's better than getting kicked out of the Senate." Others felt the resignation was long overdue. Katherine Walters of Metuchen said Williams should have relinquished his post before the Senate expulsion hearings began.

"He shouldn't have waited to go through all that." For the most part, those interviewed said they were not convinced by Williams' repeated claims of innocence in the FBI's Abscam investigation. "I think he deserved what he got," said John Bergen of Trenton, who attends Rutgers University in New Brunswick. "The government may have been wrong in the way they got him, but all is fair in politics." If Williams' truly believed he was innocent, Bergen said, "he should have went down fighting. The resignation was a cop-out." Howard Washington, also a Rutgers student, called the former senator's proclamations of innocence "an emotional move for publicity." "He knew long before (yesterday) he was going to resign," Washington said. James Bailey of New Brunswick said the growing support among Senate members to expel Williams is reason enough to believe he is guilty of misconduct in office.

"His colleagues wouldn't have wanted to kick him out if there was no reason for it," he said. Yet several people believe that Williams' innocence or guilt in Abscam whether he was entrapped by FBI agents is not the issue. "He should have never been involved WASHINGTON (AP) No matter whether his choice was to resign or risk expulsion, Harrison A. Williams will not lose his $45,000 annual pension or other Senate benefits as a former senator. Senate secretary William F.

Hilden-brand said there is nothing in Senate rules that imposes any penalties in retirement against a member who is expelled. Williams' annual $45,000 pension is about three-fourths of his current yearly He also has health benefits and a life insurance policy that are not affected by Senate disciplinary proceedings, Hildenbrand said. In addition, Hildenbrand said, Williams is entitled, as are all former senators, to use the Senate barber shop, gymnasium, library and specialty shops which sell office supplies and medicines among other articles. The shops are subsidized by tax dollars and their products generally are priced well below the retail market. Former senators also are automatically entitled to access to the Senate floor.

The privilege is not revoked because of expulsion or any other cause, Hildenbrand said..