Wertheimer: No doubt about it in my mind. And I think if you look at the report and the findings of the investigation, you'll reach that conclusion.

Q: Any regrets about the affair at all?

Wertheimer: No. No regrets at all. Now, all of the charges being raised in this case, and including many of the charges raised by Newt Gingrich, were not charges that were found against the speaker. But there were clear violations that occurred. Not only do I not have any regrets, I believe that that is part of what Common Cause is supposed to do and did do. We were influential in making sure that the process worked.

During this process, we did not charge Speaker Wright with ethical violations. That was something that Newt Gingrich was doing. That was not what we were arguing. We were saying that there were serious charges that had been raised, and it is the ethics committee's job to investigate this matter and they can't investigate it credibly without an outside counsel. Something that Newt Gingrich agreed with, at that time, when he said there could be no serious internal investigation in this case without an outside counsel. So I believe we did the right thing. I believe the committee reached the right conclusions in that case.

Q: And your response to how now Newt Gingrich is saying, 'Whatever you do in investigating me, don't get an independent counsel. And if you do get one, limit the scope'?

Wertheimer: I would describe it as another example of the pattern that follows Speaker Gingrich throughout his career, particularly when you're dealing with issues of ethics and corruption. They are situational. And they're often situational when they apply to Democrats or to opponents. So, here is Speaker Gingrich who agreed with us--we filed the first request in the Wright case--both for the investigation and for the outside counsel and for the open scope so the counsel could do their job. Speaker Gingrich agreed that you had to have an outside counsel. He said there's a higher standard, first of all, when you have a speaker and he correctly said--as we did--when you're dealing with the Speaker of the House you're dealing with such a powerful person, you have to get someone from the outside. And you have to let them do their job.

Now here we are, Common Cause has called for an outside person. Common Cause has called for that person to be able to do their job. Speaker Gingrich has adamantly fought against any outside counsel being involved in this case. He is opposing any scope for the counsel. We didn't support a fishing expedition with Jim Wright. And Common Cause, which is now headed by Ann McBride, has not supported a fishing expedition for Newt Gingrich. But you must have an outside person and let that person do his job.

Common Cause is very consistent here. Speaker Gingrich is very inconsistent. And that inconsistency you can track throughout his career whenever you're looking at questions of ethics, of corruption in the political process.

Q: Do you ever feel unloved? You got the Republicans on you when you're going after the one, the Democrats on the other.

Wertheimer: No, not at all. There are a lot of people in this country, I believe, who share the views of Common Cause, who are concerned about what goes on in this city. What we have done is to challenge the way this city works, to challenge the way power is exercised and hopefully to carry out that old wonderful comment of trying to tell truth to power. Power doesn't like to hear the truth. Power doesn't like to be challenged. And that's what it's all about. Any day I wake up and someone's attacking me in Washington, I have the sense that I must be doing something pretty good.