McDermott pays damages to Boehner in 1996 phone-tape case

WASHINGTON -- Democratic Rep. Jim McDermott has paid more than $64,000 in damages to House Republican leader John Boehner -- the first payment in a decadelong dispute over an illegally taped telephone call involving Boehner and other GOP leaders.

The payment, which includes $50,000 in court-ordered punitive damages, $10,000 in statutory damages and $4,169 in interest, is the first of what could be more than $850,000 in fines and fees owed by McDermott, D-Wash.

That's how much Boehner, R-Ohio, says he has paid in legal fees over the course of the 10- year-old case, which stems from a December 1996 telephone call in which Republican leaders discussed an ethics case against then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga.

The Supreme Court ruled last month that McDermott acted improperly in giving reporters access to an audio tape given to him by a Florida couple who had recorded the cell phone call on a police radio scanner. McDermott, at the time a senior member of the House ethics committee, leaked the tape to two newspapers, which published articles on the case in January 1997.

A federal court will determine soon the exact amount McDermott owes.

Kevin Smith, a spokesman for Boehner, called it ironic that the payment from McDermott will go to Boehner's campaign account.

"Mr. McDermott is the biggest contributor" to the account, Smith said Thursday.

The money "will be used to defeat fellow Democrats of Mr. McDermott," he said.