A prep course for the month-long World Cup soccer tournament, a worldwide pheno

ski has always personified a less-savory aspect of the Chicago political traditi

on . His indictment , they said , resulted from `` the habits of a lifetime '' t

hat began when he entered politics in the 1950s . `` He operated for much of his

 career as a Chicago ward heeler , '' said Don Rose , a veteran of the political

-reform movement that has battled the regular Democratic organization for genera

tions. ` ` .. . It 's almost like they don't know the difference between right a

nd wrong . '' `` There is no question he is of another era in which politicians 

went out and tried to accomplish things and didn't spend countless hours poring 

over poll data to decide which tie to wear that day , '' Axelrod said . `` The p

olitics he grew up with were much more focused on results rather than appearance

s . '' Rostenkowski has never cared much about appearances . The quality he has 

always valued most and prided himself on is loyalty to his family , which he shi

elded from the glare of publicity ; to his city , which he showered with federal

 largesse from his powerful congressional post ; and to his party , which expect

ed his loyalty and rewarded him in return . It is how he learned the game of pol

itics in his hometown . Rostenkowksi 's father , Joe , was for three decades the

 undisputed boss of Chicago 's 32nd Ward . There he was the alderman and Democra

tic ward committeeman , which gave him control of the ward 's patronage . Known 

as Big Joe Rusty , the elder Rostenkowski in 1952 was accused by the Chicago Dai

ly News of having three `` no-show '' employees on his payroll , a charge that m

ore than 40 years later would be leveled against his son . Defeated in the 1955 

Democratic primary , Big Joe Rusty was rewarded for his loyalty by the city 's n

ewly elected mayor , Richard J. Daley , who named him superintendent of sewer re

pairs . A few years later , a Daley critic on the City Council said he was `` un

able to find any evidence that Rostenkowski does any work for the city . '' In t

he 1950s , real political power in cities like Chicago was at the local level . 

That is where the jobs were , where friends could be rewarded and enemies punish

ed . But with a foresight he later demonstrated as Congress 's consumate dealmak

er , Rostenkowski , then a state senator , set his sights on Washington . Daley 

and the other party bosses considered Washington something of a political backwa

ter , but Rostenkowski used the Southern example to help persuade them otherwise

 . Southern Democrats , he argued , dominated the congressional committee system

 because they were elected to Congress when they were young , rose through the s

eniority system and in later years controlled the committees that dispensed mone

y and power from the nation 's capital to the states and cities . Why shouldn't 

we do the same ? Rostenkowski asked . Daley agreed . And so in 1958 , running in

 an ethnic district that was as politically safe as the most entrenched Southern

 Democratic barony , Dan Rostenkowski was elected to Congress . For much of his 

congressional career , Rostenkowski struggled to overcome his `` Chicago ward he

eler '' image , finally succeeding when he became House Ways and Means Committee

 chairman in 1980 . He became a national figure , someone with `` clout , '' a w

ord that Chicago contributed to the political lexicon . Rostenkowski funneled mi

llions of dollars in federal funds to his hometown , just as he had planned deca

des earlier . And as his legal troubles deepened , the city 's political and bus

iness establishments rallied to his side , helping him win 50 percent of the vot

e in a three-candidate race in the Democratic primary in March . `` It was sell 

, but not a tough sell , '' Cook County Democratic Party Chairman Thomas G. Lyon

s said of that campaign . `` All you had to do was remind voters of what this gu

y has meant . '' Rostenkowski 's Republican opponent in November , Michael Flana

gan , is a political unknown who is still given little chance of defeating the i

ndicted incumbent in the overwhelmingly Democratic district . Even his severest 

critics recognize Rostenkowski 's legislative ability and his importance to this

 city . `` He 's one of those tragic figures , '' Rose said . `` This is a guy w

ho has qualities . This is a man of value . It 's almost Aristotelian the tragic

 flaw . ''

 LONDON The British political scene was buzzing Tuesday with its latest scandal 

and its bewildering batch of elements . Alan Clark , the 66-year-old patrician w

ho once was a favored member of Lady Thatcher 's government , was accused of hav

ing overlapping affairs with the wife of a British judge and her two daughters .

 Clark the son of Lord Clark , who was ennobled in his role as the art historian

 who created the television series `` Civilization '' saw his own hopes of resum

ing his political career in the House of Lords dashed Tuesday because of the dis

closures . In his best-selling `` Diaries '' last year , the younger Clark produ

ced fascinating insights into the workings of ministers in a Conservative govern

ment , while at the same time admitting to a career of pursuing women outside hi

s marriage . His book included allusions to a `` coven , '' an assembly of witch

es , among his women friends . He gave the first names or nicknames of three : t

he mother Valerie , and her two daughters , Alison and Josephine . It has now be

en disclosed that Valerie was married for a second time to an English judge , Ja

mes Harkess . After retirement , he moved to South Africa . One of her daughters

 , Josephine , now 34 , remains close to them in South Africa . The other daught

er , Alison , 36 , is estranged and lives with former KGB agent Sergei Kausov . 

He is the former husband of Greek shipping heiress Christina Onassis , who died 

in 1988 . On Sunday , the top-selling tabloid , News of the World , owned by Rup

ert Murdoch , published a story by the women admitting to the affairs with Clark

 ; the judge said he supported the allegations . The reason they spoke out , the

y said , was to `` tell the truth , to set the record straight . '' `` I feel th

at certain people in the present government and the recent government are rotten

 to the core , '' said Harkess , `` and I think this should be brought out . '' 

Harkess was reported to be politically opposed to Prime Minister John Major , a 

moderate Conservative by Harkess ' standards . Mrs. Harkess said she realized , 

after her 14-year-affair with Clark , including a period when she knew her lover

 had had sex with her daughters , that he was a `` pathetic , lecherous , dirty 

old man . '' ( Optional Add End ) After the Harkess family landed in London Tues

day , bankrolled by the News of the World , Clark admitted : `` I deserved to be

 horse whipped . '' But he denied allegations by the Harkesses that he had offer

ed the family $ 150,000 to keep them from taking their story to the newspapers .

 Meanwhile , Jane Clark , the millionaire 's wife , whom he married when she was

 just 17 , told reporters she knew of her husband 's peccadilloes , declaring : 

`` Quite frankly , if you bed people I call ` below-stairs class ' they go to th

e papers , don't they ? '' Mrs. Clark , 52 , has admitted in the past to throwin

g an ax at her husband after being informed of his latest escapade . Of her husb

and 's girlfriends , she said : `` I think they are dreadful . They all have the

ir ` sell-by ' date on them . They all get put away on the shelf in the end . ''

 WASHINGTON The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a public employer who wants to 

fire a worker because of alleged insubordinate remarks must first investigate th

e episode . It marks the first time the court has given procedural rights under 

the First Amendment to public employees whose speech may be disruptive . At the 

same time , the justices reaffirmed the broad power of federal , state and local

 governments to restrict employees ' speech . The court said a boss can fire a p

ublic employee for remarks as they had been overheard and reported by other work

ers as long as the boss reasonably believes they constituted insubordinate speec

h . It does not matter , Justice Sandra Day O' Connor wrote , if it later emerge

s that the worker was commenting on matters of public concern and that the state

ments were protected by the First Amendment , provided some investigation occurr

ed . `` ( T ) he extra power the government has in this area comes from the natu

re of the government 's mission as employer , '' O' Connor said . `` When someon

e who is paid a salary so that she will contribute to an agency 's effective ope

ration begins to do or say things that detract from the agency 's effective oper

ation , the government employer must have some power to restrain her . '' That p

art of the ruling was 7 to 2 . Justice John Paul Stevens , joined by Harry A . B

lackmun , wrote in a dissent that the majority view `` underestimates the import

ance of freedom of speech for the more than 18 million civilian employees of thi

s country 's federal , state and local governments , and subordinates that freed

om to an abstract interest in bureaucratic efficiency . '' Yet , O' Connor 's op

inion does offer government workers more protection than they had before Tuesday

 's ruling in Waters v. Churchill. She said a public employer who is presented w

ith a report of disruptive remarks `` must tread with a certain amount of care .

 '' She was not specific about what kind of investigation was required . `` Many

 different courses of action will necessarily be reasonable , '' she said . That

 part of the decision was effectively 6 to 3 . Justice Antonin Scalia who otherw

ise joined O' Connor 's judgment in the case arising from a nurse 's comments in

 a Macomb , Ill. , hosptial cafeteria lashed out at the unprecedented requiremen

t of an investigation , saying it was ambigious and would burden employers and t

he courts . He was joined by Justices Anthony M. Kennedy and Clarence Thomas . O

' Connor 's opinion was signed in full by Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and

 Justices David H. Souter and Ruth Bader Ginsburg . As the dust settled Tuesday 

, many legal experts said public workers had fared better than employers . The c

ourt already had said public employers may fire workers whose speech is disrupti

ve . Yet , this is the first time that the court has said the First Amendment im

poses procedural requirements on the employer . Solicitor General Drew S . Days 

III had argued in a friend of the court brief that the government needs great di

scretion over its personnel affairs and that adoption of procedures `` would con

flict with the common-sense realization that government offices could not functi

on if every employment decision became a constitutional matter . '' The ruling i

s likely to especially benefit state and local public workers . Many federal wor

kers , according to government lawyers , already are entitled to a disciplinary 

investigation under various statutes . Tuesday 's case arose from complaints by 

nurse Cheryl Churchill seven years ago at the McDonough District Hospital and he

r subsequent firing . Administrators , who were told by other nurses that Church

ill `` was knocking the ( obstetrics ) department , '' claimed Churchill was den

igrating the hospital and her superiors . Churchill insisted she was voicing leg

itimate concerns about patient care and staff shortages . A federal district cou

rt held that neither version of the conversation rose to the level of a `` publi

c concern '' and therefore was not protected by the First Amendment . But the U.

S. . Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit reversed , ordered a jury trial to det

ermine whether Churchill 's comments were merely disruptive griping or a matter 

of public concern , that is , nursing care . The appeals court ruled that a publ

ic employer is liable when it fires an employee who engages in the latter type o

f speech , even if the employer , after staff interviews , had believed otherwis

e at the time of dismissal . In rejecting that standard , the Supreme Court said

 Tuesday it is enough that the public employer reasonably investigate the compla

int and believe it to be true . While Stevens and Blackmun dissented from O' Con

nor 's opinion , they effectively endorsed the principle of an investigation int

o complaints about public-employee speech . Scalia , Kennedy and Thomas countere

d that employers should be able to fire workers unless the action is in retaliat

ion for some constitutionally protected speech . Scalia mocked O' Connor 's appr

oach as `` strange jurisprudence indeed , '' conflicting with employers ' legiti

mate prerogatives . `` In the present case , for example , if ( it were discover

ed ) that nurse Churchill had not been demeaning her superiors , but had been co

mplaining about the perennial end-of-season slump of the Chicago Cubs , her dism

issal , erroneous as it was , would have been perfectly OK , '' Scalia said . Th

e court sent Churchill 's case back to a lower court , saying it should resolve 

whether she was fired because of her statements in the cafeteria or because of s

omething else . It noted that Churchill alleged that management was hostile to h

er because of earlier criticism .

 Fox Inc. 's new general entertainment cable network , fX , will be launched Wed

nesday morning at 6:30 with the debut of `` Breakfast Time , '' which , a spokes

woman said , will be 2 hours of `` very fast-paced entertainment . '' fX apparen

tly is not going to be one of those Fox efforts aimed at the big city young . Sp

okeswoman Ellen Cooper said Tuesday that `` fX is definitely seeking adult audie

nces , '' the solid 18-to-49 demographic groups .

 WASHINGTON Rep. Sam Gibbons , D-Fla. , took command Tuesday of a House Ways and

 Means Committee shaken by the multi-count indictment of its longtime chairman ,

 Rep. Dan Rostenkowski , D-Ill. , and immediately ordered the staff to continue 

working on a health care bill that would expand Medicare to cover millions of un

insured Americans . In a phone call from Normandy , where he is attending ceremo

nies marking the 50th anniversary of D-Day , Gibbons told committee aides to pre

pare a `` chairman 's mark '' or first draft using the subcommittee-approved Med

icare expansion bill that so far has failed to win enough Democratic votes to cl

ear the full committee . Rostenkowski , who was forced because of his indictment

 to step aside , also was using that measure as his starting point , but even Wh

ite House officials had been uncertain whether Gibbons might have an alternative

 approach in mind . In the past , Gibbons has supported a single-payer Canadian 

style system that has been rejected by the administration . Under House Democrat

ic caucus rules , the 74-year-old Tampa legislator , who parachuted into France 

on D-Day , becomes acting chairman of Ways and Means unless 50 Democrats file a 

petition challenging him . No sign of such a revolt appeared Tuesday and senior 

Democrats said they expected Gibbons to go unchallenged . Rostenkowski , who rej

ected plea bargaining , will remain a member of the committee , but its members 

said they were uncertain how much influence he will retain . Some spoke of a vir

tual division of labor between Gibbons and Rostenkowski while others predicted t

he Floridian , who even before Rostenkowski 's indictment publicly expressed his

 eagerness to take over , will reject any notion of power-sharing . Senior White

 House aides said Tuesday night they had not talked to Gibbons and were uncertai

n of his plans . But in the telephone interview Tuesday , Gibbons said his start

ing point for committee deliberations when Congress returns next week will be th

e bill drafted by Rep. Fortney `` Pete '' Stark , D-Fla. , and reported from Sta

rk 's Ways and Means health subcommittee on a shaky 6-5 vote last month . Commit

tee sources and White House aides said Rostenkowski had found himself at least o

ne vote short of the necessary 20 votes to move some variant of the Stark bill t

o the floor , because at least five of the 24 committee Democrats were refusing 

to support the big expansion in Medicare rolls . Gibbons said Tuesday that he fa

vors requiring employers to help pay for their workers ' health insurance becaus

e it would make the system `` fairer . '' These employer mandates have been one 

of the most controversial parts of President Clinton 's plan . Gibbons said he d

id not know how much taxes he might have to raise and what kind of taxes to use 

because the committee is still waiting for financial projections from the Congre

ssional Budget Office . Rostenkowski had said he was facing a $ 50 billion gap ,

 but the White House has balked at imposing any broad taxes . Gibbons , rejectin

g the administration argument that an employer mandate differs from a tax , said

 , `` Ultimately , all those costs come out of the cash pay of the employees . '

' Gibbons said he does not think the federal government needs to mandate partici

pation in alliances , the health care purchasing cooperatives that are central t

o Clinton 's health plan . States should be allowed to decide the role of the al

liances , as the subcommittee 's version of the bill proposes , he said . In the

 past , Gibbons has expressed strong skepticism about the cost-saving potential 

of managed competition , which seeks to control costs through competition among 

private insurers . The direct cost controls included in the subcommittee bill ma

ke him more confident that managed competition would reduce spending on health c

are , Gibbons said Tuesday . Gibbons said he favors including coverage of aborti

ons `` in all cases '' in the standard package of health benefits that insurers 

would be required to provide . On that issue , he appears to have changed his th

inking since an interview with The Washington Post last September , when he said

 , `` I do not want to pick up the abortion bills in health care . '' Unlike Ros

tenkowski , Gibbons has not had a long or close relationship with Clinton . `` H

e calls me Sam , but so do a lot of other people . He recognizes me and calls me

 Sam , '' Gibbons said last September . `` I don't have any qualms about me bein

g able to lead , '' Gibbon said . `` I 've been a leader all my life in the Boy 

Scouts and ROTC and the army . And I 've been successfully elected for e had so 

many opponents I can't even name them all or count them all . '' Democrats and R

epublicans on Ways and Means expressed confidence in Gibbons ' leadership while 

acknowledging that the loss of Rostenkowski 's chairmanship makes a difficult le

gislative task even tougher . `` The hill got a lot steeper , '' said Rep. Mike 

Kopetski , D-Ore . In private comments , several Ways and Means Democrats said t

hat Gibbons ' brusqueness , what one called his `` eruptions '' of anger , contr

asted unfavorably with Rostenkowski 's discipline and doggedness . Some also sai

d they had been offended by Gibbons ' blunt dismissal of Rostenkowski , with com

ments like `` the graveyard is full of `` indispensable ' people . '' `` Directn

ess is a part of my character , '' Gibbons said Tuesday . `` If it is abrasive t

o anyone , I would certainly seriously consider modifying it . '' Rep. Mike Andr

ews , D-Tex. , said , `` No personality is bigger than an issue , and this is th

e largest issue most of us on the committee have ever faced . '' Rep. Barbara B 

. Kennelly , D-Conn. , said , `` After all these years , Mr. Gibbons is finally 

in the chairmanship , and he will want to demonstrate he can get a bill out . ''

 Like others , Kennelly said she was uncertain about the new relationship betwee

n Rostenkowski and Gibbons in his new role as acting chairman . But she noted th

at Rostenkowski was more sympathetic than Gibbons to the managed competition app

roach suggested by Clinton , which relies in part on market forces to control co

sts and aid health care consumers .

 CAIRO , Egypt A group of Saudi dissidents seeking to transform what they call a

 tyrannical Saudi government into a `` true '' Islamic state have set up shop in

 London , charging they were forced into exile by repression at home . The Commi

ttee for the Defense of Legitimate Rights represents the first time in recent me

mory that dissidents from within Saudi Arabia 's Sunni Muslim majority have star

ted activities abroad . Although there is no evidence they have broad support wi

thin the kingdom , their activities could prove embarrassing to the secretive Sa

udi monarchy , which tries to keep its rifts behind closed doors and prides itse

lf on religious orthodoxy and its role as custodian of Islam 's holiest shrines 

at Mecca and Medina . Only six months ago , King Fahd reached a deal with exiled

 leaders of the country 's 15 percent Shiite Muslim minority under which they ha

lted anti-government activities from London and Washington in exchange for incre

ased civil liberties at home and promises to address Shiite complaints of discri

mination . Since opening its London office in April , the Sunni dissident group 

has kept up a steady stream of faxes to news agencies that have accused the gove

rnment , among other things , of following `` confused and irrational '' foreign

 policies and of `` lavish spending .. . in support of oppression and tyranny . 

'' `` This is a fake Islamic government , '' said committee spokesman Muhammad M

asaari , a former physics professor . The group was banned by Saudi authorities 

shortly after its establishment in Riyadh last year , and most observers say its

 chances of attracting wide support at home are blunted by the pervasiveness of 

the Saudi welfare state and a web of business partnerships that link the royal f

amily to the country 's elite . `` I don't think this group has done enough conc

eptual work to offer ideas and make themselves acceptable to outsiders , '' said

 a Saudi analyst . Although they are demanding more accountability from Saudi ru

lers , `` their ideas on some social issues , such as women , are more orthodox