N.j. Young G.o.p. National Unit Clash on Probing of ‘rat Finks’

A clash between national and New Jersey State Young Republicans emerged today from an investigation of charges that an ultra-right faction in the state organization was guilty of anti-Semitism and racism.

A three-man national investigating team came to Trenton and held a two-day closed hearing into the charges against the Rat Finks, the extremist faction. Clark Allen, New Jersey Young Republican chairman, twice refused to testify at the hearings, calling them a “whitewash.”

Philip Rich, of Roscoe, 11., one of the three members of the team said the three would have to make another visit here because many of the persons expected to testify were not available. He said that, when the probe was completed, a report would be made to the National Young Republican Federation and to the Republican National Committee. He stated that any Young Republican found guilty of the charges faced expulsion from the Federation. “We want no one who is bigoted, anti-Semitic or racist in any way,” he said.

Mr. Allen, insisting that the state organization will conduct its own probe, announced that William F. Tompkins, a former war crimes prosecutor and deputy attorney general, has been engaged to direct the state Young Republican probe, Mr. Tompkins said he would be assisted by Leonard Feisenberg, one of his former Justice Department aides, and “at least one” former FBI agent. He also said that, because of the size of the assignment and the amount of evidence being collected, he had been given permission to postpone until March 19 the start of the public hearings which will follow his investigation.

The possibility of excommunication of Episcopalians who are members of the Rat Finks was raised today by a warning from Episcopalian Bishop Alfred L. Banyard, whose diocese includes New Jersey’s 14 southern counties. He endorsed a proposal for such excommunication made last week by a Diocesan Committee on Racial Concern.