doc_text: Rep. Larry Combest, R-Texas, issued a terse statement Tuesday supporting Defense-Secretary designate John Tower but refused to comment on a published report that he told Senate Armed Services Committee leaders that Tower used to drink up to a bottle of scotch at a sitting.
  An unidentified congressional source told The Washington Post that Combest's statement about Tower's drinking habits in the 1970s came down on Sen. Sam Nunn, the committee chairman, "like a ton of bricks" and was a factor in Nunn's opposition to the nomination.
  The newspaper reported that Combest later gave a different story to the FBI, saying that Tower and a group of friends _ not Tower alone _ had frequently consumed a bottle of scotch.
  After meeting with staff and advisers, Combest, who worked for then-Sen. Tower in the 1970s, issued a two-sentence statement supporting his fellow Texan.
  "As a member of Congress, I have tremendous respect and full confidence in the senator and his abilities to lead this country's armed forces.
  In my judgment, John Tower will be a superb secretary of defense," the statement said.
  Combest spokesman Rich Adams refused to comment further, and said Combest was not available to speak to reporters.
  The Washington Post reported that Combest described for Nunn and Sen. John W. Warner of Virginia, the ranking Republican on the committee, Tower's heavy drinking bouts in the 1970s.
  A congressional source was quoted as saying that Combest told the senators that Tower would drink as much as a full bottle of scotch two or three times a week.
  Trudi Boyd, Combest's administrative assistant, told the Post that Combest originally went to Nunn and Warner to tell them Tower had ended his previous excessive abuse of alcohol.
  Boyd also told the Post that a "group of people" drank the entire bottle of scotch, not Tower alone.
  That was the account Combest gave the FBI following his talk with Nunn and Warner, the newspaper said.
  It said that in that account, Combest said that he had only seen Tower drunk on two or three occasions.
  Tower has acknowledged that he drank excessively in the 1970s, but says he has reduced his intake to wine with dinner.
  On Sunday, he promised to not drink a drop of alcohol if confirmed as defense secretary.
  Combest, 43, worked for Tower for seven years, 1971-1978, as a legislative assistant handling agricultural legislation and policy.
  Tower served in the Senate for 24 years, deciding not to seek re-election in 1984.
  He was chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee from 1981 through 1984.
  The committee, now controlled by Democrats, voted 11-9 along party lines last Thursday to recommend the full Senate reject Tower's nomination.
summary_text: Representative Larry Combest supports his former boss, John Tower, for Defense Secretary but declined to comment on a published report that Tower would drink a bottle of scotch at a sitting.
  An unnamed source stated that Combest once said Tower would drink as much as a full bottle of scotch two or three times a week.
  Tower has acknowledged that he drank excessively during the 1970s but now drinks only wine with dinner and if confirmed as defense secretary would not drink a drop of alcohol.
  The Senate Armed Services Committee, controlled by Democrats, voted 11-9 recommending that the full Senate reject Tower=B9s nomination.