Memo Shows Plan To Help Gore Friend
By Pete Yost
Associated Press Writer
Thursday, June 1, 2000; 3:12 p.m. EDT
WASHINGTON �� Justice Department investigators have uncovered a
memo describing a proposed strategy for Vice President Al Gore to
help a longtime friend and Democratic fund-raiser obtain a $400
million federal contract.
The document's origin is unknown, and Gore says he knows nothing
about it. He also says he never intervened.
The undated three-paragraph memo � it is also unaddressed and
unsigned � suggests that "Gore has called or is ready to call"
then-General Services Administrator Roger Johnson in an attempt
to help developer Franklin Haney and his partners lease a planned
office building to the Federal Communications Commission.
Haney, a longtime Gore supporter who was acquitted last year of
illegal fund-raising charges, eventually negotiated changes in
the lease that were favorable to him and his partners. The FCC
moved into the new 10-story Washington building, called the
Portals, in November 1998.
In a June 1998 interview with prosecutors, Gore said he wasn't
involved in the lease, never saw the memo, never discussed the
matter with Johnson and never was asked to "assist, influence or
intercede in any manner," an FBI summary shows.
"This matter and this specific document have been thoroughly
reviewed by the Justice Department and the FBI," Gore spokeswoman
Melissa Ratcliff said Thursday, adding that Gore had "no
knowledge or involvement in the matter."
Haney's lawyer, Stanley Brand, said Haney doesn't know anything
about the memo, either.
Prosecutors turned the memo over to Congress on April 14 � long
after lawmakers had wrapped up an investigation of the lease.
Justice officials told House investigators last Friday that they
never resolved who wrote it.
House Commerce Committee chairman Tom Bliley, R-Va., on Thursday
asked Attorney General Janet Reno to open a criminal
investigation into why the document wasn't provided earlier.
Prosecutors have declined to tell Bliley who gave them the memo,
citing grand jury secrecy rules. They obtained it under a grand
jury subpoena as part of their investigation.
Under the heading "Gore to Roger Johnson," the memo quotes what
appears to be suggested language Gore could use to press Johnson
on the Portals matter.
"It is time to end the posturing and get the details worked out.
... I would appreciate it if you could work this out within the
next few weeks," the memo says.
In his letter, Bliley said, "Of the 20 or so relevant people the
FBI interviewed on this subject (including Vice President Gore),
not one of them could offer any clues" about the memo's origin.
"It appears that this highly incriminating document must have
been the product of immaculate conception, miraculously appearing
in someone's files," Bliley wrote.
Messages left for Johnson with a lawyer at President Clinton's
legal defense fund, where Johnson is a trustee, were not returned
Wednesday night and Thursday.
The memo suggested a strategy for pushing the Portals deal that
included contacting a top aide to Johnson, Barbara Silbey.
"Let her know that you are also a major player in the
fund-raising arena" and "that Gore has called or is ready to call
Johnson and that he appreciates" Silbey's "help in resolving the
issue," the memo said.
Bliley's letter states that his investigation found that "Mr.
Haney and his politically connected business associates,
including Peter Knight and former Ambassador and Sen. James
Sasser � all of whom have close ties to the vice president � did
in fact make contact with top GSA political appointees,"
including Silbey, about the Portals deal.
The contacts preceded GSA's "decision to agree to several
controversial amendments to the Portals lease sought by Mr.
Haney," the letter stated.
Republicans on the House committee said the lease changes cost
taxpayers millions of dollars in rent for months before
government workers moved into the newly constructed building.
In a statement Thursday, Silbey confirmed there was "a meeting
between GSA and Mr. Haney" but said nothing was amiss.
"There were lawyers present and the meeting was for the entirely
legitimate purpose of discussing Mr. Haney's plans in connection
with the Portals," Silbey said. "Every aspect of government
contracting law was complied with to the fullest."
Haney paid $1.8 million to Sasser and $1 million to Knight in
early 1996 for assisting on the Portals and other real estate
projects. Knight, a lobbyist, served as the campaign manager of
Clinton-Gore '96.
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Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT
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~~~~~~~~ <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends
Shalom, A Salaam Aleikum, and to all, A Good Day.
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