-Caveat Lector-
December 9, 2000
Clinton Considers Pardons for Milken and Others
By NEIL A. LEWIS and DON VAN NATTA Jr.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 8 � Before he exits the White House next month,
President Clinton might shower pardons on a host of people,
including several Whitewater figures and, most notably, Michael
R. Milken, the convicted former Wall Street financier,
administration officials and others involved in the effort said
today.
Mr. Milken's pardon application has been raised directly with
the president by a major Democratic contributor and Clinton
financial benefactor and has received the most attention in the
White House, officials said.
One senior White House official said Mr. Milken had mounted an
aggressive lobbying campaign emphasizing his record of
philanthropy and had sought help from members of Congress. The
official said the former junk bond champion is "working it" hard.
Mr. Milken pleaded guilty to six counts of securities fraud in
1990, served nearly two years in prison, paid more than $1
billion in fines, penalties and restitution, and was barred from
the securities business for life.
Others in the Clinton administration said one reason the Milken
effort had a strong chance of success was that his application
was supported by Ron Burkle, a California supermarket magnate who
has been among Mr. Clinton's most generous political supporters
and has contributed millions to the Democratic Party. Mr.
Burkle also has pledged to contribute to Mr. Clinton's $135
million presidential library that will be built in Little Rock,
Ark., fund-raisers said.
"Michael has not asked me to follow up on this," Mr. Burkle said
in a brief interview today. "He has not asked me to write a
letter on his behalf. And if he did, I'd do it in a second.
That is consistent with what I know about him. I would be a huge
cheerleader for him, if he asked me to be."
The administration officials said Mr. Burkle has spoken directly
about the matter with Mr. Clinton and has forwarded a copy of
Mr. Milken's pardon application to Bruce R. Lindsey, the
associate White House counsel who usually handles Mr. Clinton's
most sensitive matters.
"Like everything Michael Milken has done in his life, this is
well funded, well organized and hard driven," said one White
House official, who spoke on condition on anonymity.
A spokesman for Mr. Milken, Geoffrey Moore, said that the
subject of a pardon was "something I would not discuss or even
acknowledge there is such an effort."
In recent years, Mr. Milken has contributed millions of dollars
and established his own philanthropic organizations devoted to
cancer research and improving education. Mr. Moore, who is a
senior vice president of Knowledge Universe in Los Angeles, one
of Mr. Milken's ventures, said that Mr. Milken's record of
charitable giving predated his 1990 conviction for securities
fraud. In 1993, shortly after being released from a federal
prison, Mr. Milken was diagnosed with prostate cancer, but he
has enjoyed good health in recent years.
As Mr. Milken has already served his sentence, a pardon would
have the effect of restoring some status and providing some
public recognition of his good works. In addition, he would no
longer be denied the right to vote in many states as a convicted
felon and he would be free to serve on corporate boards. It was
unclear if a presidential pardon would allow Mr. Milken to
re-enter the securities industry.
A president's final days in office have often provided an
especially opportune moment for supplicants to seek clemency.
It is not only the president's final Christmas in office, the
traditional time to issue pardons, but the occupant in the White
House is more likely to withstand any criticism, if any of the
decisions generate controversy, as it comes at the end of his
political career.
President Bush granted Christmas Eve pardons to six Iran-contra
figures, including his former defense secretary, Caspar W.
Weinberger.
Other people who are being considered for pardons by the Clinton
administration are three former associates of Mr. Clinton from
Arkansas, who were convicted of crimes in connection with
investigations of the Clinton administration: Webster Hubbell,
Susan McDougal and Archie Schaffer.
Mr. Hubbell, who was once the No. 3 official in the Justice
Department was convicted for defrauding his Little Rock law firm,
and Ms. McDougal was found guilty of taking part in a fraudulent
scheme to obtain a $300,000 federal loan that was used in part to
pay the debts of the Whitewater Development Company in which she
and her late husband, James B. McDougal, were partners with Mr.
and Mrs. Clinton. She also chose to spend 21 months in jail
rather than answer questions from Kenneth W. Starr, the
Whitewater prosecutor, about what she knew about President
Clinton's Arkansas financial dealings.
Mr. Schaffer, an executive with Tyson Foods, was sentenced in
September to a year in prison for his role in a scheme to
illegally influence Mike Espy, the former agriculture secretary.
One of the more controversial candidates under consideration for
clemency is Leonard Peltier, an Indian activist who was convicted
in April 1977 for the killing of two F.B.I. agents. Mr.
Peltier has proclaimed his innocence, but Louis J. Freeh,
director of the F.B.I., adamantly opposes any clemency extended
to him.
Mr. Milken, whose case has provoked intense discussion inside
the White House, made billions of dollars for himself and others
during the 1980's as the principal architect of the market for
high-yield, or junk, bonds, using them to sponsor huge mergers
and takeovers. But he was eventually convicted of six felony
counts of securities fraud for which he paid the fines and served
22 months of a 10-year sentence.
In 1998, Mr. Milken agreed to pay $47 million to settle a
complaint from the Securities and Exchange Commission that he had
violated an order stemming from his conviction barring him from
the securities industry for life. The commission said that Mr.
Milken violated the 1991 order in serving as an adviser to the
financiers Rupert Murdoch and Ronald O. Perelman.
The interest of Mr. Burkle in Mr. Milken's application was
criticized by advocates of campaign finance reform, who said it
was inappropriate for a political benefactor to endorse a
person's application for a pardon. Fred Wertheimer, president of
Democracy 21, said Mr. Burkle's assistance "raises very serious
and troublesome questions" about the pardon process. "Mr.
Burkle brings with him the appearance of having undue influence
with President Clinton, bought with huge soft money
contributions," Mr. Wertheimer said.
Ari Swiller, a spokesman for Mr. Burkle, said, "We have
supported political candidates for years, and to make any
association between the two is completely unfounded and
baseless."
Mr. Burkle, who heads Yucaipa Management, was one of Mr.
Clinton's original financial benefactors during the 1992
presidential campaign. Since then, the president and Mr. Burkle
have become close friends; the president is often a guest at Mr.
Burkle's estate in Beverly Hills, Calif.
Mr. Burkle and Mr. Milken have known each other since the late
1980's when Mr. Milken's firm, Drexel Burnham Lambert, helped
finance some of Mr. Burkle's supermarket acquisitions.
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Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT
FROM THE DESK OF:
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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