http://www.dallasnews.com/texas_southwest/253910_tape_05tex.html
Bush, Gore advisers testify in tape case
Grand jury looking into leak of debate material
01/05/2001
By Pete Slover / The Dallas Morning News
AUSTIN – Top advisers to Al Gore and George W. Bush took turns telling their
tales of the tape Thursday, testifying to a federal grand jury considering
criminal charges in the leaking of presidential debate material.
Meeting in private, the panel in Austin heard about 30 minutes of testimony
from former U.S. Rep. Tom Downey, D-N.Y., about an Austin-postmarked package
he received Sept. 13, when he was helping Mr. Gore prepare for debates
against Mr. Bush.
The parcel, which Mr. Downey turned over to his lawyer and then the FBI,
contained a Bush debate preparation videotape and other illicitly sent,
classified debate materials.
"He testified as to the chronology that has already been made public" and
was asked to identify copies of the mailed documents, Mr. Downey's attorney,
Marc Miller, said in an interview. Mr. Miller also testified.
The lengthiest testimony, about 90 minutes, came from Bush media consultant
Mark McKinnon. His one-time employee, Juanita Yvette Lozano, 30, is the
focus of the FBI investigation into the mailing.
"I continue to cooperate and look forward to a resolution," said Mr.
McKinnon, whose lawyers have been told he is not a target of the inquiry. "I
continue to maintain hope that her story is true, and will do so until I see
some hard evidence to the contrary."
Prosecutors haven't shown Mr. McKinnon their evidence, and his comments
outside the grand jury reflected a less staunch defense of Ms. Lozano than
in the past, when he has insisted on her innocence, no matter what the
evidence.
Although grand jury testimony is secret, Mr. McKinnon previously has said
that Ms. Lozano, as an office manager, had access to the filched materials
and was a trusted and reliable employee.
Ms. Lozano, whose lawyer did not return a call for comment, was captured on
an Austin post-office security camera mailing a package on Sept. 11. She
told investigators and The Dallas Morning News that the film showed her
returning a pair of Mr. McKinnon's mail-ordered pants to the Gap.
But paperwork from the Gap shows the pants arrived there about a week after
the videotaped mailing, suggesting they were mailed later than Ms. Lozano
said.
At her weekly news briefing Thursday, Attorney General Janet Reno declined
to comment on the status of the investigation, which legal experts say could
result in charges of mail fraud or lying to a federal investigator.
Local Democratic officials in Austin said Thursday that Ms. Lozano is a
precinct chairwoman, elected in the March primary – the same time that Mr.
McKinnon's firm, Maverick Media, was working for the Bush campaign.
The Gore campaign has said it had no role in the mailing.
By state Democratic Party rules, the roughly 8,600 precinct chairs statewide
preside at precinct conventions, where issue platforms are drawn up to be
passed on to county conventions. Under local practices, the chairs also
serve or help select paid poll workers for party primaries.
Travis County Democratic Party Executive Director Eddie Rodriguez said he
was not aware until Thursday that Ms. Lozano was a chairwoman. He said she
ran unopposed and was elected to a two-year term as one of 229 precinct
chairman in Travis County.
Ms. Lozano met Mr. McKinnon a decade ago, when she was a volunteer and he
was a consultant for Ann Richard's Democratic campaign for governor. Since
then, she has worked as a McKinnon family baby sitter and for various
Democratic office holders and government agencies.
Ms. Lozano has apparently not testified to the panel, which began
considering the matter last month.
The CEO of Mr. Downey's lobbying firm, Kathleen McLaughlin, also testified
Thursday. The case is being presented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Raymond N.
Hulser, a Washington-based lawyer specializing in election law prosecutions
for the public integrity section of the Justice Department.
Bush spokesman Dan Bartlett said that as far as he knows, no one from that
campaign has been called to testify. And, he said, there's no early
indication that politics will influence the direction of the probe.
"They're not keeping us in the loop," said Bush spokesman Dan Bartlett. "My
understanding is we have not been formally notified of any of this stuff."
The Dallas Morning News Texas-Southwest.url
