-Caveat Lector- <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46689-2001Feb8.html> Donations to Torricelli Reimbursed, Two Say By Susan Schmidt Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, February 9, 2001 Page A01 Two former employees of a Texas company run by one of the country's biggest political donors say they were solicited to contribute to Sen. Robert G. Torricelli, then were reimbursed by the company for their donations to the New Jersey Democrat's 1996 campaign. Federal law prohibits contributors from being repaid for donations. The men worked for Hushang Ansary, a former Iranian ambassador to the United States who has given hundreds of thousands of dollars in political donations, mostly to Republicans. Ansary, reached at a resort he owns on the West Indies island of St. Martin, said he asked his senior employees to make contributions after Torricelli called him asking for help. He denied reimbursing the employees for their contributions. The two men and other former employees of IRI International Corp., an oil field equipment maker, said they have been interviewed by the FBI about the donations to Torricelli. They said they did not know whether Torricelli was aware of any alleged reimbursements. Thirteen IRI employees and some of their relatives contributed a total of $50,000 to Torricelli on June 3, 1996, each giving the maximum $2,000 for both the primary and general elections. Torricelli's $9 million campaign to win a Senate seat in 1996 has been under investigation by the Justice Department's campaign finance task force for two years, but the examination of the Ansary donations represents a previously unknown part of the inquiry. Six people in New York and New Jersey have pleaded guilty to arranging straw donations of the sort the former IRI International employees described. The pace of the probe appears to have stepped up, with three former campaign employees receiving letters last month informing them that they are targets of the government's investigation. Robert F. Bauer, an attorney for the Torricelli campaign, said he was unaware of any illegal contributions by IRI employees. He said he did not know the contributions were being examined by the FBI and by the New Jersey grand jury that has been investigating the 1996 campaign. Torricelli has vigorously denied wrongdoing, and his attorneys accused prosecutors this week of an overzealous and "irresponsible attempt" to find a criminal case against the senator and his campaign. The two IRI employees said they were also asked to donate to two other campaigns and were then reimbursed by the company. William Hallerberg of Pampa, Tex., formerly a metallurgist and manager at IRI, said he was reimbursed for contributions to Republican presidential candidate Robert J. Dole and to then-Sen. Alfonse M. D'Amato (R-N.Y.). Thomas Etheredge of Childress, Tex., said he contributed to D'Amato and Dole and was reimbursed. Two other former IRI employees who donated to political campaigns said they did so of their own volition and denied that they were reimbursed. Two others -- one of whom cited the FBI investigation -- declined to comment. Hallerberg said in an interview this week that he was "strongly solicited to write a check and told that, at the end of the year, it would be covered by a bonus." He said the company president at that time, Daniel Moriarty, told him that "the ambassador really likes you -- he likes you enough that he wants you to donate two thousand dollars." Hallerberg said that he didn't mind making the contributions to Dole and D'Amato but that he didn't want to write a check to Torricelli because he regarded the Democrat as too liberal. He added: "I wrote a letter to Ansary, and the letter said I can't bring myself to write him a check. Dan Moriarty intercepted the letter and told me it was in my best interest to tear it up." Hallerberg said he did so and was reimbursed for his donations in a year-end bonus. He said he saved a copy of his letter to Ansary and turned it over to the FBI in October. "The FBI told us they consider us victims, not perpetrators," said Hallerberg. Hallerberg and Etheredge said the FBI focused on Torricelli in the interviews. Hallerberg said an agent seemed surprised to hear of other reimbursed contributions to other candidates. "I think the thrust is Torricelli," said Etheredge. "Their thrust was trying to find out was it coerced or were there strong-arm tactics." Etheredge, a former IRI senior vice president, said: "Senior-level people made contributions. Were asked to do so. Different people felt different degrees of pressure. I didn't feel that, but some may have." However, he said he, too, was reimbursed by the company. Moriarty confirmed that he solicited contributions but said he knows nothing about employees being reimbursed through bonuses or other means. "They could have been reimbursed. I didn't reimburse them," Moriarty said. "There was never any pressure put on these people." Moriarty said he knows nothing about the letter Hallerberg said he wrote protesting the request for Torricelli. Ansary is known primarily for his contributions to Republicans. He has been generous to members of the Bush family, donating to Jeb Bush's 1998 gubernatorial campaign in Florida. He was one of the GOP "Pioneers" who raised $100,000 for George W. Bush's presidential campaign, and he donated $100,000 for the Bush inaugural. Asked why he gave to Torricelli, Ansary said he is asked for contributions by candidates of both parties. "I hardly ever say no to anyone," he said, adding that he is "absolutely unaware of what employees gave. I have absolutely no reason to be pushing Mr. Torricelli or anyone else." Both he and Moriarty said they have not been contacted by the FBI. The Justice Department declined to comment on the investigation. IRI International was sold last year to National Oilwell Inc. ================================================================= Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT FROM THE DESK OF: *Michael Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends ================================================================= <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. 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