🚀 go-pugleaf

[ Article crossposted from alt.current-events.clinton.whitewater ]
[ Author was Edward W. Zehr ]
[ Posted on 11 Feb 1995 03:15:24 -0600 ]

ALTERNATIVE MEDIA REVIEW, 2:6, February 11, 1995
_____________________________________________________________
___________________________SELECTED__________________________
  _    _   ____     __     ____     _      _   _    _   ____ 
 | |  | | |  __|   /  \   |  _ \   | |    | | | \  | | |  __|
 | |__| | | |_    / /\ \  | | \ \  | |    | | |  \ | | | |_  
 |  __  | |  _|  / ____ \ | |  \ \ | |    | | |   \| | |  _| 
 | |  | | | |   /_/    \_\| |  / / | |    | | | |\   | | |   
 | |  | | | |__   ______  | |_/ /  | |__  | | | | \  | | |__ 
 |_|  |_| |____| |______| |____/   |____| |_| |_|  \_| |____|
_____________________________________________________________
_________________________NEWS IN BRIEF_______________________

       D'AMATO SEEKS RECORDS OF BROWN'S DEFAULTED LOANS

Michael Hedges and Jerry Seper reveal in Thursday's Washington
Times that the Chairman of the Senate banking committee, Alfonse
D'Amato has requested documents "detailing questionable business
transactions by Commerce Secretary Ron Brown and a business
partner."

In a letter sent to the RTC and the FDIC, D'Amato asked for
information about companies owned by Brown and his business partner
Yolanda Hill as well as details regarding her dealings with
defaulted loans to financial institutions insured by the federal
government.

RTC spokesman Steve Katsanos commented, "As the committee with
oversight responsibility for the RTC, they have broad latitude as
to what they can request to look at." We will try to respond as
expeditiously as possible. The FDIC responded in a similar manner.

The Chairman's inquiry centers on the First International Limited
Partnership, a company owned jointly by Hill and Brown in which
Brown subsequently sold his stake to Hill for $400,000. Brown has
acknowledged that he had invested no money in the partnership. 

Sen. D'Amato is also seeking records on Corridor Broadcasting, a
company that provided most of First International's income, in the
form of a $12,000 monthly payment. While making the payments,
Corridor was in the process of defaulting on $40 million made to it
by thrifts in Texas and New Mexico. The loans were federally
insured.

Another item in Sen. D'Amato's letter relates  to an investigation
conducted by the inspector general of the FDIC into an $87,000 loan
to Mr. Brown from the National Bank of Washington. When the bank
failed, after making the loan, the FDIC took it over and
subsequently turned it over to a Connecticut firm foe collection.
Miss Hill then took over the loan in circumstances described as
"suspicious" by congressional investigators, and released Mr. Brown
from his obligation to repay the loan.

As a result of the inquiries, the Justice Department's criminal
division is now investigation Mr. Brown's financial activities. 


Secretary Brown has denied all allegations of wrongdoing, and
President Clinton has stated publicly that he has "a great deal of
confidence" in his Secretary of Commerce.
                         ______________

                 TYSON FOODS PROTEST ESPY PROBE

Independent counsel Donald Smaltz's investigation of Tyson Food's
relationship with the resigned Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy was
the reason for visits by Tyson lobbyist Archie Schaffer III to
several congressional offices last week. One official described the
visits as "Tyson lobbying Congress about an investigation into
whether they were lobbying illegally."

According to John Preyer, an aide to Sen. Lauch Faircloth (R-NC),
"From the moment we sat down, Archie Schaffer began a detailed
criticism of the independent counsel and the investigation of
Tyson. It floored us."

Preyer explained that Tyson Foods has chicken processing plants in
North Carolina, and the staff agreed to meet with Schaffer on the
assumption that he wanted to "talk about some regulatory matter
affecting workers" there. 

Mr. Schaffer denied that he was lobbying, but said that he
expressed "our concern over the Smaltz witch hunt or whatever you
want to call it," however, an attorney for Public Citizen's
Congress Watch, Bob Schiff, described the contacts as, "asking
members of Congress to intervene in what is potentially a criminal
matter...An investigation by an independent counsel ought to be
hands off as far as political pressure goes."

Tyson Foods, a company with headquarters in Arkansas, has been one
of Bill Clinton's major financial backers for a number of years.
Tyson attorney James Blair advised Hillary Clinton in her
commodities trades that netted her a 10,000 percent profit in less
than a year. 

Clinton's Secretary of Agriculture Mike Espy resigned at the end of
last year after acknowledging that he had "carelessly" accepted
gifts and other considerations from Tyson. Smaltz has recently been
investigating whether Tyson improperly influenced the USDA to
ignore regulations that would have been disadvantageous to the
company.
                          _____________

       NICHOLS NAMES SOURCE OF GOP PRESSURE ON TELEGRAPH

Larry Nichols, interviewed by Mike Reagan on February 10,
identified the high-ranking Republican who contacted the management
of The London Telegraph and asked that Ambrose Evans-Pritchard be
withdrawn from the Mena story as Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas, the
Senate Majority Leader.

Speculation varies as to why Republicans want the Telegraph to stop
covering the Mena story. One theory is that the GOP would rather
run against Clinton than force his resignation, given indications
of the president's sagging popularity. Some consider this to be a
cover story, however. It is widely believed that Republican
officials of the previous two administrations were involved in
illegal activity related to the covert operation to re-supply the
Contras, and that this included drug-running out of Mena, Ark. 

Michael Reagan, the son of former President Ronald Reagan, has
suggested that some officials in his father's administration
betrayed his trust by involving themselves in illegal activity,
although he was not specific about the nature of the activity.