Capital Watch -- Gingrich's Book Deal: Complaint Is Filed
Former Rep. Ben Jones, D-Ga., filed an amended ethics complaint against House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., yesterday, alleging new violations of House rules.
Jones charged that even though Gingrich turned down a $4.5 million advance offered by publisher HarperCollins for two books, the speaker is expected to earn in royalties more than "the usual and customary value" for such publications as permitted in House rules.
Gingrich's spokesman, Tony Blankley, dismissed Jones' amended complaint. And Blankley repeated that once the speaker signs a book contract, he will have it reviewed by the ethics committee.
Gingrich's book deal has been controversial because he initially agreed to accept a huge advance even before he had been sworn in as speaker and because he met with media magnate Rupert Murdoch, who controls HarperCollins, shortly before negotiations over the books were concluded.
A legal challenge to Murdoch's television empire is pending before the Federal Communications Commission, and Jones alleges that Gingrich benefited from an unorthodox bidding process for a book deal that "could be deemed to constitute accepting favor or benefits" that might influence how the speaker carries out his official duties.
Newest base-closing list to be shorter, says Perry
When he was defense secretary, Les Aspin said 1995 would be "the mother of all base-closing" years. Since then, the Pentagon and Congress, with competing pressures to cut costs and protect local economies, have geared up for the mother of all fights over how many more installations would be shut down.
Yesterday Defense Secretary William Perry reversed course and announced that the final round of closings "will not be as large as the last one."
Speaking to the nation's mayors, who are in Washington for an annual conference, Perry admitted that, with 70 major facilities already closed, "everything we do from now on is going to be very difficult."
Perry did not provide details. In the last round of closings in 1993, 130 installations, including 31 major bases, were selected for shutdown.
Perry will submit his list of proposed base closings to an independent commission in March. The commission will send its own list to Congress, which must approve or disapprove it without changes.
Teledyne pleads guilty; sold bomb parts to Iraq illegally
One of the nation's major defense contractors pleaded guilty yesterday to criminal-conspiracy charges stemming from its illicit sale of cluster-bomb components to Iraq in the 1980s, the U.S. district attorney in Miami announced.
Teledyne Industries Inc. agreed to pay $13 million in fines and administrative fees. It admitted in a plea agreement with the government that between 1982 and 1989 it shipped more than 120 tons of zirconium to Carlos Cardoen, a Chilean arms manufacturer. Cardoen in turn packed them in thousands of cluster bombs he sold to Iraq.
Zirconium is a metal that acts like an incendiary, and its sale to Chile and Iraq for use in weaponry was illegal. In the agreement, Teledyne admitted that its officials had deliberately misled the Commerce Department in export-license applications by claiming the material was meant for mining and industrial applications.
Teledyne initially had said the government had approved the shipments as part of a covert effort to support Iraq in its eight-year war with Iran. But in yesterday's plea, Teledyne withdrew that claim.
Gingrich says he doesn't want to end public television
House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., said he erred by saying he wanted to eliminate federal funding for public television because his statement "maximized the fear level" and "broke down the dialogue."
In a speech at a dinner in his honor last night, Gingrich said he should have made it clear that he didn't want to end public television, which some conservatives believe is biased toward liberals.
"We're going to have `Sesame Street,' " which he said makes $1 billion a year. "We're going to have `Barney.' "
Gingrich said late last year he wanted to eliminate funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which distributes federal money to public stations and groups.