Doe Turns Over Data On Hanford Senate Investigates Possible Political Influence In Contract

Wed., Sept. 10, 1997

Les Blumenthal Scripps-Mcclatchy

The Department of Energy, under threat of a subpoena, has turned over at least 20 boxes of documents to a Senate committee investigating whether political influence was a factor in last summer’s awarding of a $5 billion contract at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.

The volume of documents provides an indication of the breadth of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee investigation into the awarding of the contract to Fluor Daniel, a California company whose former lobbyist, Peter Knight, went on to manage President Clinton’s re-election campaign.

The committee’s request for information focuses on the relationship between Knight and Tom Grumbly, who as a former assistant secretary for environmental management at the Energy Department oversaw the clean-up of Hanford and other sites where highly radioactive wastes are stored.

But the committee’s request also seeks to explore possible links between department officials and key contacts at the White House and Democratic National Committee, according to documents obtained Monday by McClatchy Newspapers.

The committee specifically requested all documents relating to “any meetings or communications regarding political fund-raising or contributions” since 1993 between department officials and these key White House and Democratic Party leaders: Harold Ickes, former White House deputy chief of staff and the re-election campaign’s top White House operative; Bruce Lindsey, special counsel to the president; Don Fowler, former chairman of the Democratic National Committee; Marvin Rosen, the party’s former finance chairman, and Richard Sullivan, the party’s former finance director.

“The Senate Governmental Affairs Committee is conducting an investigation into alleged illegal and improper political fund-raising during the 1996 election,” Donald Bucklin, the committee’s senior counsel, wrote in a letter to the Energy Department. “We believe the department has documents and information relevant to this investigation.”

Jayne Brady, a department spokeswoman, said DOE had already turned over 20 boxes of materials.

“We will fully comply with the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee’s request,” Brady said.

So far, the committee’s investigation of campaign finance irregularities during the 1996 campaign has focused on allegations involving foreign contributions. Last week, three Buddhist nuns testified about a fund-raiser at a temple attended by Vice President Al Gore.

The committee, however, has shown increasing interest in Fluor Daniel and another department contractor with links to Knight, Grumbly and Gore - Molten Metals Technology Inc., of Waltham, Mass.

In addition to the Hanford contract, Fluor Daniel is the prime contractor at the department’s site at Fernald, Ohio. But the Hanford contract is much larger, and just weeks before it was awarded in August 1996, Fluor Daniel contributed $100,000 in so-called soft money to the Democratic National Committee.

The committee’s request to the department for documents came at the same time it was issuing subpoenas in August for Fluor, Fluor Daniel’s parent company, and Knight.

Knight was Gore’s administrative assistant for 12 years when he served in the House and then the Senate. Grumbly served on Gore’s staff at the same time. William Haney, the founder of Molten Metals, is a former Gore staffer.

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