Favoritism Probed For Late Ambassador Did Democratic Contributions Earn Post, Burial At Arlington?

The Justice Department is investigating whether the Clinton administration did anything improper to aid the late Ambassador M. Larry Lawrence in exchange for his large donations to the Democratic Party, according to documents and interviews.

The matter has been referred to the department’s task force investigating campaign finance irregularities, a federal law enforcement official told The Associated Press on Tuesday on the condition of anonymity.

The same task force is investigating campaign contributions made to President Clinton’s 1996 re-election effort. Lawrence, who owned the landmark Hotel del Coronado near San Diego, and his wife were major Democratic contributors.

The State Department, in a letter obtained by AP, also confirmed there was a Justice Department probe.

Investigators are checking whether Lawrence’s six-figure donations had anything to do with:

His selection as ambassador to Switzerland.

The failure of the State Department and White House, as they reviewed Lawrence’s nomination in 1993, to determine the accuracy of his claim to have served in the Merchant Marine during World War II. Officials have said they found no war record during the review but decided not to pursue it.

His burial in Arlington National Cemetery.

Lawrence, a year after his death, garnered national headlines when the public learned that he had been buried at Arlington National Cemetery, a site usually reserved for veterans and national heroes.

When Republicans in Congress failed to turn up any evidence of Merchant Marine service, Lawrence’s widow had his body exhumed and reburied in San Diego.

Since then, the Coast Guard and the State Department have concluded that Lawrence’s claim of Merchant Marine service was false. Indeed, records show that Lawrence was a full-time student at the same time he had claimed to have been on a ship in the Pacific Ocean.

The chairman of the House Veterans Affairs oversight subcommittee, Rep. Terry Everett, R-Ala., told The Birmingham News last week that he believed the Clinton administration doctored Lawrence’s record so he could be confirmed.

“I suspect that there has either been a cover-up or that somewhere along the line at the State Department or the White House, Mr. Lawrence’s file was sanitized to enable him to become ambassador to Switzerland,” Everett told the paper.

The White House has denied such allegations.

Last week, the State Department’s assistant secretary for legislative affairs, Barbara Larkin, sent a letter to the House Veterans Affairs Committee. In it, she said that the Justice Department and the State Department inspectors general were conducting a criminal investigation into Lawrence’s nomination.

Both the State Department’s inspector general’s office and the Justice Department declined comment. The House panel is conducting its own investigation into the Lawrence nomination.