WASHINGTON-A conservative watchdog group convinced a federal judge to force the Commerce Department to turn over documents of former Secretary Ron Brown in connection with allegations that trade missions-some with telecom executives along-were designed to cultivate Democratic Party fund raising.
The Oct. 18 court order, combined with recent reports of questionable contributions to the Democratic Party from Asian entities, reignites a controversy that dogged Brown in life and haunts him in death.
Brown and 34 others were killed April 3 in a plane crash in Croatia during a trade mission to the Balkans.
The Commerce trade flap may not be an isolated event but rather part of a larger, intricately woven web of political and business activities involving former and present administration officials.
Larry Klayman, head of Judicial Watch, said that after reviewing documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, he and his associates were struck by an absence of papers written by or to Brown.
“We found out that Ron Brown’s inner office was never searched,” said Klayman. “Now how is it that that was off limits?”
Klayman last week got the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to order John Huang, a former Commerce official under Brown who now works for the Democratic National Committee, to be deposed by Judicial Watch in connection with a $450,000 donation to the Democratic Party by an Indonesian couple due to their relation to one of the firms represented on the China mission.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has asked Attorney General Janet Reno to appoint an independent counsel to look into the matter.
Judicial Watch points to “smoking gun documents” it claims injected the subject of campaign contributions into the selection process for trade trips headed by Brown.
One is a Sept. 29, 199, letter from Philip Verveer, a former undergraduate classmate of President Clinton’s at Georgetown University and counsel to the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, sent to the Commerce Department seeking a ticket for Cellular Communications International Inc. Chief Executive Officer William Ginsburg to a trade mission to India in January 1995.
To make his case, Verveer noted that Ginsberg’s firm held a 50 percent interest in a Delhi cellular license and “was an early financial supporter of the Clinton/Gore campaign and a very generous donor to the party’s 1992 election effort.”
Gerald McGowan, another Clinton classmate who represents wireless clients and contributes to the Democratic Party, was recommended for the India trade trip by Reta Lewis of White House political affairs.
While being a Clinton supporter may not have won Ginsberg or McGowan seats on the U.S. business delegation to India, some telecommunications firms did get the nod on that trade trip and others.
The India trip included Gary Tooker, vice chairman of Motorola Inc., Irwin Jacobs, chairman of Qualcomm Inc., Jack Shaw, chairman of Hughes Network Systems Inc., Richard McCormick, chairman of U S West Inc. and Rajendra Singh, chairman of LCC L.L.C.
Brown’s China trip in late summer 1994 included Sprint Chairman William Esrey, TRW Inc. Chairman Joseph Gorman, Loral Corp. Chairman Bernard Schwartz and Bell Atlantic Corp. Chairman Raymond Smith.
