WASHINGTON-The Justice Department’s Portals probe remains in limbo one year after a congressional panel referred a staff report alleging possible criminal violations by close associates of Vice President Gore in connection with a 20-year, $400 million lease for the Federal Communications Commission’s new headquarters.
The House Commerce Committee filed the report with Justice last Dec. 15. Since then, with little explanation, Justice in early January cleared Peter Knight, a lobbyist and Clinton-Gore fund-raiser, of any wrongdoing. Today Knight is raising money for Gore’s 2000 presidential campaign.
“Attorney General [Janet] Reno’s decision … is disturbing but not surprising. It follows an unfortunate pattern at the Clinton Justice Department of turning a blind eye to its legal obligations under the Independent Counsel Law,” said Rep. Thomas Bliley (R-Va.), chairman of the House Commerce Committee, following Justice’s action on Knight earlier this year.
Congressional investigators argued there was compelling evidence that Knight and others got huge bonuses-as much as $1 million-for securing a favorable lease to house the FCC in the Portals. Such payments for federal leases are illegal.
Some in Congress, like House Commerce appropriations subcommittee Chairman Harold Rogers (R-Ky.) say the FCC-Portals lease is a terrible deal for American taxpayers.
Justice earlier this year also exonerated Franklin Haney, another close Gore friend and a Tennessee developer who paid Knight and others for helping him land the Portals contract. Haney had been charged with violating campaign finance laws.
Knight claims the $1 million he received from Haney covered a variety of projects.
Justice has said nothing for the past 12 months about two other Portals lobbyists who received hefty payments from Haney. That has fueled suspicion on Capitol Hill about whether Reno is taking the Portals investigation seriously.
The Commerce Committee said James Sasser, until recently U.S. ambassador to China and a former senator from Tennessee, received $1 million from Haney for Portals work.
John Wagster, who served as staff director for Sasser during his Senate days, is said by the Commerce Committee to have been paid $500,000 by Haney on the Portals project.
“It is still a pending matter,” said John Russell, a Justice spokesman. He said the Portals probe is being handled by the department’s public integrity section. Russell said he did not know how many attorneys were assigned to the Portals case.
