WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission said last week it will not relocate to the Portals unless building security is beefed up. The issue adds a new wrinkle to a controversy that has mushroomed into a full-blown congressional investigation of whether President Clinton’s 1996 campaign manager received an illegal $1 million kickback for helping a developer with ties to Vice President Gore secure a 20-year, $400 million federal lease.
FCC Managing Director Andrew Fishel raised objections about Portals security in a Jan. 26 letter to Nelson Alcade, regional administrator for the General Services Administration. GSA is the federal government’s leasing agent. The FCC declined to release the letter.
“I think the commission’s position is the security of FCC employees is first and foremost,” said Liz Rose, FCC spokeswoman.
Bill Bearden, a GSA spokesman said, “We have been working with the FCC and will continue working with the FCC.” Bearden questioned why the FCC went public with its complaint instead of trying to work out the problem with GSA. FCC officials, according to Rose, were alerted to the problem by the Jan. 5 supplemental lease between the Portals and GSA.
Rose said the two parties, without the FCC’s knowledge, agreed to provisions that permit unfettered access to the main Portals building and to its parking garage. The FCC previously told GSA it wants security for both, according to Rose.
In the aftermath of the Oklahoma City federal building bombing in 1993, security at the FCC and other government agencies has been improved. Today, visitors to the commission must pass through a metal detector and have their belongings X-rayed.
It is speculated that Portals security may not be as tight as the FCC desires because developers want to put restaurants and retail shops in the complex. Unlike its current headquarters in busy downtown Washington, D.C., the Portals is somewhat isolated from restaurants, retail outlets and law firms.
The FCC, under a 1994 court order, is scheduled to begin moving into the Portals in May.
Meanwhile, the House Commerce Committee’s probe of the Portals lease continues.
