Newsgroups: talk.politics.misc
From: mfriedma@uucp (Michael Friedman)
Subject: Lawrence Walsh, Ollie North, and soaking the taxpayer
Organization: Oracle Corporation
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 1992 17:45:46 GMT
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I wonder if anyone else saw August 7th's Wall Street Journal?

A suspicious person might think that Iran Contra has been dragging on
this long because Walsh and Gillem enjoy living high on the hog and
that the audits of their office haven't been done because the
Democrats are quite willing to keep them happy as long as they
embarrass Bush.

From the editorial page...

Counsel Oversight

[...]

House Minority Leader Bob Michel recently learned that the General
Accounting Office, Congress's so-called watchdog agency, [Becasue the
Democrats control Congress they also control the GAO - MF] NEVER
conducted a biannual audit of Mr. Walsh's office, which the law as
required since 1987.  The issue is of more than academic interest.
Questions have been raised about how Mr. Walsh has spent some of the
$40 million attributed to his trip to the outer galaxies of the
Iran-Contra Affair.

[...]

Another question is whether Mr. Walsh and his top deputy, Craig
Gilbert, may have violated federal laws or regulations governing their
office's expenditures.

An analysis done by Rep. Gerald Solomon of expense vouchers filed by
Messrs. Walsh and Gillen estimates that they've spent more than
$300,000 in living and travel expenses, which let them commute weekly
to Washington from their hometowns.

[...]

Mr. Gillen lists his "primary work station" as Atlanta, but there is
no independent counsel's office there. GAO rulings going back to 1931
specify that "an employee's work station is the place at which he
expects to spend the major portion of his time."

Rep. John Duncan, a former judge, says Mr. Gillen's unusual
arrangement has let him collect more than $100,000 in living and
travel expenses beyond his legal salary.  Other Members want to know
if either Mr. Gillen or Mr. Walsh has ever filed a District of
Columbia income tax return, since they live more than half the year in
Washington. [...]

Mr. Walsh, who is 80 years old, admitted recently that Mr. Gillen is
"running the office."  He told the Legal Times "I rarely make a
suggestion."  He didn't even show up in court when Caspar Weinberger
was indicted in June.  But he still spends most of his time in
Washington at the taxppayers' expense.  Rep Solomon says Mr. Walsh's
expense vouchers show that during his tenure he's spent a total of
$25,000 for $17 room-service breakfasts at his hotel and an additional
$40,000 for dinners.

Mr. Walsh stays at a suite in the prestigious Watergate Hotel, but he
spends only $95 a night, far less than the $245 dollar coporate rate.
The lowest rate offered any other federal employee on an extended stay
ate the Watergate Hotel is $150 a night.  What appears to be a
celebrity discount for Mr. Walsh may run afoul of ethics rules, which
require that federal employees only accept discounts available to all
employees.  Mr. Walsh's unusual cut-rate deal with the deluxe
Watergate is noteworthy, becasue the most the government will
reimburse him for a hotel is $110 a night. [...] [$40 a night for 180
nights a year is $7,200 a year or $36,000 since 1987.  In comparison,
one of the charges Walsh indicted North on was accepting an illegal
gratuity in the form of a $13,800 security fence.]

[...]



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Newsgroups: talk.politics.misc,comp.misc