Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1958-03-19

W VAtC 0ve0k AASJs 4AAoAAA1~@ 49,
Whiteside.
Mr.. Mack's resignation as an
FEC commissioner resulted
largely from subcommittee evil
dence that he accepted numer-
Gus loans from Mr.. Whiteside.
He maintained that he was not
paid or presumed by Mr.. White
side or anyone else for his vote
giving Channel 10 to q National
Airlines subsidiary last year.
Tentative Award Prepared
The House Legislative Over
sight subcommittee seemed
particularly interested in ques-
tioning Mr.. Barber about the
1856 letter and subsequent tele-
phone calls to Mr.. Whiteside.
Members recalled that in late
1866 the FEC commissioners
gave instructions to their tech
nical staff to prepare papers
for q tentative award Of cham
mel 10 to Public Service Tele-
vision, Inc. the National Air
lines subsidiary. The commits
sion's formal decision did not
come until February, 1857.
AS a member of Mr.. White
sides law firm in Miami before
i. going to the FEC with Mr..
Mack in the summer Of 1855.
Mr.. Barber was questioned
closely about his contacts. f.
Iaancial and otherwise, with the
Miami lawyer. Declaring that
he never was asked by Mr..
Whiteside or anyone else to in
tercede in the channel 10 case
and that he had never done so,
Mr.. Barber nevertheless testi-
fed:
/. That at the request of Mr..
Whiteside he held in his own
name a Florida liquor license
from 1858 to 1857. He explained
that the license came with an
old hotel property at DANA
Beach, Fla, acquired by Mr..
Whiteside as a trustee in 1858.
Florida law prohibits the hold
ing of liquor licenses by trustees
Of property. Mr.. Barber testi-
fed that Mr.. Whiteside sold the
property for $4,000 in 1857.
Mr.. Barber added that he him.
self received nothing and that
he merely held the liquor IL
cenSe for Mr.. Whiteside.
Q. That he accepted q 5000
loan from Mr.. Whiteside be-
cause he was short Of funds
when he came to Washington
in 1855. He testified that the
loan has not yet been repaid.
He also said in earlier years Mr..
Whiteside gave him an old
automobile worth about $50
and lent him $50 to helb pay
his law school tuition in 1872
Several Telephone Calls
The subcommittee also
brought out that Mr.. Barber
made several telephone calls
from Mr.. Mack's FEC Office to
Mr.. Whiteside In Miami. Mr..
Barber explained that he did
not know at the time that some
of those calls were being
charged to the Government.
He said he paid for practically
all of them later by giving cash
to Mr.. Mack. He admitted that
this was "a peculiar situation"
and that he did not know
whether Mr.. Mack's FEC office
had a record of them,
The January, 1856, letter
from Mr.. Barber to Mr.. White
side was brought up by Rep
resentative williams, Democrat
Of Mississippi. The portion he
read at the hearing mentioned
that some standard instruc-
tions" were enclosed. He asked
Mr.. Barber whether the now
missing instructions" were
from Mr.. Mack or the FEC and
If they had anything to do with
the channel 10 case.
Mr.. Barber insisted that II
just don't know" But he added
that he was certain the note
did not refer to channel 10.
Heard Of Whiteside's Interest
Under further questioning,
Mr.. Barber declared he had
heard that Mr.. Whiteside was
interested at one time in Pub
lie Service Television getting
Channel 10.
He quoted Mr.. Mack as hav-
ing told him that Mr.. White
side had been requested by an
attorney for National Airhnes
to talk to the commissioner
about the matter. AS for Mr..
Mack, Mr.. Barber said he had
no reason to believe that the
former commissioner was
pledged to vote for Public Serv-
ice.
He said he knew, on the
other hand. that for a long
time Mr.. Mack didn't want to
vote at all on the case but did
so mainly because he believed
the people of Miami should
have another television chan
nel."
Nearing the end of its hear
ings to determine whether inn
proper pressure was used on an
FEC award Of T'V Channel 10
in Miami. the subcommittee
called Mr.. Barber for question:
ing about his relationship to
Mr.. Whiteside during the period
he was with Mr.. Mack at the
FEC. Another scheduled wit
ness, Paul A. Porter, Washing
ton attorney for Col. A. Frank
Katzentine, an unsuccessful
applicant for Channel 10, was
unable to attend today's hear
ing.
Transaction Described
The liquor license transact
ton described by Mr.. Barber
to the subcommittee was criti-
cized as "underhanded" by