Heslin, Meddoff and Tamraz: Fred Thompson Pulls the Plug

Heslin, Meddoff and Tamraz: Fred Thompson Pulls the Plug

Fred Thompson -- fooling the media.
Monday, September 22nd 1997: Sitting bolt upright in the living room of a much too expensive hotel this week, I was stunned at the new clarity with which the Thompson Committee was presenting the sleaze that is Washington yesterday, today and tommorow. Had I overstayed my welcome at this Republican stronghold resort? Was I coming down with GOP-itis from being to close to the first tee at Gleneagles? Or did I actually start to believe the tear-filled but nonetheless cunning rifle-shot wailings of Ms. Heslin, the former NSC staffer who "warned" the White House that Mr. Tamraz should be persona non grata because of his "shady" dealings in the rest of the world.

I mean Thompson was on a roll! In a single week he trotted out Heslin, Meddoff, and Tamraz -- A veritable "Geraldo" of campaign-finance gore. (pardon the pun)

Ms. Heslin all but fingered the President himself last week, and Mr. Tamraz told the Senate Committee that next time he'd double last year's contribution to $600 thousand to gain an even closer proximity to the powers that be -- if only given the chance and the reason.

R. Warren Meddoff R.Warren Meddoff - Waiting for the knock at the door

But the scary star was R. Warren Meddoff, the "mysterious" overstuffed buffoon who led the Committee through a labyrinth of contrivance that made even Thompson cringe more than once-a-minute as Meddoff tried to convince more than a dozen Senators that he was at least as credible as the Road Runner.

But Meddoff was more important than even the Committee realized, because he in fact represents so many pathetic political climbers who, by serendipity, find themselves face to face with a power structure that wouldn't even share a toilet with them under normal circumstances.

Here's the sad story:

Mr. Meddoff, a man who seemed to admit he was nearly bankrupt, wangled himself a deal with another mystery man named "Morgan" -- a Texan -- who was ostensibly trying to unload a few hundred million in Pre World War II German bonds. Meddoff claims that somehow, someone in the U.S. Government -- in cooperation with the Germans ( of course) was standing in Morgan's and therefore Meddoff's way. So Morgan and Meddoff decided they would offer the President $5 million a month, for eleven months, if he would only right this wrong and somehow pave the way for Morgan to cash in on these bonds which he probably purchased for one cent on the dollar -- or one phennig on the mark if you will. Of course it never occurred to Meddoff that the President couldn't do much about it even if he wanted to, nor did it occur to him that Morgan might be working for the FBI in an effort to "sting" people like Meddoff -- something that happens all the time.

Meddoff probably picked up information that one could get close to the President at one of these fundraising dinners held nearly every week during an election year. Most likely he learned that from a motion picture.

Anyway, Meddoff, used his American Express card to charge a ticket to a dinner where the President was to appear. Meddoff did meet the POTUS and was ready. He had neatly written, on the back of one of his business cards, the offer to give the President's campaign at least the first $5 million. He handed the card to the President who happened to glance down at it -- and according to Meddoff -- returned to get another card from him saying "someone would be in touch."

Harold Ickes - a faxing fool?

That someone turned out to be Harold Ickes -- then Bill Clinton's top fundraising guru -- who supposedly called Meddoff from Air Force One to get the ball rolling.

Now stop for a minute and think about the chances of this happening -- let alone the chance that Mr. Clinton would have actually looked at Meddoff's card in the first place. One in 100,000? Here's the President of the United States somewhere in Florida at a relatively low cost rubber chicken dinner. A morbidly obese guy in a cheap suit sidles up to him and slips him a thermograved business card. The President, struck by the six zeros on the back preceded by a "5" runs back to old R. Warren and asks for another card. Then he remembers to give at least one of the cards to Mr. Ickes. Ickes, who at the time is basically running the DNC and White House efforts to get Clinton re-elected takes time to phone Meddoff and also takes time to send him a fax outlining a half dozen non-profits to which Morgan could give the millions and claim a tax deduction in the process!

Then Ickes phones Meddoff back and tells him to shred the fax!

Oops!

But even better than that -- Meddoff HAS the fax -- which he didn't shred because he was such a fine American -- although he seemed to be willing to try and bribe the White House with $55 million.

I don't know what Ickes story is. And I doubt we'll hear it soon, if ever. But I'll bet dollars to donuts that Meddoff won't be looking forward to a brilliant career.

As I watched Meddoff I thought about so many others like him that ply the halls and banquet rooms of Washington trying to buy favors from politicians -- and often succeeding beyond your wildest imaginations. I was sorry for him. He was obviously unstable. He was broke. He was a failure clinging to the thinnest promise of riches from the wispy Morgan who he'd never met and who hadn't paid him a single cent during seven years of their "arrangement." Didn't Meddoff wonder why Morgan picked him to carry the ball? Didn't Meddoff realize that other, more stringently trained lawyers and paid hucksters could have done the job for Morgan and possibly carried it off?

He must have, nearly every waking moment. Greed was his master.

But a quirk of fate gave Meddoff his fifteen minutes of fame before the axe falls. The quirk was Ickes, possibly driven by his own avarice and lack of focus. At some point -- probably when the DNC got fed up -- Meddoff he realized the jig was up. He was exposed for what he was -- a pathetic wanna-be -- trying to bribe a sitting President and getting pretty far with it. Enough to hang himself. Meddoff tried to blackmail the White House. He threatened to expose Ickes' fax.

"Take your best shot, " was the reply.

It's been suggested that Morgan and Meddoff were trying to set up Ickes and the White House. I think that someone was trying to set up Morgan and Meddoff. Whoever it was, it had nothing to do with national politics.

Now Meddoff, if he survives the ordeal, waits for the knock at his door. Was he trying to bribe the President? Sure. That's how he saw the game being played for the last 200 years. Meddoff's problem was that he realized too late that he wasn't allowed to play. He was a second stringer in a varsity sport. The field is reserved for the most sophisticated political athletes.

Mr. Tamraz -- fox in the henhouse?

One thing accomplished by Heslin, Tamraz and Meddoff, was a slapshot wake up call to Thompson that he'd gone too far. His side show threatened to melt down and expose the top of a deep crust of political chicanery and worse that might bring down the system if allowed to continue.

And so, magically, and for no logical reason Thompson pulled the plug, saying his Committee wanted to focus on reform rather than muck.

You bet they do.

The mainstream media is confused. You could see it this past weekend as pundit after pundit wondered aloud what Thompson is up to.

The answer is simple.

The rug has been pulled.