Ickes 5, Republicans Zero

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Harold Ickes - Heavyweight slugger

KO's Thompson, Collins, Domenici, Nickles and Cochran

Thursday, October 9th 1997: No wonder Arlen Specter seemed a bit "subdued" yesterday! -- A Pennsylvania company had just copped a plea in federal court for funneling $129,000 in illegal corporate donations to political candidates and one of them was Arlen himself, who took $5,000 from Empire Sanitary Landfill, laundered through employees of the waste company. Empire was fined $8 million. According to FEC documents, Specter took $1,000 each from five Empire employees in 1995. Our Big Red Face award goes to the Philadelphia King of Pies this day. Empire was lobbying Specter on a trash transportation bill pending in Congress. The biggest beneficiary was the Dole Campaign according to Reuters, but, to be fair, we also found some hefty contributions to the Clinton/Gore and DNC non-federal soft money accounts.

Arlen Specter - taking illegal trash money?

But the real news yesterday was again Harold Ickes, who, during the Senate campaign finance committee oversight hearings, took the Republicans to the woodshed and tanned their hides, embarrassing nearly everyone including New Hampshire buffoon Senator Smith who's rivaled only by Mississippi's Thad Cochran in thickness.

Senator Thompson - wrong again!

Ickes tore into nearly every Republican Senator attempting to discredit him. But, as usual, Fred Thompson looked the biggest fool. Thompson, at the start of the hearings launched into one of his famous "plots" -- this time that a couple of Clinton/Gore - DNC officials had accompanied a union-related "felon" into a private meeting with the President. Thompson, beaming with pride, displayed what's called a Wave list, showing the three entering the White House at the same time -- around noon -- on the fateful day. Thompson repeatedly badgered Ickes about what went on in that meeting. Ickes testified he didn't recall such a meeting. All of a sudden Thompson started stuttering, muttering and spewing some Fredspeak about the "possibility" that he'd been wrong. You bet he was. The three people were only part of a larger group who had joined the President for lunch that day. No secret meeting had been held.

Ickes, through it all, remained a gentleman.

Susan Collins - don't let that sweet smile fool ya.

But Ickes had little patience with the lightweight likes of Senatress Susan Collins, the smiling serpent from Maine. Collins insinuated that Ickes had intervened, with the Department of Interior, against the Hudson Tribe on behalf of a rival and DNC-donating tribe who wanted to deny Hudson a competitive gaming license. The license was denied. Collins tried to make the case that the Hudsons needed a casino because they were so poor. It never seemed to occur to her that perhaps the government had let the tribe down. When Collins said that contributors were able to get access to Democratic political appointees, Ickes replied, "And if you give enough money to Republican senators, you get access, too."

After finishing off Thompson and Collins, Ickes was left with feisty Senator Don Nickles who sees himself as a junior G-Man and part of a tag team with Pete Domenici of New Mexico. Nickles tried to infer that Ickes had shred the now infamous Meddoff memo which Ickes dictated from Air Force One to the obviously imbalanced Warren Meddoff who claimed to be able to funnel between $5 and $55 million to the President -- from a Texas bankrupt millionaire. Nickles, although he had Ickes' hand written notes -- an almost verbatim version of the typed version -- and supplied by Ickes, kept insinuating that he believed Meddoff when the corpulent confessor told the Committee that Ickes had called him and asked him to "shred" the memo which outlined certain pro-Democrat charities that would benefit from Meddoff's partners money. Ickes finally blew up:

Senator Nickles - obstructing himself

Nickles: "There are some documents that disappeared. And obviously, we are talking about obstruction of justice. Mr. Meddoff testified that you informed him to destroy the document. He did not destroy the document. That's the document that we have before us."

Ickes: "If I may, senator, since you are now alleging that there was obstruction of justice ..."

Nickles: "I am trying to find out if there was obstruction of justice ..."

Ickes: "I think you are alleging it. The facts are as follows, senator. I never saw the original of that document, of that memorandum. I don't know where it is, I don't know whether it exists, it certainly is not in my files."

Nickles: "Well, if the White House ..."

Ickes: "If I may, senator, please ..."

Nickles: "Wait a minute, don't take up my 10 minutes. If the White House ..."

Ickes: "Senator, with all due respect ..."

Nickles: "If the White House faxed a document ..."

Ickes: "Mr. Chairman, Mr. Chairman, the senator is alleging obstruction of justice. I think that I should have an opportunity to give a full explanation. I don't take allegations about obstruction of justice lightly, senator."

Nickles asked Ickes if the president's political friends were invited to ride on Air Force One.

"No, we basically invited people we didn't like," Ickes snapped.

The two men also clashed after Nickles said Democrats had "flagrantly" violated the law, and cited John Huang's raising of illegal donations that the Democrats had to return when they couldn't verify the true source of the contributions.

"Nobody is condoning that," Ickes admonished Nickles. "Don't pin that on me. That's a cheap shot, senator."

Ickes also reminded NIckles that he had voted against the McCain/Feingold bill as a capper.

Senator Domenici must have gotten a call from Nancy Reagan late Tuesday after Ickes had offered the Gipper White House as a model for the Clinton campaign effort. Domenici spent his time defending Reagan and chastising Ickes

"I'm upset when you try to equate Ronald Reagan's White House and his people...Is it fair?"

Ickes replied adroit, "Give me $4.5 million and a 100 investigators and let me go through the Reagan record."

Domenici looked like a wounded owl as he stammered in furious frustration, "In my opinion you violated the law when you coordinated labor ads."

Ickes replied, "We did not violate the law. If you don;t like the law, then change the law." He added, "We don't know how much the Christian Coalition on the NRA spent, but labor has to report what it spends.

Domenici, weary from his lack of ability to spar with Ickes, muttered off into the sunset.

This picture of Senator Smith actually comes from his own internet photo album - He's at a Dole rally!

Then came Bob Smith of New Hampshire. A goofus extraordinary. His plot to trap Ickes? -- Count the number of times Harold said "I don't recall." At this suggestion, the press gallery started laughing out loud, and not for the first time, at Smith's ludicrous strategies. So much for Smith's (chuckle) reputed presidential aspirations. Smith actually commented, "Boy the press really does get a kick out of my comments." (He was actually boasting.) and guesed the press thought he was funny. He was right, in a way. Smith also pulled up a memo on one White House coffee that had the words "Fundraise - DNC" written on it by Ickes. Smith, proud that he now had the "smoking gun" questioned Ickes:

"Why did you write "fundraiser?"

"For filing purposes," Ickes responded.

"Answer me!," snapped Smith to the dumfounded Ickes.

The press was again rolling on the floor.

Ickes also tangled with Thad Cochran saying "Are you going to let me answer?, " after Cochran tried to steam roll him time and again over Clinton early-running ad strategies.

Bob Torricelli - A freshman senator proving his value as a sensible alternative.

As usual, Senator Bob Torricelli provided the only wisdom of the day when he called on the Committee to remember who they were dealing with in Ickes, a man who had served the U.S. for nearly all his adult life and who had been a leader for social change. Torricelli also reminded the Committee that Meddoff was an unknown, an extortionist with no credibility and that the Republicans members (specifically Nickles) were trying to give him credibility. He made Nickles look the fool as he challenged the law on obstruction of Justice and bated Republican counsel Madigan to show him case law that would get even close to obstruction in the Nickels scenario. Madigan smiled sheepishly and declined the debate. He knew Torricelli was correct and that Nickles was grandstanding as usual. Torricelli pointed out, that of 1,100 attendees at White House coffees, the committee had found one, and only one "witness" who said he had heard John Huang appeal for money at a coffee. The man happened to be a former employee of Dan Quayle.

And so it went. A rout for Ickes. A continuing defeat for Thompson and his cadre.

Will they ever learn?

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