The Flanigan Affair

...Flamgan took the stand after Eagleton finished He had no prepared statement, and his ad-libbed comments were articulate and unhesitating In most instances he simply disputed the charges, in some he admitted doing approximately what he was accused of, but insisted his actions were proper In the case of Dr Farkas, he conceded recommending that Kaimbach see her since, as a wealthy Nixon supporter who wanted an overseas post, she was "a good prospect " Nonetheless, Flamgan was adamant that Kalmbach's memory was wrong and no deal had been made "Do you flatly deny if...

...Nixon's convicted former personal attorney, to Albert Jenner, the impeachment inquiry's minority counsel Kalmbach said Flamgan told him, "Herb, we would like to have you contact a Dr Ruth Farkas in New York She is interested in giving $250,000 for Costa Rica" Kaimbach reported that when he met her over lunch, she said, "You know, well, I am interested in Europe, I think, and isn't $250,000 an awful lot of money for Costa Rica''" Twice before Dr Farkas had been in line for an embassy, but her nomination was withheld because of a grand jury investigation of allegedly illegal campaign contributions by the family business, Alexander's Inc This time she gave $300,000 and was made Ambassador to Luxembourg shortly after the 1972 election "Are we to conclude from this," Senator George McGovern (D-SD), a Foreign Relations Committee member, asked, "that Luxembourg is worth $50,000 more than Costa Rica...

...McGovern asked "Yes, sir, I flatly deny it," he replied As part of his defense, Flamgan brought up two other Ambassadors, J Fife Symington and Vincent de Roulet, who Kaimbach had said offered '72 campaign contnbutions in return for promotions to more desirable embassies Because they ultimately could not be given the countries they sought, Kaimbach had recounted, the money was returned Flamgan, however, insisted the contributions were refunded because Kaimbach had not been given the authority to make the commitments Furthermore, Flamgan said he took the matter to Haldeman, who agreed with him that the embassies could not be delivered (apparently one or both of the donors were adjudged incompetent) That was as lar as the testimony before the Foreign Relations Committee went But additional unreleased documents in the possession ot the House Judiciary Committee tell a rather different tale ?Letter from Symington to Flan-lgan, dated October 12, 1971 "Pursuant to our understanding when we talked in your office September 4, I am enclosing herewith my letter of resignation to the President Many thanks for your continued interest in my efforts to serve the President I know I am fortunate that you are helping my cause " ?Letter to Symington from Haldeman, dated October 26, 1971 "I trust that you and Pete are working things out" ?Letter from Symington to Haldeman, dated November 13, 1971 "I feel sure that Pete will work things out in accordance with Herb's commitment to me " After Flamgan finished his testimony before the Foreign Relations Committee, Chairman J William Fulbnght (D -Ark ) invited Eagle-ton to take the empty seat beside the nominee to make his concluding points "I prefer to be alone," the Senator said bitterly, and Flamgan vacated his seat With visible anger, Eagleton told the committee that approving the nomination "would demean the Senate of the United States " He said Flamgan had demonstrated what a prosecutor would call a ' pattern of practice" of wrong-doing It might be excusable, he allowed, "if it had been only one incident in which he had extra-curncularly stuck his nose into bureaus and agencies, but he stuck his nose into practically everything in government" Exactly one week later the committee met behind closed doors and decided, in the words of one senator who was present, that "we ought to have additional facts before we go ahead There was a general reluctance about voting for somebody when all the facts had not been brought out " Due to a peculiar parliamentary situation, that nondecision came within a hair of being the last word on the Flamgan affair Congress was slated to take a 33-day election break, and Senate rules prohibit a nomination standing during a recess of over 30 days Thus Ford would have been faced with the necessity of renominating Flamgan if he still wanted him to go to Madrid In a breakfast meeting with reporters, Michigan Senator Robert Griffin, the GOP whip, gave a clue to how his friend the President felt about the situation "I think it will serve everybody's interest if it is not resubmitted It was an unfortunate nomination ' But then Congress became entangled in the issue of cutting off military aid to Turkey (another fight led by Eagleton) and decided to curtail its recess in order to try and override Ford's veto Unless the Flamgan nomination is withdrawn, therefore, it will remain on the Foreign Relations Committee calendar after the break The betting here is that Flamgan will never be confirmed as Ambassador to Spain, or as anything else for that matter Still, he is reported to be campaigning hard for support on the Hill Most committee members are wary of the whole controversy and just wish it would quietly go away Had they done their homework before the hearings?even Eagleton's indictment was little more than a paste-up of old press reports—many knowledgeable Washingtonians feel they would have come up with the conclusive evidence they needed to settle the question As it now stands, the senators seem to be waiting, once again, tor the Executive to take the initiative...

...Washington-USA THE FLANIGAN AFFAIR BY WALTER R GORDON Washington The capital's cognoscenti?the politicians, lobbyists and reporters who know the news that isn't fit to print—had been aware of Peter Flamgan ever since the notorious "Mr Fixit" came to the White House in 1969, but the public at large did not really find out about him until March 2, 1972 That was the first day of the controversial ITT hearings, when Senator Edward M Kennedy (D -Mass ) repeatedly demanded to know who had arranged for a crucial report justifying the giant conglomerate's voracious appetite Finally the witness, former Assistant Attorney General Richard W McLaren, conceded, "probably Peter Flamgan " "Oh shit," Nina Totenberg, an aggressive young reporter sitting next to me at the crowded press table, exploded in a voice loud enough to be heard throughout the chamber For a long moment the hearing was suspended as the room broke up into cynical guffaws and astonished gasps Nearly everyone present knew the significance of McLaren's admission This was the big time Flamgan was the man Ralph Nader had called a 'mmi-President," a millionaire Wall Street investment banker who kept his millionaire friends corralled for Richard Nixon His name would come to be hnked With more high-level White House high jinks (Time magazine called them Flamgan's shenamgans) than almost any other senior official m Washington For the next month the Flamgan connection was front-page news across the nation Yet despite being at the center of the scandal that many have called the prelude to Watergate, he emerged miraculously unscathed from the ITT affair, as well as from a seemingly endless series of lesser imbroglios He continued his deft behind-the-scenes operations for another two and a half years, untouched by Watergate, impeachment or resignation He remained so clean, in fact, that President Gerald Ford and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger saw fit last month to nominate him for the exceedingly delicate diplomatic post of Ambassador to Spam The nomination, however, has met considerable opposititon at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where the extraordinary public career of Peter Magnus Flamgan may well die of inaction For his hitherto irresistible force appears to have run smack into an immovable object—namely, Thomas Eagleton, the liberal Missouri Democrat who has been after the Flamgan hide for years Back m the spring of 1972, before Eagleton's ill-fated stint as a Vice Presidential candidate, he delivered a speech on the Senate floor calling the White House aide "the real missing witness'' in the ITT affair and lambasting him as "a man who works in the shadows—but only at the highest levels, only with the fattest cats' When Flamgan learned Eagleton was planning that speech, he asked Senator Norns Cotton (R -N H ) to deliver a rebuttal Considerately, Flamgan provided Cotton with a text, cautiously, he positioned two aides in the gallery with copies to insure it was delivered precisely as it had been ghosted A few days ago Bryan Atwood, Eagleton's legislative assistant, discussed the background of the SenWalter R Gordon, a former mem-bet of the Baltimore Sun's Waslvng-ton bureau, is now freelancing ator's current controntation with Flamgan The first clashes between them occurred in late '71 and early '72 when Eagleton was sitting in as chairman of a Public Works subcommittee The panel was told of several instances where the White House aide had intervened to block or vitiate actions of the Environmental Protection Agency "He was appalled that Flamgan seemed to be interfering with the EPA,' At-wood said "At the time no one dared to take on Flamgan directly He was a very influential man Many people were simply fearful It was not without risk " Except for a casual encounter at a cocktail party given by lack Valenti, a former aide to President Johnson, the two adversaries did not meet again until this month But Eagleton continued to follow Flamgan's career and he did not like what he saw When Ford made the ambassadorial nomination, the Senator reacted immediately He placed a detailed recitation ot Flamgan's escapades m the Concessional Record and demanded that the appointment be blocked Notwithstanding the post-Watergate atmosphere, Flamgan chose to fight back "It is at his request that hearings are being held," Senator Charles Percy (R -111 ) noted "He could have had the nomination withdrawn " On October 2 the Foreign Relations Committee assembled in the ornate, half-empty Senate hearing room, with Eagleton at the witness table and Flamgan seated just behind him "There hadn't been a bout like it since lohn L Sullivan went 21 rounds with Gentleman Iim Corbett m 1892," Tom Dowling would later write in the Washington Star-News The two men provided a fascinating study Both are handsome descendants of self-made Irish immigrants (Flamgan senior began as a dry goods store proprietor and ended up running the nation's fifth largest bank, Eagleton's grandfather worked on a railroad and his father became a lawyer) They even have a Missouri connection through Flan-igan's mother, a Busch of the St Louis brewery family Both are also highly intelligent and almost manic-ally ambitious for power and success And they are known as men of charm and grace who can suddenly turn aggressive and abrasive But the two look at the world from opposite poles Flamgan is cool and precise—he never seems to fidget or raise his voice—a backroom operator, manipulator, controller Eagleton is nervous, intense, emotional, a user of extravagant language who does not try to disguise his passions and who depends more on argument than covert deals to win a point At the hearings Eagleton, a one-time Missouri attorney general, presented the prosecution's case a 19-page statement alleging 11 incidents of misconduct, ranging from improperly helping businessmen to pressuring regulatory agencies, from selling ambassadorships to engaging in conflicts of interest One charge he omitted, although he is known to feel strongly about it, is that Flamgan, working in cahoots with Charles Colson—who spent four years m the Nixon White House and is now serving 1-3 years in Federal prison—gave Life magazine a fraudulent preelection story about a conflict of interest involving former Senator Joseph Tydings, then worked behind the scenes to delay official denial of the story until after the Maryland Democrat's defeat in the very close 1970 race Nor did Eagleton bring up Flamgan's relations with the Food and Drug Administration, a matter I stumbled upon while investigating an unrelated subject A Washington reporter runs across Flamgan's footsteps almost everywhere he turns, so I was hardly surprised when an FDA medical officer told me Flamgan had called a senior member of the FDA about a drug problem, when another source reported documentary evidence ot a second Flamgan intervention, and when several other FDA employes said their Rockville, Maryland, offices were filled with rumors ot actions taken by Flamgan and his colleagues on behalf of the pharmaceutical industry Of all the items included in Eagleton's bill of particulars, the most serious was that Flamgan sold ambassadorships for political contributions to the 1972 Nixon campaign Indeed, his major job in the Nixon White House, aside from running errands for wealthy businessmen, was recruiting high-level talent for Administration posts Having served as head of both New York Volunteers for Nixon in 1959 and national Volunteers for Nixon-Lodge m 1960, as a sometime Nixon fund-raiser in the mid-'60s, and as deputy campaign manager under John Mitchell m 1968, Flamgan knew whom to recruit and how to do it He is credited with bringing over 300 senior officers to the Nixon Administration According to yet unreleased evidence compiled during the House Judiciary Committee's impeachment inquiry, Alexander Butterfield—the former assistant to chief ot staff H R Haldeman who unintentionally blew the whistle on the Oval Office bugs—called Flamgan "the mogul of ambassadorships " Butter-field also told the Judiciary Committee interrogators that Flamgan and his father provided the Nixon team with an important channel to the wealthy Eagleton focused on a specific allegation deriving from sworn statements of Herbert Kalmbach...