Pair pardoned by Clinton worked with brother-in-law
Couple convicted in 1982 by Mobile jury had paid Tony Rodham a consulting fee, but it's not clear what he did for them
03/22/02
By SEAN REILLY
Washington BureauWASHINGTON -- Around the same time that they were chasing a presidential pardon for their Alabama bank fraud convictions, a well-connected carnival owner and his wife paid the brother-in-law of then-President Clinton more than $240,000 for consulting services, according to a new congressional review.
The report by the House Government Reform Committee stops just short of drawing a direct connection between the money and pardons. But it concludes that Tony Rodham, the brother of then-first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, lobbied the president on behalf of Edgar and Vonna Jo Gregory while he was receiving "substantial sums of money" from the Brentwood, Tenn., couple.
Clinton ultimately pardoned both in March 2000. Because the Gregorys could not document the consulting services provided by Rodham, the episode raises "substantial questions ... as to what Rodham actually did for the Gregorys that was so valuable," the report states.
The Gregorys, who run United Shows of America, did not return a phone message left at their home near Nashville on Thursday. A Clinton spokeswoman also did not return a phone message. Tony Rodham could not be reached for comment.
A federal jury in Mobile convicted the Gregorys and two employees in 1982 on fraud charges related to the failure of a Wilcox County bank. Although an appeals court later overturned the convictions on a technicality, the couple pleaded guilty to most of the original charges in 1986 and were sentenced to probation.
Last March, U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Mobile, who had overseen the case as the local U.S. attorney at the time, asked federal prosecutors in New York to add the Gregory pardon to a broader probe of Clinton's clemency decisions.
A Sessions spokesman knew nothing of the inquiry's status Thursday. A representative for the U.S. attorney's office in New York would only say that the investigation is continuing.
Clinton triggered an uproar by granting 11th-hour pardons to fugitive financier Marc Rich and dozens of other individuals just before leaving office early last year. In its report, the government reform committee, chaired by long-time Clinton critic U.S. Rep. Dan. Burton, R-Ind., found a "disturbing" pattern of presidential confidantes lobbying for clemency requests that would normally have never been considered.
"While there are certainly individ uals who would seek to abuse their access in any administration, never have they been so successful as in the Clinton administration," the report says.
In the Alabama case, however, Clinton knew the Gregorys even before they hired his brother-in-law. The couple had contributed to his 1992 campaign and, told committee investigators that they had met with the president at least 10 times while he was in office.
The report outlines a chronology for what happened next with the Gregorys, who spoke with committee investigators.
The Gregorys first met Tony Rodham at a fund-raiser during Clinton's campaign for a second term. Around August 1997, Rodham suggested that they hire him on a $200,000 retainer to scout out new business opportunities. The couple apparently balked at those terms, but in June 1998, they agreed to a contract that had garnered Rodham at least $244,769 by last year.
In return, the Gregorys reported, he made several efforts to land new business. Although a bid to take an "American-style" carnival to the United Arab Emirates failed, Rodham did help them mount two events at the White House.
But the Gregorys could not provide committee investigators with any records of Rodham's activities. In November 1998, five months after hiring him, they filed pardon applications with the Justice Department, with copies going to the White House. After getting no results, they sounded out Rodham for help at a party in late 1999.
Accounts diverge on what happened next.
As Edgar Gregory described it to committee investigators, Rodham was not encouraging and later did little to push their request. But in press reports, cited by the committee, Rodham said he told Clinton that the Gregorys were sorry for their actions and that pardons "made good sense." Rodham also acknowledged approaching Bruce Lindsey, the White House counsel closely involved in the process.
"It appears that the president was interested in the Gregory pardons solely because of his contacts with Tony Rodham," the report says. "It is fair to conclude that, but for Tony Rodham's lobbying efforts, the Gregory pardons would not have been granted."
Both Clinton and Rodham refused to be interviewed by the committee, although Rodham did provide some documents under subpoena. The committee was also unsuccessful in persuading the Bush administration to release records related to the pardon.
The Justice Department was reportedly against the Gregorys' clemency request but the committee could not learn the reasons for the agency's opposition because of the administration's decision to withhold the records.
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