WASHINGTON-The General Accounting Office told Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) last week the Federal Communications Commission’s move to the Portals “is in the best financial interest of the government and is preferable to the FCC’s staying in its current locations.”
At the same time, GAO-the investigative arm of Congress-made clear that its probe of the planned FCC relocation did not cover allegations that lobbyist and former Clinton-Gore re-election campaign manager Peter Knight received an illegal $1 million kickback from Tennessee developer Franklin Haney for helping to secure the federal lease.
The Justice Department and the House Commerce Committee are investigating the FCC-Portals lease.
Haney and Knight have close ties to Vice President Gore, who through a spokesperson previously denied having anything to do with the Portals-FCC lease. Haney is a solid contributor to the Democratic Party.
“The Portals is the best deal for taxpayers and the FCC should move in as soon as possible,” said Kenneth Vest, a spokesman for Haney.
Not necessarily, said Ken Johnson, a spokesman for House telecommunications subcommittee Chairman Billy Tauzin (R-La.).
Tauzin’s request to Attorney General Janet Reno to launch a criminal investigation of the FCC-Portals lease last November prompted Justice to roll the matter into an ongoing campaign finance probe.
“It’s not unusual for one agency in government to cover the backside of another. Until numerous questions are answered, we recommend the FCC not move,” said Johnson.
Vest called Johnson’s remarks “insulting.”
GAO said it based its conclusion on findings that existing FCC headquarters have serious safety-code problems and that leases for all nine agency offices expire by 2003.
