European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 29, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 12 the stars and stripes escalator epic atom thursday september 29, 1977 William Safire Carter s statement cover up admission president Carter in his much delayed press conference made an admission that seemed to confirm the worst suspicions of a few of us that during a corrupt interregnum the president elect and others conspired to lift an embarrassing ease and desist order kill a criminal investigation and clean up Bert Lance s financial affairs so that Lance could become the new president s key the previous press conference Carter had responded to a question by James Woolen of the new Yorla times about in quiries soon after the election in this Way if there Are any people who worked in the transition time who made an inquiry about or. Lance s affairs they did it without my knowledge and without my authority and it would Nave been contrary to my expect did Carter then deny any part of impropriety. We now know that not Only was a restrictive comptroller s disciplinary agreement lifted within minutes after a visit by Lance on nov. 22, but that a criminal investigation into Lance was aborted on dec. 2, one Day after a Lance lawyer telephoned the . Attorney in at Lanta to get him to Stop the investigation. Carter nominated his Friend on dec. 3. Up to last week s press conference then the situation was developing like this the men around the president were being implicated in a cover up but the president was being kept out of it. Lance s lawyer Sidney Smith of Philip Alston s firm admitted under oath contacting the . At Torney that pension hungry prosecutor admitted to me he had been Well aware of the sensitive but press Secretary Joseph l. Powell insisted that the president elect was not in Jesse l. Jackson 4th r can save big City schools adding a fourth a to the traditional three r s of american education May be our Best and Only Chance to Root out the decay that is destroying our big cities old schools and Young minds. The fourth a is responsibility the weakest link in the Chain of Public Educa Tion. Without the fourth a fewer and fewer care about whether they know How to read write and do fourth a challenges the entire Community because the schools touch the families of every one of us. The fourth a is nothing less than the key to making the schools work. It Means making and accepting the hard choices including busing. Because busing arouses fundamental fears of violence of change of the unknown Many fail to see it for what it is a Challenge to redistribute responsibility. Survival of the schools translates to the survival of the students. They wont unless we Stop passing the Buck on the fourth a. Boston Dallas Louisville Chicago everywhere the buses have rolled so have fear and hate and headlines. But in All those places the buses still Roll the Busi Ness of education is being done and the headlines have faded. Among the biggest cities it is los Angeles turn next. It has been fought the fears have been raised and remain but it is time to Deal with it. Equal education Opportunity is everyone s right and responsibility. When a Community can t meet that responsibility the responsibility must be re distributed and sometimes buses Are the Only Way left to do it. And when adults defiantly and hat fully refuse to accept their share of the responsibility that the buses carry what Are the consequences in the schools problems of course exist in Many communities and schools whether there is busing or not. The poorest and most Des Perate schools in every City Are Monu ments to the abuse of the fourth a for them busing May Only be the latest do or die attempt at a cure. In los Angeles the Board of education and operation push people United to save humanity the civil rights Organiza Tion of which i am National president have entered into a cooperative venture de signed to harness the Power of the fourth a in 12 schools severely afflicted by absenteeism violence and vandalism. Twelve schools whose students Only sin deeper into hopelessness when they wit Ness cynical and bigoted attempts to Stop the buses and keep the poor locked in their crumbling prison Are going to help those 12 schools by leading the school Community from parents and pupils teachers and principals neighbors and businessmen to , arson and vandalism Cost los Angeles another $4 million. Cut those losses by 10 per cent and it is another $400, 000 to teach with. Unlocking the Power of the fourth a can revive the drive to learn and to teach. It can restore the morality and self discipline that is the Lifeblood of an educational environment. And along the Way it can diminish the desire to break windows. C los Angeles times formed in december of the criminal investigation that it was a matter Powell Hamilton Jordan and counsel Robert lip Shutz knew but did not think the president had any need to know. On dec. 1, Lance his lawyer Smith an Smith s Law partner John Moore the Alston firm s Man in charge of ethics on Carter s transition team telephoned the president elect in Plains about a press re lease minimizing Lance s problems. This conversation took place on the same Day Smith s approach to kill the probe was made to the . Attorney. In last week s press conference Carter recalled he had met with Bert Lance on nov. 15 in Plains when according to Lance s sworn testimony Lance had briefed him on problems concerning Campaign overdrafts. But the president s Story differs significantly from Lance s and Powell s the first time i heard about it Campaign debt overdrafts was when Bert mentioned it to me in Plains about two weeks later i think the Date now deter mined to be the first of then the president let the cat out of the bag. I was called from Atlanta and told that the matter had been resolved by the comptroller s office and by the Justice department. On that Date was the first time that either Bert or i knew that the Justice department had been involved at As the new York times Nicholas Hor Rock wrote the next Day or. Carter version at the news conference carried startling implications. It meant that he knew before he formally announced Lance s appointment that the nominee had been under criminal investigation. Moreover the president s version implied that he had been assured that the criminal investigation of Lance by the Justice department would be dropped the Day before it was terminated by the United states at Torney in the president had not followed the Lance Powell cover up script instead in his tearful and distraught state he May have blurted out the truth. The next morn ing Powell rushed out with the agreed upon version. At no time prior to the dec. 3 announcement of the Lance Nomina Tion " corrected Powell was he aware of course of the existence of a Justice department referral on this but reconstruct that moment on dec. 1.in Atlanta on one end of the phone is Lance his lawyer Sidney Smith an Smith s partner John Moore. They swear they were informed on that Day of a Crimi Nal investigation into the Lance activities. Do you suspect they discussed that shattering turn of events with the president elect on the other end of the phone in Plains can you imagine them not telling their Leader of their distressing discovery can you conceive of John Moore representing Carter withholding from his client the news of his close Friend s vulnerability and its Happy ending no wonder John Moore swears he does not recall telling Carter on dec. 1 about the criminal investigation avoiding a per jury charge by carefully adding but it no wonder Powell is frantically trying to get the president to forget what he heard on dec. 1. Because if what Carter said last week is True then his statement in his previous press conference was false and he May be involved in an obstruction of Justice. Which presidential spokesman do you believe i believe that Jimmy Carter too upset by the forced resignation of his Friend to stick to the cover up script told the truth in his press conference. In his own unforgettable phrase i Don t think any mistake was c new York times the opinions expressed in the columns and cartoons on this Page represent those of the authors and Are in no Wax ? As resenting the views of the Star and stripes or the United states government
