Integrity Panel Chief’s Conduct Under Inquiry
Congress and the FBI are investigating whether the chairman of President Reagan’s Council on Integrity and Efficiency interfered in an Energy Department case against a firm run by his father, it was reported today.
The integrity chairman, Joseph Wright Jr., 46, is also the top deputy to budget director David A. Stockman.
The Wall Street Journal reported that five months after taking office, Wright telephoned a top Energy Department regulator about a $16-million enforcement case against Anchor Gasoline Corp., a Tulsa, Okla., company in which Wright owns more than 3%. His father is Anchor’s chairman.
Government records show that a few weeks later, the Energy Department removed the case from the regional office that had issued the charges and subsequently put it on hold for two years.
No Problem With Most Facts
In a statement read by Edwin Dale, spokesman for the Office of Management and Budget, Wright said:
“I have no problem with most of the facts of the (Journal) story, but a key point should be made. All I asked for was a meeting--no action one way or the other. And I identified the company as my family company. At no time did I ask for favored treatment for the company.”
Wright said the phone call was the only one he made to the Energy Department’s regulatory branch and acknowledges that it was a mistake.
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