Ex-Official’s Use of Office to Be Investigated

The director of the Office of Government Ethics said today he will look into allegations that former Federal Home Loan Bank Board Chairman Edwin J. Gray is misusing a federal office.

The Washington Post reported today that Gray has been using an office, telephone, computer and secretarial help to look for work since leaving his position June 30 as the head of the agency that regulates the 3,200 savings and loan institutions.

“We’re going to inquire into the matter,” said David Martin, director of the ethics office.

Martin said his office must first determine if the bank board is a federal entity subject to the government’s standards of conduct. The board, although created by Congress, is funded by fees charged to the savings and loan industry and not by taxes.

Second, Martin said, the ethics office must determine whether Gray was conducting personal business.

Approval Given

Karl Hoyle, the bank board’s director of public affairs, said Gray’s successor, M. Danny Wall, agreed to allow Gray, until Sept. 1, to use a conference room at the board’s Office of Regulatory Policy, Oversight and Supervision. Wall also authorized Gray to receive secretarial help, Hoyle said.

“If he wants to use the phones, that’s fine too and we think it’s appropriate,” Hoyle said. “I think it’s the kind of thing we should be doing.”

Gray, 51, was a press secretary to President Reagan when he was governor of California and was deputy chief of staff of Reagan’s 1980 presidential campaign. Gray served as a White House aide before becoming bank board chairman.

During his tenure, Gray was criticized for being too close to the U.S. League of Savings Institutions when it was revealed that the trade group had paid his travel expenses on several occasions.