Cites Intense Scrutiny, Client Loss : Nofziger Resentful on Eve of Ethics Violations Trial

Lyn Nofziger, once the top political adviser in the Reagan White House and a high-powered Washington lobbyist, is a bitter man.

He has been accused of committing ethics violations that he says have long been common practice among lobbyists in the nation’s capital. The charges, he complained on the eve of his trial, have caused an estimated 80% of his clients to abandon his once-flourishing business.

Perhaps most of all, he believes that he has been subjected to unreasonable scrutiny under a decade-old federal act that provides for investigations of former government officials.

“You run into the unlimited resources of an office that has nothing better to do than try to get you,” Nofziger told The Times in a rare interview for a defendant facing felony charges. “It would be very difficult for most people in this town to go through this kind of microscopic examination without finding something on them.”

Nofziger goes on trial this morning on four charges that he violated federal conflict-of-interest stat

utes under the Ethics in Government Act. The 1978 law, under which past or present high government officials are investigated by court-appointed independent counsels, is being challenged as unconstitutional in the U.S. Court of Appeals.

Only last month, Nofziger saw one such independent counsel successfully prosecute one of his former White House colleagues, Washington lobbyist Michael K. Deaver. The former deputy presidential chief of staff was convicted on perjury charges in a case prosecuted by independent counsel Whitney North Seymour Jr.

Nofziger will be tried by another counsel, James C. McKay, whom he declined to criticize personally. He did, however, take issue with post-trial statements by Deaver’s prosecutor, who said that too much “loose money” is available to buy influence in Washington.

Cites Constitution

“The Constitution is pretty clear on the right of people to petition their government,” Nofziger said. “Almost every lobbyist is hired not only for what he knows but also for who he can get at. I suppose it’s gone on for 200 years. I don’t know how you’re ever going to keep it from working that way.”

A conviction in the trial would leave a particularly large scar on the already marred ethics record of the Reagan Administration. Not only is Nofziger one of the President’s most long-term aides, dating back to his days as governor of California, he would be the second member of Reagan’s inner circle to be found guilty of unethical conduct in only a few months.

Nofziger was the President’s director of political affairs from January, 1981, to January, 1982, but he has been a confidant of Reagan for years, serving as the governor’s first press secretary in 1967 and as his presidential campaign spokesman in 1980.

Nevertheless, Nofziger insisted that he scrupulously avoided ever contacting the President on behalf of a business client.

“I made it plain to my clients that if they wanted me to talk to the President, they’d have to hire someone else,” he said, though he has talked to Reagan by phone occasionally on personal or policy matters.

Differs From Deaver

Moreover, Nofziger said, his case differs sharply from Deaver’s because “I have not been accused of lying under oath or concealing anything.” Deaver was found guilty of perjuring himself before a congressional subcommittee and a federal grand jury.

Nofziger, 63, is accused of violating provisions that prohibit federal officials from lobbying their immediate former colleagues on any matter for 12 months after they leave government. He is charged with making lobbying contacts at the White House on behalf of a scandal-rocked defense contractor, Wedtech Corp. of New York, and other clients soon after leaving the Administration.

McKay obtained a six-count indictment against Nofziger last July. But late last month, the prosecutor dropped two counts related to now-defunct Wedtech that charged Nofziger with violating a lifetime ban on lobbying officials on matters in which he had been “personally and substantially” involved while in government.

The remaining counts accuse Nofziger of illegally lobbying the White House in 1982--his prohibited year--on behalf of military work for Wedtech and another firm, Fairchild Industries. He is similarly accused of seeking a favorable ruling from the White House during 1982 for the Marine Engineers Beneficial Assn. His trial is expected to last about a month.

Specifically, Nofziger is charged with making illegal lobbying approaches on behalf of Wedtech and Fairchild to Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III, then White House counselor, and to James E. Jenkins, then a White House assistant to Meese. The attorney general will be called as a prosecution witness in the trial.

Mark A. Bragg, Nofziger’s partner in Nofziger-Bragg Communications Inc., is charged with one count of aiding and abetting one of the contacts with Jenkins. Bragg, who never worked for the government, will be tried with Nofziger.

Nofziger declined to discuss the specific charges against him, but his lawyers are expected to contend that he sought guidance upon leaving government service from Stanton D. Anderson, a Washington lawyer, and came away with the impression that certain White House approaches would be permissible.

Anderson, who was doing legal work for Fairchild Industries at the time, has declined to comment on his advice because he is expected to be called to testify. A source close to Anderson suggested that Nofziger may have misunderstood their discussions.

In Deaver’s case, most of his approaches to government officials were oral and not written, and thus were subject to interpretation by the officials who testified about them. In Nofziger’s case, however, the prosecution has obtained documentary evidence--in the form of letters and memos--to illustrate his lobbying of certain White House officials.

Problem for Defense

This fact may pose a problem for Nofziger’s defense, which will be directed by E. Lawrence Barcella, a former veteran federal prosecutor here, and by Robert S. Plotkin, a former attorney in the Justice Department’s civil rights division.

For example, Nofziger wrote a memo to Meese in April, 1982, on behalf of Wedtech’s efforts to obtain a $32-million Army engine contract, according to the indictment. The memo referred to an earlier visit that Nofziger had paid to Meese.

Prosecutors also have a May, 1982, letter from Nofziger to Jenkins, Meese’s aide, urging help on the Wedtech contract. The firm won the contract after Jenkins arranged a White House meeting that included company executives, Army officers and Small Business Administration officials. The Bronx-based Wedtech eventually received SBA financial aid on grounds that it was a minority-owned business, an assertion that executives later admitted was fraudulent.

Nofziger is expected to contend that he does not remember writing or signing the Jenkins letter, which followed his hospitalization for a stroke.

Although the grand jury did not mention it, federal authorities have concluded that Nofziger and Bragg each received 22,500 shares of stock in the now-bankrupt Wedtech in 1983, the equivalent of $350,000 in fees.

Nofziger also contacted Jenkins and others in 1982 to help the Marine Engineers Beneficial Assn., the indictment said. In lobbying for the marine union, Nofziger allegedly was trying to influence the White House to expand the use of civilian seamen on government ships.

If convicted on all counts, Nofziger could receive a maximum punishment of eight years in prison and a $40,000 fine.

In discussing the decline of his 6-year-old business, which he attributes to the myriad charges, Nofziger refused to talk about his income from fees, saying only that he once had about 12 major business clients.

‘Clients Are Going’

“In any business, clients come and go,” he said. “But, in my case, clients are going and not many are coming. People don’t want to hire someone who is under indictment.”

When asked how he would advise other government officials planning to enter private business, Nofziger replied: “Be very, very careful. There are laws out there you may not be aware of. One of the problems is that a year goes pretty slowly.”