Nofziger Guilty of Lobbying Illegally : Reagan Ex-Aide Faces Up to 6 Years in Prison in Wedtech-Linked Conviction
Lyn Nofziger, a savvy, wisecracking confidant of President Reagan for more than 20 years, was convicted Thursday of illegally lobbying former White House colleagues on behalf of a labor union and two defense contractors, including the scandal-plagued Wedtech Corp.
A federal court jury took less than eight hours to find Nofziger guilty on three of four felony counts prosecuted by independent counsel James C. McKay in the first major test of the 1978 Ethics in Government Act. He faces up to six years in prison and $30,000 in fines.
The conviction prompted expressions of sympathy across the political community, even from Democrats who had engaged Nofziger in partisan warfare. Although he was one of the most aggressive defenders of the conservative Administration, he was widely popular for his candor and humor.
“I believe with all my heart that he didn’t knowingly violate this ethics law,” said former Democratic Party Chairman John C. White, who had been scheduled to testify as a character witness for Nofziger.
At a press conference after the verdict, Nofziger--sporting a tie from his Mickey Mouse collection but eschewing the jauntiness he had maintained at the monthlong trial--assailed the statute, which restricts lobbying by former executive branch officials at their old agencies.
Nofziger, who resigned as Reagan’s political director in 1982 to become a lobbyist, called the law “lousy” and “unfair” because it does not apply to members of Congress, judges or lower-level executives.
He contended that his crime was “kind of like running a stop sign” and predicted vindication on appeal.
Moments later, when informed of Nofziger’s comments, juror Herbert Robinson--saying he was outraged that Nofziger had lobbied former White House colleague Edwin Meese III on a $32-million Army contract for Wedtech in 1982--emphatically termed the ethics law “not unfair.”
“Would I go back to former officials I know and make connections that might involve the security of the United States? To make a buck? No good,” Robinson, a postal worker, said.
Jury foreman Towana Braxton, a mail clerk at the U.S. International Trade Commission, said that her colleagues had had no trouble weighing evidence of influence peddling.
“The evidence just kept coming up all the time,” she said.
Although he prevailed, special prosecutor McKay spoke somberly in the aftermath of the verdict.
“I find the whole thing a little bit depressing, frankly,” McKay said. “I hate to see someone convicted of a felony. It’s tough. But we felt we had to do our job.”
Nofziger was convicted two months after another former top Reagan aide, Michael K. Deaver, was found guilty of perjury for lying about similar lobbying activities to a grand jury and a congressional committee. Deaver was investigated for possible violations of the ethics law but not charged under it. His sentencing is pending.
U.S. District Judge Thomas A. Flannery set Nofziger’s sentencing for March 25. Prosecution and defense sources said they did not expect him to serve time behind bars because of his age, 63, and previously clean record.
One count on which Nofziger was convicted charged that, shortly after leaving the White House in January, 1982, he improperly lobbied then-presidential counselor Meese on a small-engine contract being sought by Wedtech from the Army. It eventually was awarded to the Bronx company over the Army’s objections about the price.
The law prohibits former officials such as Nofziger from lobbying ex-colleagues for one year on matters of “direct and substantial interest” to their former agencies.
Meese, now attorney general, testified that he could not remember receiving an April 8 memo from Nofziger urging award of the contract to Wedtech or a meeting with Nofziger about it three days earlier. But Braxton said that the jurors “could not rely a whole lot” on Meese’s testimony and “just went with written communications.”
On a second Wedtech count, involving contacts with Meese deputy James E. Jenkins, the jury cleared both Nofziger and co-defendant Mark A. Bragg, Nofziger’s business partner and fellow Californian. Bragg had been charged with aiding and abetting the alleged violation.
The jury convicted Nofziger on two other charges alleging that he had, in the words of McKay, “cashed in” on his White House influence to help Fairchild Republic Corp. and the Marine Engineers Beneficial Assn., a labor union.
In representing the union, Nofziger urged Jenkins in an August, 1982, note to support the increased use of civilian sailors on Navy ships. Reagan later approved the policy. Nofziger was paid $100,000 by the union.
In representing Fairchild, Nofziger lobbied two National Security Council aides in September, 1982, on continued funding for the A-10 warplane manufactured by the company. The Pentagon soon freed $50 million to keep production alive for several months. Nofziger and a foundation he ran received $75,000 for the effort.
Nofziger, a former newspaperman who served Reagan as press secretary when he was governor of California, did not take the stand to testify in his own defense.
Ironically, much of the prosecution’s testimony against Nofziger came from three of his friends: Meese, Jenkins and former Nofziger deputy Edward Rollins, the chairman of Nofziger’s defense fund.
But the most damaging evidence emerged from a pile of letters and memos showing that Nofziger began lobbying former colleagues shortly after he left the White House in January, 1982, to set up a consulting business with Bragg.
“What really made us decide was those letters,” juror Leslie Charles, a speech pathologist, said.
The defense contended that Nofziger’s contacts were not covered by the ethics law because the issues he pushed were not of “direct and substantial interest” to the White House. Judge Flannery undercut that argument, ruling in his instructions to the jury that Nofziger could be found guilty even if his clients’ issues were not of “major importance” to the White House.
Prosecutors argued that the White House had a substantial interest in the Wedtech and civilian-sailor issues because they were tied to 1980 campaign promises made by Reagan. Wedtech was minority-owned and the President had pledged to encourage minority enterprise.
Nofziger, proclaiming that he had “done nothing wrong,” said sardonically: “It seems I have been found guilty of trying to get this Administration to do what it promised to do. We’ll be back.”
