Ex-HUD Aide Dean May Have Committed Perjury, Head of House Investigation Says

The chairman of a House investigating panel said Monday that he believes Deborah Gore Dean, a former high-ranking aide in the Department of Housing and Urban Development, perjured herself in congressional testimony two years ago.

That judgment was made by Rep. Tom Lantos (D-San Mateo), chairman of a House Government Operations subcommittee that is investigating charges of political favoritism and mismanagement at the agency under former Secretary Samuel R. Pierce Jr.

Lantos’ assessment was echoed by former Sen. William O. Proxmire of Wisconsin, who agreed that recent disclosures before the House panel make it clear that Dean lied under oath at Senate confirmation hearings on her nomination to be an assistant HUD secretary.

Denial by Lawyer

But Dean’s lawyer, former U.S. Atty. Joseph E. diGenova, declared: “We respectfully submit that any suggestion that Ms. Dean committed perjury is legally and factually wrong.”

Lantos cited parts of Dean’s 1987 testimony before the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee in which she denied earmarking rent subsidies for politically favored developers under the Section 8 moderate rehabilitation program while she was executive assistant to Pierce from 1984 to 1987.

“We may be dealing with perjury here,” Lantos said. “This testimony (by Dean) is in direct contradiction to an avalanche of testimony that we have received. There is a clear record that Miss Dean again and again and again intervened and succeeded in getting her views adopted” on funding decisions to benefit specific developers.

“I don’t see how anyone could rebut that,” said Proxmire, a Democrat who succeeded in blocking Dean’s confirmation on grounds that she was not qualified by education or training to assume the position of HUD assistant secretary for community planning.

“I’m not an expert on perjury,” Rep. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) added, “but it seems black and white to me.”

The discussion appeared to reflect Democratic criticism of the Justice Department for not vigorously pursuing the HUD investigation or seeking evidence from the House subcommittee, which has conducted 15 hearings on the agency.

Proxmire, who was invited to appear before the House panel, called it “shocking” that the Justice Department still had not requested help from the subcommittee staff or material from its files. He characterized the inquiry as “the best investigation I’ve ever seen in 30 years in the House or Senate.”

The exchange may also have reflected frustration with Dean’s refusal to testify about her role in the allocation of low-income housing subsidies that provided six-figure consulting fees and multimillion-dollar profits for well-placed Republicans and former HUD officials.

Dean invoked the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination when she was subpoenaed by the subcommittee in June. Pierce, in contrast, has agreed to make a second appearance on Sept. 15 to respond to testimony that he ordered subordinates at HUD to approve a controversial Durham, N. C., project, despite strong objections from HUD staff members.

Proxmire, who attracted attention for his fight against waste in government during his 30 years in the Senate, acknowledged that he failed to detect misuse of funds at HUD despite his chairmanship of the Senate Banking Committee and a key Appropriations subcommittee.

“I had no idea what was going on,” he said, adding that he regretted not reviewing HUD inspector general reports that previewed some of the scandals now being exposed by House investigators.

Proxmire proposed a law requiring the secretary of the department to disclose within 24 hours the names and affiliations of anyone with whom he confers about funding decisions. If this information were public, he said, it would deter influence-peddling.

In other testimony, former HUD Assistant Secretary Maurice Barksdale said that he lent $2,000 to DuBois L. Gilliam, a high-ranking HUD official, at a time when Gilliam had authority over a St. Louis project being proposed by Barksdale’s firm.

Barksdale said that Gilliam, a friend, had asked for the loan when he was having a personal crisis and needed the funds to pay his rent and buy food for his two children.

But he also met with Gilliam on a HUD-backed project to convert the Drake Hotel in St. Louis into a shelter for the homeless, Barksdale acknowledged.

In hindsight, he said, he doesn’t think it was proper to lend Gilliam the money. He said that $1,500 of it has been repaid, and he has a note for the remainder.

Barksdale said also that he had written to Pierce about the St. Louis project and asked his help to break a logjam at the area HUD office. Even though Pierce intervened, he added, the project is still tied up in the St. Louis office after 2 1/2 years of effort.