Thornburgh Begins Study of Prosecutor for Pierce

Atty. Gen. Dick Thornburgh said Monday that he had begun an inquiry into whether a special prosecutor should investigate allegations of political favoritism and perjury against former Housing Secretary Samuel R. Pierce Jr.

Thornburgh, responding to a request from a group of House Democrats, said that he will ask a three-judge federal panel to appoint a so-called independent counsel if he decides the move is warranted.

The attorney general acted under a 1978 law that provides for the appointment of an independent prosecutor when Cabinet members and senior executive branch officials are accused of wrongdoing.

The appointment must take place no longer than one year after officials leave office. Thus, Thornburgh, who normally would have 90 days to make his decision, has only until Jan. 20 to determine whether to ask for the appointment.

The Justice Department has maintained previously that it is fully capable of investigating allegations of wrongdoing in federal housing programs and that there is no need for a special prosecutor.

When 19 Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee on Nov. 2 asked for an independent counsel, Thornburgh charged that the request was politically motivated. But he was required by the 1978 Ethics in Government Act to study the matter.

An attorney for Pierce, Paul Perito, predicted that Thornburgh will conclude that a special prosecutor is unnecessary and that the investigation of Pierce should be dropped.

“We are very secure in our belief that, having looked at the matter closely . . . the attorney general will determine there is no reason to believe that Mr. Pierce violated any federal criminal law and that the inquiry should end,” Perito said.

Thornburgh announced the beginning of his inquiry in letters to Rep. Jack Brooks (D-Tex.), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and Rep. Hamilton Fish Jr. (R-N. Y.), the panel’s ranking minority member.

However, the Justice Department refused to release details of the letter, saying the law required that the disclosure be made by the committee. Aides to Brooks and Fish said they could not discuss details until they checked with their bosses.

In a letter to Thornburgh, the House Democrats called for an investigation into whether Pierce participated in a “conspiracy to defraud the United States” by allegedly engaging in political favoritism in administering federal housing programs, as well as whether Pierce committed perjury in his congressional testimony this year.

Pierce, who last September invoked the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination to avoid testimony before a House committee, said last May that he was not a “hands-on” manager and that he had let a three-member panel decide how to allocate scarce funds for HUD projects.

However, others testified that Pierce was directly involved in approving projects on the basis of friendship or politics. On Sunday, officials said that Pierce had awarded a friend a $350,000 development grant for two New Jersey projects that were never built.

Rep. Bruce A. Morrison (D-Conn.), one of two lawmakers who led the call for an independent prosecutor, said he was “pleased that we are finally moving in the right direction of exploring the criminal side of the HUD scandal.”