2 Ex-Silverado Officials Back Neil Bush Claim : Thrifts: In a turnabout, the two now say they recall the President’s son did tell the board of his ties to a developer who borrowed from the S&L;.
Two former directors of a failed Denver savings and loan have revised earlier statements and now support Neil Bush’s claim that he informed fellow board members of his business ties to a developer who borrowed more than $32 million from the S&L;, according to government documents.
Federal regulators have accused the President’s son of violating thrift rules by failing to tell the board of Silverado Banking, Savings & Loan Assn. that he had financial links to real estate developers Kenneth M. Good and Bill L. Walters. The two men defaulted on more than $130 million in loans from Silverado.
The two former Silverado directors, Richard F. Vitkus and Richard J. Bunchman, have amended earlier statements to investigators and now say they recall that the Silverado board was informed that Bush and Good were seeking a loan for an Argentina oil venture. Good eventually defaulted on $32 million in other loans from Silverado.
Vitkus, Bunchman and a third director, Diane E. Ingels, previously had given the government sworn statements saying that they were unaware of Bush’s ties to Walters and Good. Ingels, however, has not revised her account.
The new affidavits supporting Bush were among more than 1,000 pages of files on the Bush investigation made public this week by the federal Office of Thrift Supervision.
In a related development, Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee claimed Friday that they have enough signatures to make a formal congressional request to Atty. Gen. Dick Thornburgh for a special prosecutor to investigate Bush’s conduct as a Silverado director.
Rep. Pat Schroeder (D-Colo.) sent a letter to Thornburgh with 12 signatures, representing a majority of the committee’s 22 Democrats. Later in the day, however, one of the listed members, Rep. Edward Feighan (D-Ohio), withdrew his signature. A search of Federal Election Commission records, meanwhile, shows that the two developers who bankrolled Bush’s oil exploration business were active donors to both Democrats and Republicans.
The developments reflect the growing political furor surrounding Neil Bush’s role in the failure of Silverado, which is expected to cost taxpayers more than $1 billion. Democrats hope to gain political advantage by linking the President’s son to the S&L; scandal, but Republicans contend that the Democrats share equal blame for the industry debacle.
Good contributed $137,750 to politicians in both major parties from 1982 through 1988, with his heaviest donations coming just before the 1988 presidential election on Nov. 8. He gave $10,000 to the Republican National Committee on Nov. 2, then $42,000 to the Colorado Republican Party on Nov. 3 and $42,500 to the California Republican Party on Nov. 7.
Good contributed $750 to George Bush’s presidential campaign in August, 1986, and $5,000 in October, 1987.
Until the 1988 campaign, Good gave substantially more money to Democrats than Republicans. He sent donations to a number of Democratic senators, including Tim Wirth of Colorado, $9,000; Lloyd Bentsen of Texas, $2,000; Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, $500; Donald W. Riegle Jr. of Michigan, $500; John Glenn of Ohio, $1,000; Albert Gore of Tennessee, $750; Bill Bradley of New Jersey, $500; Majority Leader George J. Mitchell of Maine, $500, and Bob Kerrey of Nebraska, $500.
Good also gave money to the unsuccessful presidential campaigns of former Vice President Walter Mondale, $1,000, and former Sen. Gary Hart, $1,000.
During a six-year period from 1982 through 1988, Walters gave $22,550 personally to candidates, and funneled another $39,350 of his money through his company’s political action committee to federal and state candidates.
In 1983 alone, Walters donated more than $36,000 to federal election campaigns, even though federal regulations set a limit of $25,000 for total contributions. He gave $24,000 to his company’s political action committee--the Walters Construction Management Political Action Committee--despite federal rules limiting such donations to $5,000 in a single year.
He gave $4,000 to Sen. William Armstrong (R-Colo.), $1,000 to Wirth and $500 to Gore, all through his political action committee. He made personal contributions of $3,000 to Wirth, $1,000 to Hart and $500 to Riegle.
Federal thrift regulators are seeking an order that would bar Bush from committing future conflict-of-interest violations. A federal administrative law judge has set a hearing on the case for September but probably will not render a decision until close to the end of the year.
In a deposition included among the documents released this week, Neil Bush said he did not know if he had ever discussed with his father “the goings on of Silverado.”
But he added: “I can state this with great clarity, that I never intentionally brought him into--you know, I mean I never asked him for assistance or advice on Silverado matters.”
Bush said he had told his father that he was to be questioned last Dec. 28 by OTS officials. He told of also mentioning it “to someone in the press office of the White House who called to inquire as to what was going on.”
House Democrats would be invoking a rarely used power if they can get enough signatures to request a special prosecutor.
Appointment of an independent counsel has been sought by a majority on the Senate or House judiciary cmmittees only twice, a Justice Department official said. In both cases--that of former Assistant Atty. Gen. Theodore B. Olson, who eventually was cleared, and that of former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Samuel R. Pierce, who is currently under investigation--independent counsels were appointed.
If the Democrats are able to gather enough signatures, the attorney general would be required to tell the committee within 30 days whether there is enough specific and credible information to launch a preliminary inquiry, the first step toward possible appointment of a special prosecutor.
Times Staff Writer Dwight L. Morris contributed to this report.
