Skating Panel Calls Hearing on Harding Case

Tonya Harding moved one step closer Saturday to possible expulsion from the U.S. Olympic team when a U.S. Figure Skating Assn. panel unanimously called for a disciplinary hearing to determine the extent of her role in the Jan. 6 attack on rival Nancy Kerrigan.

The panel’s hearing procedure allows 30 days for Harding to respond to its statement of charges. The figure skating team is officially named on Feb. 21, so that leaves the decision on Harding’s participation in the hands of the U.S. Olympic Committee. The USOC can suspend her from the team after its own hearing.

USOC officials in Lillehammer, Norway, said Saturday that they will decide later this week whether to call a hearing of the 13-member Games Administrative Board to determine Harding’s status.

Such a hearing, they said, would be held in Norway within the next two weeks. The opening ceremony for the Winter Olympics is Saturday in Lillehammer.

Some USOC officials, who did not want to be identified, told The Times that it is virtually certain that the hearing will occur but that the organization is exercising caution until all of the legal ramifications are explored.

“We’re trying to get as much information as possible,” USOC Executive Director Harvey Schiller said. “It’s important that the entire matter be given as much consideration as we can.”

The USOC was put in this position when the five-member figure skating panel said there was reasonable grounds to believe that Harding, the U.S. national champion, violated the association’s code of ethics.

But because of the USFSA’s 30-day hearing period, the decision on Harding’s status for the Olympics was left to be determined by the USOC.

The figure skating panel determined that Harding “committed an act, made a statement, or engaged in conduct detrimental to the welfare of figure skating and/or failed to exemplify the highest standards of fairness, ethical behavior and genuine good sportsmanship in her relations with others.”

The panel also found that Harding “committed an act to carry out a plan and/or was involved in a plan to injure Nancy Kerrigan; or knew about a plan to injure Nancy Kerrigan and either failed to oppose it, failed to report it, or made false statements about her knowledge concerning it.”

William Hybl, the panel’s chairman, said if Harding does not respond within 30 days, the disciplinary hearing will be held without her.

The USOC must submit names for the figure skating competition on Feb. 21. The figure skating panel will now give the USOC more than 300 pages of documents and several videotapes to assist in its decision.

“The ball’s back in the U.S. Olympic Committee’s court,” Hybl said.

According to USFSA rules, President Claire Ferguson could have removed Harding from the Olympic team after hearing the panel’s findings. But she chose to defer action.

“Until she (Harding) has had her fair chance at the hearing panel to make her statements and ask her questions, it would be wrong for me to take a position to kick her off the team,” Ferguson said.

After the USFSA announcement, Harding emerged from the Portland, Ore., apartment where she is staying with a friend but said nothing to reporters who are maintaining a daily stakeout there.

Her primary attorneys, Dennis Rawlinson and Robert Weaver Jr., issued a brief statement: “USFSA does not conclude that Ms. Harding has in any way been involved in any wrongdoing or in any way violated its code of ethics. The statement of charges is based upon conflicting evidence, including, in part, allegations by (Harding’s ex-husband) Jeff Gillooly and (her ex-bodyguard) Shawn Eckardt, which Tonya has denied,” the lawyers said.

“Tonya Harding will respond to the statement in compliance with the bylaws and rules of the USFSA. We would like to thank the USFSA for strictly adhering to its bylaws and rules.”

Another of her attorneys, Brian Burton, earlier remarked: “Obviously we’re not happy that they decided it was sufficient to proceed. But we’re not overly concerned at this point.”

Hybl, past president of the USOC, said the USFSA panel members took great pains to ensure that Harding’s rights were protected.

Sharon Watson of Los Angeles, chairwoman of the USFSA’s sanctions and eligibility committee and a member of the USFSA’s board of directors, said the decision was difficult.

“It’s painful to see someone who has spent her whole life training for this and whose future in a sense is resting on this,” she said. “We had to be sure we gave her a fair shake.

“On the other hand, seeing something like this happen in our sport and happen to Nancy . . . it’s a real tragedy.”

Ken Schweitzer, athletic director of the Air Force Academy, said that as the panel examined the evidence it was apparent “not everything was right.”

“I think the message we send is loud and clear, and it is very important for athletics across the spectrum,” Schweitzer said.

Kerrigan, a Bronze Medal winner at the 1992 Games in Albertville, France, was clubbed on the right leg on Jan. 6 in Detroit. The attack the day before competition knocked her out of the U.S. Figure Skating National Championships. But the USFSA named her to the U.S. team anyway.

Harding later acknowledged she learned after the attack that people close to her were involved but that she failed to report immediately to authorities what she knew.

Gillooly has pleaded guilty to racketeering in the attack, and three other men have confessed to taking part. Harding has not been charged and denies any involvement, but Gillooly and one of the alleged conspirators have implicated her.

The hearing panel, which also will determine any disciplinary measures, reviewed 20 areas of evidence in making its decision.

Some of the evidence was uncovered by the panel’s counsel, John Bennett, a former Portland prosecutor.

Hybl said Bennett, working with a private investigator, is conducting an independent investigation into the allegations on behalf of the panel.

“We have some specific questions and charges that John is looking at,” Hybl said. “We need to tie up some loose ends.”

Hybl also said that the panel took into account Harding’s history as a representative of the USFSA. He refused to elaborate on why Harding’s past was a factor in the panel’s conclusions.

If the USOC calls a hearing in Norway, Harding would be invited to appear before the board, as required by the Amateur Sports Act of 1978.

Schiller said Harding’s attorneys were informed of the possibility of a hearing but would not say if their client would appear.

“I would expect her to come,” said John Ruger, the chairman of the USOC’s athletes’ advisory council and a member of the Games Administrative Board. “Whether that will make a difference or not remains to be seen. She didn’t go to Colorado Springs. I don’t know if that worked for her or against her.”

In her last major public statement Jan. 27 on the Kerrigan attack, Harding had pleaded to stay on the Olympic team, saying she was not involved in the attack and had done “nothing to violate the standards of excellence, of sportsmanship that are expected in an Olympic athlete.”

One member of the Games Administrative Board is USOC Vice President George Steinbrenner, who contributed $20,000 to Harding before this year’s national championships. Schiller said he did not believe that Steinbrenner’s presence on the board represents a conflict of interest.

“We don’t think it would be inappropriate for him to participate in any function of the USOC,” Schiller said.

He pointed out that Steinbrenner has contributed money to many amateur athletes, including figure skater Michelle Kwan of Torrance, who received $7,000 from the New York Yankees owner last year.

If Harding does not skate in either the Olympics or in the World Championships, she will be replaced by Kwan, the first alternate, because of her second-place finish in the national championships.

Harding scheduled no skating practice this weekend but reserved after-hours time at her local rink Monday through Friday.

It has not been disclosed when she is scheduled to leave Oregon for Norway.

Prosecutors in Portland, meanwhile, said that the grand jury investigation of the attack on Kerrigan would continue next week and “at least” into the following week.

Almond reported from Colorado Springs and Harvey from Lillehammer, Norway. Times staff writer John Balzar in Portland contributed to this story.

Statement of Charges

Following are excerpts from the statement of charges against Tonya Harding issued Saturday by the U.S. Figure Skating Assn.:

After considering the evidence presented, and after providing you an opportunity to present evidence, the hearing panel has unanimously determined that reasonable grounds exist to believe that you have violated the code of ethics.

The hearing panel has determined that reasonable grounds exist to believe:

(a) that Tonya Harding

(b) while a member of the USFSA

(c) committed an act, made a statement, or engaged in conduct detrimental to the welfare of figure skating and/or failed to exemplify the highest standards of fairness, ethical behavior and genuine good sportsmanship in her relations with others.

The hearing panel further finds that reasonable grounds exist to believe that Tonya Harding:

(a) committed an act to carry out a plan and/or was involved in a plan to injure Nancy Kerrigan; or

(b) knew about a plan to injure Nancy Kerrigan and either failed to oppose it, failed to report it, or made false statements about her knowledge concerning it.

As a result, the hearing panel has determined, based upon the evidence presented to it . . . , that reasonable grounds exist to pursue disciplinary proceedings against you.

. . . You have 30 days to submit your reply to these charges. Upon receipt of your reply, the hearing panel will set a place and date, at the earliest possible time, for the hearing reasonably convenient to all parties.

Source: Associated Press