Arlington Waivers Listed; Only 1 Big Donor Cited

Seeking to snuff out a controversy, the Clinton administration on Friday released the names of 69 people given special permission for burial at Arlington National Cemetery as Democratic officials asserted that only one was a big party donor.

Army Secretary Togo West Jr., the major official accused of displacing qualified veterans in the hallowed ground to find room for party fat cats, argued at an impassioned news conference that those who received the special breaks deserved sympathy and admiration.

They included a member of a celebrated World War II black flying unit, a disabled World War II veteran, two Reserve officers killed while on full-time duty, a wife and a daughter of veterans and the federal judge who wrote the 26th Amendment to the Constitution.

West also blasted those who have jumped at the chance to criticize the administration about the burials, saying that the accusers deserved “shame for infuriating our veterans.”

And at the White House, spokesman Mike McCurry said that “not only the president but, I think, everyone who works here is outraged that members of Congress would assist in the dissemination of lies, distortions and baseless allegations.”

*

Republican lawmakers seemed to back away slightly from the controversy, which began when a conservative magazine distributed an article asserting--without examples--that Clinton was “selling” burial plots to donors.

Members of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, who have been examining the allegations for six months, said that they want to move toward a nonpartisan investigation by bringing in the General Accounting Office, the auditing arm of Congress. And they acknowledged that they had not themselves checked public records to see whether any of those who received waivers for burial at Arlington were Democratic donors.

Rep. Terry Everett (R-Ala.), who in recent days has emphasized his suspicions about the administration’s waivers, on Friday urged all sides to “avoid hasty conclusions.”

Even so, committee officials said that substantial questions remain about some of those given waivers, including M. Larry Lawrence, the longtime contributor and Clinton friend who owned the Hotel Del Coronado.

Administration officials have said that Lawrence was entitled to the waiver since he died abroad in 1996 while serving as U.S. ambassador to Switzerland and because he was wounded when his merchant marine ship was sunk in World War II by a German torpedo near Murmansk, Russia. (Merchant marines do not qualify for burial at Arlington).

The Democratic National Committee on Friday said that it had searched its records of the 69 given waivers and found that only Lawrence had given the party more than sums amounting to a few hundred dollars at a time.

A committee statement said that it “can confirm what Republicans have known all along: No major donors to the DNC, except Ambassador Larry Lawrence, have received exceptions for burial at Arlington National Cemetery.”

Democrats on Capitol Hill, largely on the sidelines in the controversy until now, joined the criticism. “Our nation’s veterans are being misled,” said Sen. John D. “Jay” Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.)

The names of those granted waivers during the Clinton administration had been kept secret, but officials said they decided to release the identities because Republican critics were taking advantage of public ignorance to make baseless attacks that they knew to be untrue.

One administration official, insisting that GOP lawmakers knew there was no basis to their charges, described the furor as “full-blown McCarthyism.”

At his press conference, West discussed nine of those who received waivers for burial. These burials have received special attention from GOP lawmakers because in each case, West overruled the recommendation of the superintendent of the Arlington cemetery.

*

Guidelines for the cemetery--administered by the Army--generally entitle burial plots at Arlington to service members who have died on active duty and holders of higher-rank decorations. Some family members, former prisoners of war and disabled veterans also qualify. West detailed the circumstances that led to waivers in the nine disputed cases, including:

* Joseph L. Merton. He flew 28 combat missions in World War II with the Tuskegee Airmen, the famed black flying unit, but did not meet the guidelines for burial at Arlington. West said that he granted a waiver to honor the contribution of black veterans at a time when the nation was observing the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II.

* Joseph C. Sciortino. Disabled with malaria during World War II service in the Pacific, Sciortino still did not qualify because his ailment caused what the military considered only a 10% disability. West granted the waiver because he thought the disability was more severe.

* Warren Parks. West said that he made an exception for the World War II Coast Guard veteran because Parks was the grandson of slaves, who had worked at the Arlington House plantation where the cemetery was built and are buried there.

* Hart T. Mankin. An Air Force veteran, Mankin was given a waiver because of his service as Navy general counsel and judge of the Court of Veterans’ Appeals. He wrote the 26th Amendment to the Constitution, which lowered the voting age to 18.

West insisted that he had no knowledge when he granted the exceptions whether any of those involved had given anything to the Democratic Party.

“Today, we continue to care only about the fact that they are Americans who have served their country,” he said. “They deserve better treatment in the press than they’ve gotten so far.”

One GOP congressional staff member said that West had done a “very nice job” in making the administration’s case and may have swung momentum in its favor. But Republicans familiar with the inquiry said that GOP lawmakers are still likely to find grounds to criticize some of the 69 exceptions.

Robert Cade Oliver, for example, who died in 1995, was described by West as a World War II veteran who helped with implementation of the Marshall Plan. But the GOP sees him as a long-time labor organizer and official for many years.

Officials said that West had granted 58 exceptions since he took office in November 1993. Other high-ranking Army officials granted another seven.

Clinton has granted four exceptions, which are apparently not in dispute: Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall; Elvera Burger, widow of Chief Justice Warren E. Burger; an unnamed Drug Enforcement Administration agent who had served in the Army and was killed in an undercover mission in Peru, and Henry J. Daly, a former Marine killed in a shootout at Washington, D.C., police headquarters.

The Republicans may challenge another exception, which Clinton granted in advance to a living American: Former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop. Koop served Presidents Reagan and Bush and won Clinton’s gratitude for joining his anti-tobacco offensive.

“This is a very irregular arrangement,” said one committee official.

Times staff writer Alan C. Miller contributed to this story.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Rules for Arlington Burial

Eligible for burial in Arlington National Cemetery:

* Military personnel who died on active duty.

* Holders of the nation’s highest military decorations, including the Medal of Honor, Distinguished Service Cross, Navy Cross, Air Force Cross, Distinguished Service Medal, Silver Star or Purple Heart.

* Those who had at least 20 years of active-duty service or active Reserve service that qualifies them for retired pay upon retirement at age 60, and those retired for disability.

* Veterans honorably discharged for at least 30% disability before Oct. 1, 1949.

* The spouse or unmarried child (21 years or younger) of any of the above or of any person already buried in Arlington National Cemetery. An unmarried dependent student qualifies before age 23, and any adult child who acquired a physical or mental disability before age 21.

* A veteran who is the parent, brother, sister or child of an eligible person already interred. Interment must be in the same grave as the primary eligible, the veteran’s spouse must waive his or her eligibility for Arlington, and the veteran can have no dependent children at the time of death.

Source: Associated Press