Republican Lawyer Named to Investigate Labor Chief

A panel of federal judges on Tuesday named a New England Republican lawyer as independent counsel to investigate allegations that Labor Secretary Alexis M. Herman illegally accepted pay to help business interests while serving as a White House aide.

Ralph I. Lancaster Jr., a veteran litigator from Portland, Maine, becomes the seventh special counsel named to investigate high-ranking Clinton administration officials. Lancaster, 68, has had years of experience in civil and criminal cases, associates said.

Lancaster’s appointment by a special panel of appellate court judges followed a request from Atty. Gen. Janet Reno earlier this month for an outside counsel in Herman’s case.

Reno told the court that a five-month preliminary inquiry by career Justice Department prosecutors and FBI agents failed to establish the truthfulness of Herman’s chief accuser, West African businessman Laurent Yene. As a result, Reno said, she felt compelled by the controversial Independent Counsel Act to seek appointment of an outside prosecutor who could subpoena documents and obtain testimony before a federal grand jury--avenues not available during the preliminary inquiry.

Herman has denied any wrongdoing, describing the charges against her as “false from the very beginning.”

Yene has alleged that Herman entered into a corrupt agreement after selling her Washington consulting firm to a close friend, Vanessa Weaver, and taking a presidential appointment as chief of the White House office of public liaison in Clinton’s first term.

She relinquished that post a year ago to become secretary of Labor.

Yene, a Cameroon national who also obtained a major share of the firm, has told FBI agents that Herman had an agreement to receive 10% of any business she could facilitate for the company through her White House ties.

He also alleged that Herman directed Weaver to line up at least $250,000 in illegal campaign contributions for the Democratic Party from clients of the firm, known as International Investments and Business Development.

The appellate judges gave Lancaster broad authority to investigate any “illegal and undisclosed payments or other things of value” that might have accrued to Herman, as well as any role that she played in “directing or soliciting illegal campaign contributions” from business clients of her former firm. The judges also gave Lancaster jurisdiction to look into “other related allegations or evidence” of criminal violations that might come to his attention.

Critics of the Independent Counsel Act, which Congress reauthorized in 1994, say outside counsels are given overly broad powers that result in costly inquiries that can stretch over many years.

In announcing Lancaster’s appointment, the appellate court disclosed that it had denied a request by Herman’s attorneys to decline appointment of an outside prosecutor on grounds that Reno had failed to state sufficient reason to proceed. Instead, the court found that Reno’s application is “not facially deficient” and that “consequently we are bound by” federal law to name an independent counsel.

Nonetheless, Herman’s chief attorney, Neil Eggleston, said Tuesday: “Secretary Herman is pleased that this appointment was made so quickly and is looking forward to working with Mr. Lancaster to bring the investigation to a close.”

Although Lancaster declined to be interviewed, Bruce Coggeshall, one of his law partners, described him as a fair-minded attorney who would not allow partisan politics to color his investigation.