Palmeiro Faces More Scrutiny

Congress will investigate whether Rafael Palmeiro, the Baltimore Oriole slugger who tested positive for steroid use, perjured himself during a March hearing before the House Government Reform Committee.

Palmeiro, who claims to have never taken steroids intentionally, agreed Wednesday to cooperate and Major League Baseball officials said they will forward details of Palmeiro’s positive test for the steroid stanolozol to the committee.

Palmeiro was suspended for 10 days Monday, when a two-month grievance process concluded with an independent arbitration panel finding against him.

In a high-profile hearing on Capitol Hill in March, Palmeiro sat with some of the game’s best-known figures and testified under oath that he had never taken steroids; on Monday he modified that, implying he had unknowingly consumed over-the-counter dietary supplements contaminated by a banned substance.

Congress, which is considering legislation to curb the use of steroids in major American professional sports, has focused again on baseball because of Palmeiro’s suspension.

Baseball and the players’ union had resisted government intervention in the joint drug agreement. Both sides, however, believe the committee has at least as much interest in Palmeiro, who recently became the fourth player in baseball history with at least 3,000 hits and 500 home runs, as it does in the existing drug policy, and therefore do not intend to resist.

Among the potential issues aside from Palmeiro: the presence of union and baseball officials on the Health Policy Advisory Committee, the body that recommends individual cases to an independent arbitration panel. Palmeiro -- and Seattle Mariner pitcher Ryan Franklin -- received a union vote in both cases, according to an industry source familiar with the process -- and therefore delayed their suspensions.

“It’s a little of both,” said Phil Schiliro, chief of staff for Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Los Angeles). “We are interested in when the test was administered and the substance that was found. He testified before the committee, and this has some relevance to his testimony. The committee wants to be sure that his testimony is truthful.”

Committee Chairman Tom Davis (R-Va.) and Waxman requested the information Tuesday, before it was revealed that Palmeiro had tested for stanolozol, which is unlikely to be found in a dietary supplement, according to leading steroid experts.

Schiliro said it was too early to predict if Palmeiro would face an official perjury inquiry, and Davis told Associated Press that prosecution in such cases is “rare.”

“But,” Davis said, “this is a high-profile case, so I think it will get an honest look-see. I don’t think anyone can avoid it.

“If we did nothing, I think we’d look like idiots, don’t you?”

In a statement released through his agent, Arn Tellem, Palmeiro said, “I spoke with Congressman Davis yesterday and told him that I will fully cooperate with him and the committee. I will provide them with any information they need and if he or any other committee member has additional questions, I am ready and willing to answer each and every one of them.”

The committee also released a statement, in the names of Davis and Waxman, reading in part, “We are pleased that Mr. Palmeiro has pledged his full cooperation. He has agreed to authorize the release of all relevant documents to the committee, which will help us fully understand the facts of the situation. Once we review the documents, we will determine our next step.”

The committee expects to have Palmeiro’s file within a week, Schiliro said, but he did not know how long an investigation would take or what would come of it. He also would not speculate on whether the committee would release the contents of the case upon its findings.

Palmeiro, who is subject to an undetermined number of follow-up tests because of his positive test, implied Monday that he had ingested a banned drug through tainted over-the-counter supplements. The Times confirmed Wednesday reports in the New York Times and Newsday that Palmeiro tested for stanolozol, the same steroid for which Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson tested during the 1988 Seoul Olympics. He was stripped of his gold medal in the 100 meters.

“It has been 17 years since that cloudy morning in Seoul,” said Steven Ungerleider, an Oregon researcher and author of “Faust’s Gold,” a study of the East German doping machine of the 1970s and 1980s. “Don’t you think we could all be a little more creative given that there’s a new generation of anabolics? Stanolozol is somewhat obsolete in that we’ve come a long way up the pharmacological food chain. It is somewhat surprising, to say the least, to see recycling from the Ben Johnson days.”

The leak prompted privacy concerns from Don Fehr, executive director of the Major League Baseball Players’ Assn., and Tellem. The joint drug agreement states that disclosure of such information is forbidden, beyond notifying the public that the player has been suspended for a violation of the program. It is unlikely, however, that a player would be disciplined for revealing information about his case.

The players’ union insisted on confidentiality when it agreed to include steroid testing in the collective bargaining agreement for the first time in 2002, and again when they strengthened the policy in time for this season.

“Obviously, it’s disturbing,” Fehr said. “Wherever it came from, it’s a violation of an agreement they made.”

In a statement released late in the day, Tellem accused the commissioner’s office.

“The confidentiality rules that the arbitrator set in this case have been broken by MLB,” he said. “Rafael has respected the rules by not discussing the specifics, but unfortunately MLB has not done the same. What MLB has done is outrageous and it undermines the integrity of their drug testing program. There is another side to this story, and Raffy will tell it soon. I hope that the public will wait to make a final judgment about Rafael until they hear his story in its entirety.”

The events of the previous three days have added to the anxiety of the Orioles, who entered Wednesday night’s game in Anaheim having lost 15 of 17.

“Our initial reaction is shock, obviously,” Oriole outfielder Jay Gibbons said. “We’re just looking for answers. We want to talk to [Palmeiro] personally. There are rumors that he got this stuff from a teammate. If that’s the case, we want to know. We’re going to miss him, that’s for sure, because we’re scuffling.

“What frustrates me is seven other guys were suspended, and this is the only player where it was leaked what he supposedly took. If you’re going to do that with one guy, why not all of them? It’s kind of unfair to Raffy.”

The breach probably will not affect future negotiations. Fehr has traveled recently to talk to many players about Commissioner Bud Selig’s proposal to increase the penalty of a first-time positive test to 50 games, a second test to 100 games and a third to a permanent ban. Representatives from the players’ union and Major League Baseball have discussed the parameters of such a plan, including having a more transparent appeals process, though Fehr is not through polling the players.

Times staff writers Mike DiGiovanna and Alan Abrahamson contributed to this report.