UN I V E R S I T Y D A I L Y K A N S A N
Wednesday, July 9, 1997
7
Senate begins inquiry into party fund-raising
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Senators opened politically-charged hearings into fund-raising abuses yesterday, with two surprises: U.S. intelligence has unmasked continuing efforts by China to influence elections, and a reluctant witness, John Huang, is making an offer that could lead to his testifying.
Outlining what he called "the story about the existence of a Chinese plan to subvert our election process," the chairman of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee said China was believed to have allocated substantial sums of money to influence the 1996 presidential election, congressional races and state elections.
Chairman Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., said the plan violated American law.
Top Democrats on the panel said they weren't ready to go as far as Thompson in his talk of efforts to subvert U.S. elections.
After months of attention on Democratic excesses in raising millions to finance President Clinton's re-election, Democrats suggested that Thompson overstated the evidence, and they demanded that abuses by
"We know in our hearts the money chase is a bipartisan problem."
Sen. Carl Levin D-Michigan
both major political parties be laid before the American people.
"We know in our hearts the money chase is a bipartisan problem," said Carl Levin, D-Mich.
Top Democrats also said they weren't ready to go as far as Thompson in alleging Chinese efforts to subvert American elections.
In another development, Huang, the Democrats' chief fund-raiser among Asian Americans, made an unexpected offer to testify after months of insisting he would do so only with a grant of immunity from prosecution.
"Having become a defenseless target for Asian basishers ... Mr. Huang feels compelled to forgo the security of his constitutional protections and to attempt honorably to acknowledge whatever mistakes he may have made over time," Ty Cobb, Huang's attorney, wrote to the committee.
Huang offered to take the stand to deny allegations that he leaked classified government information when he worked at the Commerce Department — but said he would not testify about his fund-raising activities without immunity. He raised $3.4 million for Democrats, but the party has returned nearly half of it because of suspicions about its origins.
Thompson and the committee's senior Democrat, John Glenn of Ohio, said they are uncertain whether Huang ought to be granted immunity. Thompson questioned whether Huang can be granted immunity for some crimes but not for others, such as espionage. Nonetheless, Thompson directed lawyers for the committee to negotiate with Huang's lawyer.
"In one sense this is the star witness we have been looking for," said Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn.
No one knows what dangers await Mir's cosmonauts when they open the hatch to the space station's depressurized lab.
The Associated Press
Mir's lab could pose dangers
Floating glass shards from broken bottles? Globules of blood and urine from popped vials? Toxic spills from ruined experiments and burst pipes?
The spacemen could be opening an orbital Pandora's box.
As a result, NASA is putting together a worst-case list in preparation for the repair this month. Two cosmonauts plan to put on their spacesuits, unseal the ruptured, airless lab and try to restore electrical power to the crippled space station.
The cosmonauts could rip their pressurized spacesuits on something jagged, which could be deadly, or track toxic materials into the station.
"I suspect the first thing the crew will do when they open that hat," said NASA shuttle-Mir program manager Frank Culbertson, "is shine a light in and see if there are any green monsters in there, and shut it if there are."
Science experiments inside the lab have been exposed
to the frigid vacuum of space since an out-of-control cargo slammed into Mir on June 25 and punched a hole in the aluminum hull. Crewmen had to scrumble to shut the lab hatch before the station lost pressure.
"It could well be that it looks like a tomb, a dark and/or orderly tomb," said James Oberg, an expert in Russian space affairs. "Or it could look like an after-dinner scene from *hurricane Park*.
The snowflakes could have been ammonia or silicone seeping from the radiator or something leaking from the interior of the lab, which is called Spektr, Culbertson said Monday.
A leak has heightened concern. Last week, American astronaut Michael Foale and his crew mates heard a series of thumps and saw white flakes drifting into space near the lab's dented radiator.
The dangers worry the space station's overseers and NASA, which wants to make sure there is no danger to the shuttle Atlantis when it arrives in September to pick up Foale.
The crewmen cannot peek into Spektr because the hatch is windowless. They cannot drill a hole and drop in a scope because precious air would leak out.
NEWS IN BRIEF
Trial resumes with so-called Cosby daughter
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — Lawyers defending the woman who claims to be Bill Cosby's out-of-wedlock daughter could not convince jurors she had legal right to demand millions of Cosby's dollars, a judge ruled yesterday.
said Autumn Jackson's claim-of-right defense, which claims that Jackson was entitled to Cosby's money, was not a defense that would stand against a charge of extortion. Lawyers selected a panel of six men and six women to hear the trial, which will resume today with opening statements.
U. S. District Judge Barbara Jones
12 Hour Produce Sale Saturday, July 12, 1997 8am-8pm
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Watch for details in the Friday July 11 Lawrence Journal-World
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AUTUMN GRAIN
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Sanders Premium, Sundance
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advanced Photo System.
Offer Good Than 7/15/97
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BRIE DE MEAUX CHEESE $5.88
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PER NIGHT
!!Book Sale!!
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