Posted on 02/18/2003 2:30:27 AM PST by prisoner6
Rendell's security nominee challenged (May Have Helped IRAQ!)
Questions raised about Martin
Saturday, February 15, 2003BY PETE SHELLEM
Of The Patriot-News
Gov. Ed Rendell's choice to head the state's Department of Homeland Security resigned from a Lancaster TV station in 1990 after it was revealed he was consulting for an arms dealer that was illegally funneling weapons to Iraq.
Some of those weapons ended up being used against American soldiers during the Gulf War.
Keith Martin, the former managing editor and nightly anchor for WGAL Channel 8, resigned after it was learned he accepted $10,000 from International Signal and Control of Lancaster to counsel the then-embattled company on how to handle media relations. He said then he resigned to spare the station bad publicity.
The arrangement came to light in a civil suit when James H. Guerin, the former head of ISC, acknowledged hiring Martin, who at the time was also an officer in the Pennsylvania National Guard.
At the time, the company was under investigation on several fronts, for allegations ranging from massive financial fraud to illegal arms sales. Martin, who could not be reached for comment yesterday, was not implicated in the criminal case.
Guerin is serving 15 years in federal prison for fraud, money laundering and $50 million in illegal arms sales.
When the deal with ISC was revealed, Martin initially said the money from ISC was payment for preparing videos for the United Way and the Chamber of Commerce. Both those agencies told reporters they thought he was volunteering, according to published reports at the time.
Rendell spokesman Ken Snyder said Martin disclosed that he had worked for ISC and that his consulting duties "involved charitable duties and community relations and had no association with their core business and [he] was not named as a defendant."
"He had a very successful career in the National Guard," Snyder said. "He retired as a general and had a very successful career as a local TV personality."
He said Guerin's testimony should be suspect because he was later convicted. "An incident that occurred 13 years ago doesn't appear at the moment as a disqualifier," Snyder said.
When he was named by Rendell Thursday, Martin called the controversy "a tempest in a teapot" and pointed out he was hired by a Scranton TV station days after he resigned.
But Douglas S. Thomas, a former reporter for the Lancaster Sunday News who covered the ISC case, called it a "big deal."
"He blatantly disregarded the rules of journalism and his own ethical obligations," Thomas said.
Thomas also said WGAL virtually ignored the ISC story under Martin's supervision as it was developing.
"This is just an insult to Pennsylvanians," said Thomas, who is now a financial adviser and Rendell supporter. "He has no business being in this important a role in our government at this critical time in our history."
Martin was appointed to the position of Homeland Security chief, but Rendell yesterday said he wants to elevate it to a Cabinet-level post, which would mean Martin would have to be confirmed by the Senate.
Joseph Pittman, chief of staff for Sen. Don White, R-Indiana, who serves as chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness, said Martin's background raises obvious concerns.
"These are potentially very serious issues and should the director of homeland security be elevated to Cabinet level, the circumstances surrounding the situation would have to be given a very hard look pending any confirmation," Pittman said.
Martin told the Wilkes-Barre Time Leader this week he wasn't scared of the confirmation process.
The paper quoted him as saying he's helped the transition team "look under my shoes and in the closet and everything else. ... They've had every opportunity to look in the Martin woodpile."
Nine months after Martin stepped down from WGAL, Guerin pleaded guilty to masterminding a fraud involving the sale of ISC to Ferranti International PLC, then Britain's third-largest defense contractor. At that time, the federal investigation had been ongoing for almost two years.
The indictment accused Guerin of illegally inflating ISC's value by creating more than $1 billion in fraudulent contracts that were placed on ISC's books before Ferranti purchased the company in 1987.
In a deposition, Guerin said Martin was hired to counsel ISC executives about how to deal with the media and favorably portray the merger.
By November 1990, government officials revealed that Iraq had obtained cluster bombs, which release hundreds of smaller bombs, through Guerin's Chilean business partner.
After the indictments were made, former FBI Director William Sessions called the case "particularly disturbing because these arms were used against our own troops as they valiantly fought to free the people of Kuwait."
Guerin pleaded guilty in 1991 to conspiring to sell sophisticated military components to a company owned by the South African government in violation of U.S. export law and the Anti-Apartheid Act.
Nineteen other individuals were indicted in the three-year investigation by federal prosecutors in Philadelphia.
PETE SHELLEM: 255-8156 or pshellem@patriot-news.com
prisoner6
Oh, wait, I'm forgetting about Fast Eddie's buddy Ex President Pantload.
Gosh I'm crabby this morning. Must be all the snow here in Pittsburgh...
prisoner6
Have fun with this!
prisoner6
I'm not sure that this is anything other than an example of poor judgement, since Guerin was only convicted of inflating the books prior to trying to sell the company to a Canadian company. It was Guerin's Chilean business partner who sold the bombs to Iraq. It's not clear at the moment whether the charges against Guerin were reduced as a result of a plea bargain, or whether the Iraq deal was done without his knowledge.
Either way, at the least, it shows poor judgement on the part of both Martin and Rendell--and that would be enough for me.
When the deal with ISC was revealed, Martin initially said the money from ISC was payment for preparing videos for the United Way and the Chamber of Commerce. Both those agencies told reporters they thought he was volunteering, according to published reports at the time.
And..
WGAL virtually ignored the ISC story under Martin's supervision as it was developing.
And more. Even if he wasn't directly involved his action safterward show the kind of person Fast Ed will be packing his cabinet with. Actually I think there's lot's more to this story than what first meets the eye.
prisoner6
We should not accept anyone like this in such a sensitive position, but will the PA Senate be able to stand up to Rendell (if it goes to the Senate)?
BTW, the Patriot-News is the Harrisburg paper.
You know, I just figured that Rendell's appointments would just have boring run-of-the-mill felony convictions.
Thanks for the tip on the paper. I was so busy I didn't have time to figure out just where it came from. I also ran the story on WSHH during the news and WPTT on the Jerry Bowyer show.
priosner6
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