Posted on 11/15/2003 6:07:32 AM PST by Liz
WASHINGTON, Nov. 14 - The Pentagon's inspector general concluded this week that Richard N. Perle violated no ethics laws or rules when he was leading an influential Pentagon advisory board while at the same timerepresenting two companies in their dealings with the government.
But Mr. Perle has become the focus of an inquiry being conducted by Hollinger International, the media conglomerate, where he serves as a director.
That inquiry is examining several transactions, including $2.5 million in payments made by the company to Trireme Partners, a venture capital company in which Mr. Perle is a managing partner. The inquiry is being led by Richard C. Breeden, the former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The inspector general's conclusions were in a heavily excised report dated Nov. 10 that was released on Friday by Representative John Conyers of Michigan, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, who requested the inquiry after reports about Mr. Perle's business dealings.
Those reports led Mr. Perle to step down last March as chairman of the Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee.
The panel is a group of influential advisers that meets regularly with the defense secretary and other top officials, has access to classified information and plays an important role in shaping military policy. Mr. Perle remains a member of the board.
"We have completed our inquiry regarding the conduct of Mr. Perle and did not substantiate allegations of misconduct," Joseph E. Schmirtz, the inspector general, wrote in a letter to Mr. Conyers that accompanied the report.
The report confirmed many of the underlying facts of the news reports and found that Mr. Perle's business dealings did not violate the ethics rules.
It concluded that Mr. Perle "arguably represented" two companies in matters "pending in the department or agency of the government in which such employee is serving" and therefore in possible violation of two federal laws.
But the report said that because Mr. Perle was classified as a "special government employee" the two provisions would be violated only if he served in government for more than 60 days during the year.
His job entailed only about eight days of service annually, according to the report. While he led the board, Mr. Perle advised the American satellite maker, Loral Space and Communications, as it faced government accusations that it improperly transferred rocket technology to China.
He contacted the senior official at the State Department considering the Loral matter. Mr. Perle has said he contacted the official, an assistant secretary, Lincoln P. Bloomfield Jr., to inquire about the status of license requests by Loral to deliver the satellites that had been made for China.
In another case, Mr. Perle was retained by the telecommunications company Global Crossing to help the company overcome resistance by the Defense Department to its proposed sale to a joint venture of Hutchison Whampoa, controlled by the Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing, and Singapore Technologies Telemedia, a phone company controlled by the government of Singapore.
In that case, Mr. Perle and his lawyers had prepared to file an affidavit in the Global Crossing bankruptcy proceeding that said he was uniquely qualified to advise the company on the matter because of his job as head of the Defense Policy Board. But after a reporter raised questions about whether he was using his job at the policy board for the benefit of a client, Mr. Perle and his lawyers revised the affidavit.
The inspector general's report said that "on its face, the affidavit would appear to violate D.O.D. ethics regulations that prohibit the use of official position for personal gain." "However, testimony from multiple witnesses corroborated Mr. Perle's assertion that he objected to the language at issue and signed a second version of the affidavit only after being incorrectly assured that the language referring to his D.P.B.A.C. position had been removed," the report said. "Accordingly, we considered his act, while careless, an unintentional oversight."
What is it about Richard Perle that so sticks in the craw of lefists, paleoCONS, and other such whiners? That he's Conservative? That he advises Pentagon policymakers? That he's Jewish? All three???
Bad day for Seymour Hersh though. Sniffle (sob.) ;)
As far as his French digs, maybe his attitude is "keep your friends close and your enemies closer."
(the one he hid out at while the war he incompetently architected went badly)
Architected? Is that a word?
So you cannot prove that Perle is not a conservative since you don't know his views on certain issues, but I can point to his service to this conservative President to prove he is a conservative.
And, architected is not in Websters Dictionary.
Now go to the corner and think about what you did! 
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