[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 146 (Saturday, October 8, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: October 8, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                          ATTACK-DOG JOURNALISM

                                 ______


                         HON. ROBERT K. DORNAN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, October 7, 1994

  Mr. DORNAN. Mr. Speaker, it has often been said, and rightly so, that 
if a man loses his good name he loses everything. And with the advent 
of attack-dog journalism it has become harder and harder for those of 
us in public office to defend our good names and reputations. When 
accusations are made they are front page news. When those accusations 
turn out to be false, the corrections--if you get one that is--will be 
tucked away deep in the bowels of some obscure section that nobody 
reads. As former Secretary of Labor Ray Donovan said after being 
acquitted on bogus charges, ``Where do I go to get my good name back?''
  I remember when terrorism specialist Steve Emerson totally 
demolished, beyond a shadow of a doubt, Time magazine's outrageous 
story on the now infamous phony October Surprise conspiracy theory. 
Emerson proved that Time had been shamelessly used by agent 
provocateurs and con artists. Yet, incredibly, Time stuck by its story. 
When a major news magazine refuses to admit its most obvious and 
blatant errors, something is drastically wrong. But it is a perfect 
example of how difficult it is to get satisfaction from the media.
  I have certainly had my troubles with the Los Angeles Times over the 
years. It seems they simply cannot get over the fact that the people of 
central Orange County would want to be represented by a conservative, 
and they have done their best over the years to see me defeated, all to 
no avail. During that time the L.A. Times has written many stories 
about me. For the most part they have been somewhat fair, though many 
have been biased. But in a certain few cases they have exhibited a 
reckless disregard for the truth and have distorted facts to conform to 
their biased notion of who Bob Dornan is. Tonight, I want to take some 
time to set the record straight on three falsehoods that the L.A. Times 
continually perpetuates. For the sake of my honor and my good name.
  Recently, I was explaining to an L.A. Times reporter who was writing 
a short political piece on me, why I have always been leery of speaking 
with L.A. Times reporters during in all of my eight previous House 
races. Now in race number nine I am on my guard again. I have never 
really had a skilled, focused, mature and competitive Democratic 
opponent. So young L.A. Times reporters take it upon themselves every 
election year to go after me, and close up the point spread in my re-
elections. The result? Times articles on me always become the number 
one weapon used by my opponents in their campaign literature and phone 
banks. Every even numbered year I ask the L.A. Times reporters, ``Why? 
Did God designate you and the L.A. Times to attempt to take me down? To 
defeat me? To end my political career?''
  I advised Times editors on the House floor during special orders that 
I was going to correct some major distortions and lies they have 
printed in the past before they repeat them again this October. There 
is an article from October 10, 1992 that contains several lies about 
Bob Dornan. The Times prints quotes from my opponents that are not 
true, adds quotes that are untruthful, hearsay statements from people 
I've never met, and then rolls these lies over every 2 years into a 
running negative profile that makes me so unbelievable, colorful, and 
flamboyant that Gen. George S. Patton, dead or alive, could not match 
the image the L.A. Times has created of me.

  Three of the most outrageous lies were repeated in a short profile 
feature done 3 weeks before the election of 1992. I am now going to try 
to correct the lies contained therein once and for all. They spring 
from the 1980 general election, the 1982 primary, and the 1986 general 
election. I now publicly ask the L.A. Times if they are going to 
continue to perpetuate these three vicious untruths in the closing days 
of the 1994 elections.
  Eric Bailey and Bob Stewart wrote an October 18, 1992 so-called 
biographical update on me. After the election I pointed out to them the 
major gross lies. They promised that they would correct them. Bob 
Stewart moved on, so he cannot correct them. But Eric Bailey can and 
should ask his editors to correct the historical record.
  Eric, please heed and hear my words. Lie number one is from my third 
congressional campaign in 1980. Here are the exact words out of the 
October 1992 L.A. Times: ``During his 1980 battle for his old Santa 
Monica-area district against Carey Peck,'' (Peck seemed to disappear 
off the face of the Earth the next year) ``son of actor Gregory Peck, 
it took a Justice Department investigation to clear the challenger'' 
(Peck) ``of Dornan's allegations that Peck accepted $13,000 in illegal 
cash campaign donations from James H. Dennis, a convicted felon serving 
time in an Alabama Federal prison for fraud. Dennis said he agreed to 
make the accusations when Dornan visited him in prison and promised to 
get the felon better prison status. Dornan denied that any deal 
existed.''
  A vicious, foul untrue story, I have never to this day 14 years later 
corrected this garbage on the House floor. I should have years ago. I 
will now.
  First, young Carey Peck, son of Gregory, did take 13 sequentially 
numbered, $1,000, illegal donations written to him from ``dead people, 
and 3- and 4-year-old children.'' Gregory Peck, the Academy Award 
winning actor, and I say this sincerely, probably unknowingly brought 
an envelope from Alabama to L.A. with this dirty, $13,000 worth of 
phony cashiers checks using the names of children and dead people 
inside and gave it to his son. I charitably assume he did not open the 
envelope. The checks all originated in Alabama. Then-Senator Alan 
Cranston, who I also think was unwitting in all this, had asked Gregory 
Pack to come to Alabama to help a young Senator named Donald Stewart 
who was appointed after the death of Senator James Allen. James Dennis 
sent this dirty money to young Carey as a favor to Gregory Peck for 
coming to Alabama. This James Dennis had embezzled $1\1/2\ million from 
people in the State of California. I went to visit him in an Alabama 
prison to get at the root of the $13,000 of dirty money that the Carey 
Peck campaign took in 1978. I took with me my wife, my lawyer, the U.S. 
attorney from southern Alabama, and an FBI agent from their Alabama 
office. We all met in the warden's conference room at Talladega Prison 
to get to the bottom of this scandal. The warden stayed throughout the 
meeting.

  James Dennis told us everything about political corruption in 
Alabama. He never asked me for special treatment and I never gave any 
to him. How could I? A month later his brother was involved in a fatal 
car crash. As he lingered near death, I was in Israel on a Narcotics 
Committee investigation trip at the time, Dennis called my staff from 
prison to ask if they could help him to visit his dying but conscious 
brother in the hospital. Prison officials said there was nothing my 
staff could do to help James Dennis. His brother died. The warden, on 
his own, did allow Dennis to go to his brother's funeral in leg 
shackles and handcuffs. Weird.
  Quite a character this James Dennis, an Elvis Presley look-a-like. He 
looked more like Elvis than any professional Elvis impersonator I have 
ever seen. He was even more handsome. But at age 28 he embezzled one-
half million dollars and put 13 phony $1,000 checks into young Peck's 
campaign. Did the Justice Department clear Peck. They did not! They 
never even investigated, as the Times alleges. When I brought the case 
to Jimmy Carter's Justice Department, I was told to go to the Federal 
Election Commission. The FEC fined Dennis $30,000, a record fine at 
that time, and ordered Peck to return the money. Peck claims he did. I 
repeat. The Justice Department in 1980 under Jimmy Carter said they did 
not want any part of an investigation. After all, the election was over 
and I had won by 51 to 46 percent and Carter had lost to Ronald Reagan.
  Do you have those facts straight, L.A. Times?
  Those are the facts, and I will flesh them out in person anytime the 
Times wants to hear the truth.
  Here is the second big lie. This is from the L.A. Times of Oct. 18, 
1992:

       While making an unsuccessful run for U.S. Senate in 1982, 
     Dornan accused Barry Goldwater Jr. of being involved in a 
     drug scandal on Capitol Hill and assisted law enforcement 
     officials in an investigation.

  Lie, lie, on two points. The story on Barry and cocaine broke in 
September 1982. Our primary race was over on June 8, 1982. And besides, 
I never had any knowledge whatsoever about Goldwater's private life.
  The Times goes on to say, ``Goldwater was never charged.'' Go look at 
the files from the ethics committee investigation here in the House on 
that case in 1983, which is after I had been gerrymandered out of my 
seat. I did not serve in the 98th Congress.
  Joseph Califano wrote the final report and said he believed Goldwater 
to be guilty. I never bothered to learn either side of the story. It is 
a dirty vicious lie for the L.A. Times to write that I accused or 
investigated a friend and had him busted for cocaine use. I was with 
Barry in England in September 1982 when an Air Force colonel handed me 
a Newsweek magazine with the breaking story of cocaine use on Capitol 
Hill in which Barry was named. I asked him about it. He denied the 
story and I believed him. Barry and I had both been bested in the June 
primary by Pete Wilson, now California's Governor.

  Are you listening L.A. Times? Are you aware of these facts Shelby 
Coffey or Marty Baron? Are you reading about blatant lies that your 
paper has never corrected?
  Vicious lie number 3. There are many more little mistakes and 
untruths in the October 1992 profile that I will go into in the future.
  Again, here is the L.A. Times of October 18, 1992:

       At a debate during the 1986 race, Dornan launched a furious 
     series of character attacks on his opponent, then-Assemblyman 
     Richard Robinson. He accused the democrat of influence 
     peddling.

  ``Influence peddling'' are words the L.A. Times' used in their 
investigative report. They are not mine. They were used in an 
investigative piece about Richard Robinson. Yet the L.A. Times dredged 
up its own words from years earlier and put them in my mouth 10 years 
later. Wow, what chutzpah.
  Again, the full L.A. Times quote continues:

       Dornan accused the Democrat of influence peddling, bribery, 
     extortion, and dealing with teenage prostitutes in 
     Sacramento.

  Good grief. All of that is in single quotes because it came from a 
front-page L.A. Times story that of course I printed in a brochure and 
mailed to every home in my district. Who wouldn't do that in a 
campaign? Was I wrong to believe in the accuracy of the reporting of 
the Times? Mr. Speaker, it is absolutely outrageous to attribute their 
investigative conclusions to me, as if I were the one who conducted the 
investigation.
  Mr. Speaker, I have every right to take out a point of personal 
privilege and do an hour in the middle of our congressional day or 
this. I chose to do it this way and not interfere with our legislative 
schedule.
  But I will speak on this next year, Mr. Speaker, after I win with 
over 55 percent of the vote in my district. That is, I will again try 
to correct my personal career record with the truth unless the L.A. 
Times has honorably corrected the record in the interim.
  Thank you Mr. Speaker, have a nice election.
  I submit for the Record the January 21, 1985 L.A. Times investigative 
report.

             [From the Los Angeles Times, January 21, 1985]

             Ex-Aides Tie Moriarty to Political Sex Parties

                    (By Tracy Wood and George Frank)

       Former top aides to Anaheim fireworks manufacturer W. 
     Patrick Moriarty say they have given criminal investigators a 
     detailed account of how Moriarty provided prostitutes for 
     state and local officials in an effort to gain political 
     clout.
       The former aides also have told the story in interviews 
     with The Times, providing a growing list of governmental 
     officials, bankers and others the one-time aides said were 
     provided with prostitutes paid for by Moriarty.
       Those named by former Moriarty associate Richard Raymond 
     Keith, 47, include former Assemblyman Bruce Young (D-
     Norwalk). Assembly Democratic Leader Mike Roos of Los Angeles 
     and Assemblyman Richard Robinson (D-Santa Ana).


                          independent inquiry

       Also listed by Keith and another former Moriarty aide, John 
     E. (Pete) Murphy, 62, were two local Southern California 
     officeholders--Los Angeles City Councilman David Cunningham 
     and Orange County Supervisor Ralph B. Clark.
       The involvement of these officials was independently 
     checked by The Times with authoritative sources including 
     people who say they were present on occasions when 
     prostitutes were provided.
       Roos, 39, said ``I'm just not going to respond.'' Robinson, 
     41, called the allegations ``ludicrous.'' Young, 38, who was 
     identified by The Times last September as allegedly having 
     been provided with Moriarty-paid prostitutes, has denied the 
     allegations.
       Cunningham, 49, would only say the charges are 
     ``ridiculous.''
       Clark, 67, denied ever having engaged in sex with any 
     prostitutes. He did say he had attended several routine 
     luncheons in Los Angels with Keith and Orange County lobbyist 
     Frank Michelena. At one of the lunches, he said, there were 
     some ``public relations women'' and he gave them his card.
       ``This could be the cause of all this,'' Clark said.
       The 53-year-old Moriarty, through his Sacramento attorney, 
     Donald Heller, denied any involvement with prostitutes. 
     Heller earlier had denied all allegations by Keith, 
     describing the former close associate of Moriarty as a person 
     who is ``trying to create a false defense for his own 
     conduct.''
       Keith has been indicated on 13 counts of bankruptcy fraud, 
     income tax evasion and making false statements to a bank. He 
     is tentatively scheduled for trial next month.
       Charges that Moriarty used prostitutes to influence public 
     officials and others first surfaced almost a year ago in an 
     affidavit containing information provided by California 
     Canadian Bank executive Jonas T. Gislason of El Toro to 
     Orange County district attorney's investigators.
       Gislason accused Moriarty of providing prostitutes to him 
     and other bank officials who handled millions of dollars in 
     loans for the Anaheim businessman.
       Gislason also told the investigators that he ``believed'' 
     that Moriarty once provided a prostitute at the Anaheim 
     Sheraton Hotel for former Los Angeles Fire Chief John C. 
     Gerard, who supported a 1979 proposal to allow sale of safe-
     and-sane fireworks in sections of Los Angeles lying within a 
     mile of other cities that allowed the sale of such fireworks.
       Responding to Gislason's contention, Gerard said: ``To the 
     best of my recollection, I did not have sex with anyone at 
     the Sheraton Hotel.''
       In response to the Gislason charges, Moriarty issued a 
     statement through his attorney, saying: ``It's unfortunate 
     this secret . . . investigation is retrogressing to a fishing 
     expendtion into the sewer.''
       Last May, not long after Gislason's disclosures, state Sen. 
     H.L. Richardson (R-Glendora) told The Times that Moriarty 
     asked him to help stop the criminal investigation into the 
     fireworks manufacturer's political activities, particularly 
     the allegations about providing prostitutes for state 
     legislators and other public officials.
       Richardson said he immediately reported Moriarty's overture 
     to Orange County Dist. Atty. Cecil Hicks, who was directing 
     the investigation.
       Moriarty, Richardson said, ``wanted me to intercede (with 
     Hicks) and see if it (the political investigation) could be 
     dropped. He asked me to look into the matter and see if I 
     could be of some assistance. He wanted my advice. The best I 
     could give him was, `Well, let me look into it. . . .' He 
     (Moriarty) was trying to get it all (the investigation) 
     dropped.''
       Richardson said Moriarty told him that the problem could 
     hurt ``innocent people,'' particularly families of public 
     officials.


                            Casual Reference

       The senator quoted Moriarty as saying: ```Well, we had some 
     parties and you know how some of those whores and prostitutes 
     show up. . . .''' Richardson said Moriarty ``made it sound 
     like they just stumbled by, like it's a normal occasion for 
     them to show up at those things.''
       Moriarty refused to respond to Richardson's charges.
       The most recent disclosures by Moriarty's former associates 
     add new momentum to the prostitution aspect of a widening 
     inquiry being conducted jointly by the U.S. attorney's office 
     and the Orange County district attorney. The probe already 
     has resulted in the indictment of Moriarty on racketeering 
     charges in connection with licensing of a City of Commerce 
     poker parlor.
       Keith, formerly Moriarty's closest business associate, 
     recently told a television interviewer why using prostitutes 
     was effective.
       ``It gave you the ability to not only socialize and develop 
     a cronyism with the individual but also (it was) a mild form 
     of extortion at certain points when the investigation became 
     involved and focused on the girls,'' Keith said in the 
     report, aired recently by KCBS-TV in Los Angeles.
       In his interviews with The Times, Keith told of arranging 
     prostitutes for 10 public officials, eight bankers and dozens 
     of other friends and associates. The encounters, he said, 
     occurred in a variety of settings.


                         beverly hills parties

       He and Murphy, both of whom say they also arranged paid sex 
     for themselves, gave accounts of frequent sex ``parties'' in 
     a Beverly Hills penthouse where guests also were treated to 
     hot and cold buffets and a well-stocked bar.
       ``It was like a New Year's Eve party,'' Keith said. ``If 
     somebody fell in love, fine.''
       Keith and Murphy also listed liaisons that took place at 
     hotels in Anaheim, Buena Park, Fullerton, Los Angeles, 
     Sacramento and such faraway places as New York, Washington 
     and London.
       Keith said he would pay for the prostitutes initially and 
     then Moriarty would reimburse him. Most times, Keith said, he 
     would cash a check and deliver the cash directly to a Los 
     Angeles madam or he would pay some of the prostitutes 
     directly.
       He said he delivered between $300,000 and $400,000 to the 
     women for their services. Keith estimated that since 1978 
     Moriarty and his associates have paid between $600,000 and 
     $750,000 for prostitutes. Former Moriarty associate Murphy 
     said Keith's estimates ``sounded pretty close.''
       To get reimbursed, Keith said, ``I would say, `Pat, I need 
     money.' I would put down on a slip of paper, I would . . . 
     say whatever hookers were involved in that week's activities 
     `needs $2,000, $3,000, $4,000, $5,000 or $10,000' or whatever 
     it was. (Or) I would say, `I need $3,000, $4,000 or $5,000' 
     to cover whatever political contributions I made (for 
     Moriarty).
       ``He (Moriarty) would issue a check for $5,000 or $25,000 
     or $50,000 to cover whatever we needed,'' Keith said.
       Keith said he has given investigators the names of all 
     those he can recall providing with prostitutes. The Times has 
     reported only the names of officials whose participation 
     could be independently checked with authoritative sources 
     including people who say they were present when the 
     encounters occurred. These sources have declined to be 
     identified.
       Keith made a distinction between the politicians to whom he 
     said prostitutes were provided.
       He said Supervisor Clark and Councilman Cunningham 
     requested prostitutes `'directly as prostitutes and at all 
     times knew they were prostitutes.'' Assemblyman Young, Roos 
     and Robinson, according to Keith, could have thought the 
     prostitutes were ``friends of Dick Keith's'' and that the 
     Beverly Hills penthouse where they has sex ``could have been 
     Dick Keith's apartment.''
       The assemblymen, Keith said, ``could have thought they were 
     party girls or good time girls.'' He added that there was 
     never any money exchanged in front of any politicians.
       Over the years, dozens of prostitutes were used, Keith 
     said, including part-timers he described as ``pro-ams.'' 
     Murphy spoke almost paternally of the professional 
     prostitutes he called ``my soiled doves.''
       Moriarty began hiring prostitutes in the early 1970s as a 
     way of entertaining businessmen, according to Murphy.
       That worked so well, Murphy said, that Moriarty decided to 
     use prostitutes in the political arena.
       ``It worked with other things so let's try it with them 
     (public officials),'' Murphy explained of Moriarty's original 
     practice of providing prostitutes for businessmen.
       ``After a while, the politicians, like the businessman, 
     felt they were entitled to this. They felt we were obligated 
     to entertain them. After they went once, they expected it 
     regularly,'' Murphy said.

                          ____________________