WASHINGTON - A Senate committee probing campaign finance abuses is about to examine whether contributions by Cincinnati financier Carl Lindner influenced U.S. trade policy.
The committee also plans to look into the political influence of Fluor Corp., the California firm managing the cleanup of the former nuclear weapons plant at Fernald.
The Senate Governmental Affairs issued subpoenas Wednesday for documents from Mr. Lindner and Chiquita Brands International. Mr. Lindner is chairman of Chiquita.
The high-profile investigation is led by Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., and Sen. John Glenn, D-Ohio.
The committee also sent subpoenas to Fluor officials and Peter Knight, a Washington lobbyist for Fluor who also was campaign manager for the Clinton-Gore re-election campaign.
The Enquirer has learned the subpoenas involving Mr. Lindner and Chiquita were motivated by published reports earlier this year stating that Mr. Lindner made substantial contributions to Democratic Party organizations in different states in return for favorable treatment from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative on an issue critical to Chiquita.
Time magazine said that on April 12, 1996, Mr. Lindner and his executives began funneling more than $500,000 to state Democratic Party organizations.
The move came one day after then-U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor asked the World Trade Organization to consider a grievance by Mr. Lindner's firm against European countries.
Chiquita complained that a system of tariffs and other trade rules unfairly limited market share in the European Union for bananas grown in Central America, its supply source.
"We are not implying anything," Paul Clark, spokesman for the Governmental Affairs Committee, said of the Lindner-related subpoenas. "This is simply a subpoena for documents."
Mr. Clark said the committee will look at the documents and conduct interviews before deciding whether it will call Mr. Lindner to testify. The hearings will resume after Labor Day.
Chiquita officials said there is nothing to the allegation. "It's absolute nonsense," said Joe Hagin, vice president for corporate affairs.
In a formal statement issued Thursday, Chiquita officials added:
"Chiquita Brands International will fully comply with the subpoena we have received from Sen. Thompson's committee. Many of the documents requested by the committee are already matters of public record. We are confident the documents we provide will demonstrate to the committee that the company has acted both properly and in full compliance with the law in all its operations."
Mr. Clark said the committee wants to see documents such as phone messages, letters and internal company memoranda.
Mr. Glenn was vacationing with his family Thursday and unavailable for comment. However, committee staff said he voted for Wednesday's subpoena request that included Mr. Lindner and 38 others. Mr. Glenn supported Chiquita's efforts with the trade office.
The U.S. Trade Representative's Office denied Thursday that political contributions influenced decisions. The office went to bat for Chiquita because of "blatantly discriminatory practices on the part of the European Union," said spokesman Jay Ziegler. Mr. Lindner has been a major contributor to candidates and committees of both political parties throughout the 1990s.
Since 1991, he has given more than $2.36 million in "soft money" - money given directly to political party organizations rather than specific candidates.
But Mr. Lindner, his family and executives of his companies also give generously to specific House and Senate candidates. For the 1994 elections, those contributions totaled $201,390. For the 1996 elections, they were $445,185, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
The 1996 contributions of Mr. Lindner, his family and executives also included money to several senators on the Governmental Affairs Committee - $8,000 each to Sam Brownback, R-Kan., and Susan Collins, R-Maine; $2,000 to Pete Domenici, R-N.M.; and $1,000 to Thad Cochran, R-Miss.
Mr. Glenn, who is not running for re-election in 1998, received $1,000 from Keith Lindner, one of Mr. Lindner's sons, in the 1992 Senate campaign.
The subpoena to Fluor and Mr. Knight follows charges last year that the company gained major Department of Energy contracts, including the cleanup of the Hanford nuclear weapons site in Washington state, because of Mr. Knight's influence.
The company won the $5 billion Hanford contract in August 1996 while the company was under investigation by the General Accounting Office for alleged mismanagement and safety problems at the Fernald site.
Fluor officials denied that either its political contributions or its relationship with Mr. Knight have led to Energy Department contracts.
