Albuquerque Journal from Albuquerque, New Mexico • Page 1

ALBUQUERQUE JOOrML' dLaawwtorWiii ---rrMffF-litii iii -MiAiaMiiiMAiitrtjiBitrt tiiif UiirihiiiTilHriiWr.rtti tfri iv. munTiiii thi'Mim Tim "i nn nana -rrrr u. ini ri-iVifn- Tim ir- t- -t- 117th Year, No. 268 66 Pages in 7 Sections Thursday Morning, September 25, 1997 Copyright 1997, Journal Publishing Co. FINAL.

Clinton Held Fund-Raising Breakfasts in 1994 Commission records show. Some attendees said Clinton did not specifically -ask for donations at breakfast; they were solicited afterwards by fund-raisers. The White House defended the breakfasts as legal. Moreover, they said the Clintons' goal wasn't to raise money for their own political use but rather to air ads to repel special interest attacks against their plan seeking universal health care. titled "scheduling fund-raising events." "We need to schedule several additional breakfasts with the President to facilitate the additional fund-raising for the health care media campaign," Ickes told his boss.

Davis said the president attended at least eight fund-raising breakfasts, the first on May 5, 1994, and the last on Aug. 23, 1994. Mrs. Clin- See CLINTON on PAGE A8 financial support" for the Democratic Party's ad campaign on behalf of their ill-fated health-care initiative. The events pre-date the coffees and telephone solicitations from the 1996 election that are at the heart of the current fund-raising investigations in Congress and the Justice Department.

Several of the donors who attended the 1994 breakfasts gave five-and six-figure donations in the days after their visits, Federal Election "This was a fight about securing health care for every American, and competing with an avalanche that was being used to defeat the president's initiative," White House special counsel Lanny Davis said. Internal White House documents show, however, that presidential aides viewed the breakfasts as fund-raising events. For instance, Ickes addressed the issue to then-Chief of Staff Mack McLarty in a May 7, 1994, memo party's health-care fund, documents show. "BC will have breakfast to raise $," then-White House deputy chief of staff Harold Ickes wrote in notes of a May 9, 1994, meeting obtained by The Associated Press. The White House said Wednesday that at least 10 breakfasts or lunches hosted by President and Mrs.

Clinton in 1994 in the executive residence were specifically designed to generate "both political and Documents Show White House Use By John Solomon The Associated Press WASHINGTON In his earliest known use of the White House for fund raising, President Clinton hosted a series of private breakfasts with wealthy Democrats to help raise money in 1994 for the TRACKING HURRICANE NORA Punta Santo Tomas 'Rare Pacific Tempest iN.M.i L( As of 9 a.m. MOT -C" Wednesday Position: 23.5-N,J14.8,W I Moving: at 10 mph I Sustained winds: 85 mph i Gusts at: 105 mph Hurricane warning Projected paths 30' Solid Waste To Face Inquiry 4 Gulf- of 'j Mexico 24' oak Southwest 250 mil. miles May EXICO I km Mexico City 18; Pacific Ocean Source: Accu-Weather Inc. AP N.M. Prepares For Remnants of Nora By John Fleck Journal Staff Writer Nora, the first Pacific hurricane to hit North America since 1976, is expected to batter Arizona beginning today, with some of the rain likely to spill into northwestern New Mexico by Friday.

Some flooding is possible in the northwest part of the state, and emergency services officials Wednes i "ft' i 'v. day began gearing up for possible evacuation and rescue efforts. Forecasters said a report Tuesday from the Red Cross that Storm info For updates and further information on Nora, check the Journal's Web site at http:www.aboJoumal.com Accountant Looking At Vendor Contracts By Colleen Heild Journal Investigative Reporter City officials on Wednesday announced plans to spend $10,000 for a private accounting firm to make sure Solid Waste is properly monitoring its contracts with vendors. Chief Administrative Officer Lawrence Rael also unveiled new rules for city employees to "put more distance between vendors and the people who will be making purchases." The announcement follows revelations that the Solid Waste Department spent $273,500 for a used tire shredder that records show has been plagued by mechanical problems. The city landfill superintendent accompanied an Albuquerque equipment salesman to North Dakota to view the shredder several months before the city solicited bids for the equipment.

The two also went on an earlier trip to see other shredders. The Solid Waste Department ultimately bought the North Dakota shredder from the salesman's firm, disqualifying two lower-priced bids. Rael has called those trips an "error in judgment" and the new rules unveiled Wednesday prohibit employees from taking trips with vendors unless they get approval from Rael's office. City auditors have questioned procedures followed in the shredder purchase, and have faulted Solid Waste for paying vendors for repairs that should have been performed under warranty. Rael said the "immediate review" by KPMG Peat Marwick will "help in tightening up our contract management in Solid Waste.

We need to be more diligent in our supervision of these agreements." A lawyer for Sun Land has said the shredder purchase was proper and within the law, and that the machine works properly. See SOLID on PAGE A9 Hurricane Nora might dump 6 to 12 inches of rain on the state was an overstatement. Some isolated areas of northwest New Mexico could get as much as 2 inches of rain, said Charlie Liles, head of the National Weather Service's Albuquerque office. In the central and eastern parts of the state, including Albuquerque, there could be rain showers, or no rain at all, depending on the track Nora follows, forecasters said. Falling on ground already saturated by last weekend's storm, even small amounts of rain can cause flooding, according to Liles.

"It's going to be wet," Liles said Wednesday. The Red Cross acknowledged a hews release predicting as much as a foot of rain was in error. The organization misinterpreted early information from See NORA on PAGE A8 i -'T7- '1 s- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS BETTER SAND THAN SORRY: USAF Airmen Stephan Foulk, left, and Samuel Jay fill up sandbags Wednesday for use on the Tucson Davls-Monthan Air Force Base to help prevent flooding in anticipation of Hurricane Nora. Plays Favorites, Mistreats Poor, Agent Says abuses. Earlier in the day, the committee heard emotional testimony from taxpayers who told of abuses from IRS auditors and serious billing errors that lingered for years.

Amid the criticism, the IRS prepared to announce a series of changes to improve its customer relations. See IRS on PAGE A8 being singled out for audits while agents are told to steer clear of friends of agency higher-ups. "I have actually witnessed IRS management manipulate income tax return figures just to increase their office or division collection statistics," said Jennifer Long, a 15-year IRS employee now working as a revenue agent in the Houston office. nal activity and something should be done about it," he said. IRS spokesman Frank Keith said he couldn't discuss Long's specific allegations but added that the alleged conduct "would be absolutely improper.

That behavior should be reported to the inspectors." Long's appearance came on the second day of hearings into IRS collection practices and taxpayer Testifying under oath, Long also told the Senate Finance Committee that some of her colleagues "have been instructed by IRS management not to conduct audits of particular taxpayers who happen to be personal friends of someone in IRS management." Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, said he wanted the agent's allegations investigated. "I think that's crimi Bosses' Pals Avoided Audits, She Testifies By Rob Wells The Associated Press WASHINGTON An IRS agent from Texas, testifying publicly rather than anonymously as planned, told the Senate Wednesday that low-income taxpayers are FBI Offers Reward nmeo U.S. May Buy Scenic N.M. Ranch Baca Site Holds World's Largest Extinct Volcano 1 5 WEATHER Partly cloudy.

High 74, low 56. D4 C6-14 C16 BUSINESS CLASSIFIED COMICS CROSSWORD Of $2 Million For Drug Suspect BACA LOCATION No. 1 DEAR ABBY DEATHS B7 CIS GOOD MORNING We hope any troubles from Hurricane Nora blow over quickly. EDITORIALS A14-15 SANTA FE NATIONAL FOREST 77 GOI Bl HOROSCOPE B7 A2 LOTTERY METROPOLITAN MOVIES By John J. Lumpkin Journal Staff Writer Sen.

Jeff Bingaman introduced legislation on Wednesday that could preserve the Valle Grande and thousands of acres of adjacent valleys and grasslands high in the Jemez Mountains as a recreation spot. Bingaman's bill would allow the government to negotiate the purchase of a 137-year-old land grant named Baca Location No. 1, which encompasses some 95,000 acres and the world's largest extinct volcano. The current landowners say they are willing to sell, but how much the government would have to pay hasn't been determined. Some real estate agents said the land could be worth $50 million or more.

The land, a cattle ranch, is alternately known as the Valles Caldera and the Baca Ranch. "It's a unique property and one that ought to be preserved for future generations," said Bingaman, The land would be turned over to the U.S. Forest Service, giving the federal government almost solid ownership of that region of the Jemez Mountains. Andrew Dunigan, whose family has owned the prop- NEW MEXICO 3 That sinking feeling Columnist Larry Calloway looks at the dinner cruise in honor of state Sen. Manny Aragon and the.

other New Mexico lawmakers in the boat around San Francisco Bay. NEW MEXICO Dl B5 D3 Cl-5 D5 B6 CIS SPORTS By David LaGesse The Dallas Morning News WASHINGTON Federal investigators on Wednesday offered a $2 million reward for the capture of a reputed Mexican drug trafficker and added him to the FBI's most-wanted list. Ramon Eduardo Arellano Felix, 33, was targeted after prosecutors recently won a sealed indictment against him on charges of importing cocaine and marijuana into the United States, FBI Director Louis Freeh said. Arellano Felix and four brothers run one of Mexico's largest drug gangs out of Tijuana, Freeh said. It is "an organization notorious for using extreme violence in furtherance of its massive illegal drug operations," he said.

"We are signaling a new international effort to target this very powerful drug cartel." Cuba I 0K Los Mle I Alamos 1 Jemez Grande, -A I Springs 285 (4) Santa Fe Jf Bernalillo STOCKS TV The Albuquerque Journal 1 1 II 111 IIIIHII WEATHER SPORTS SCORES 821-1800 on the Web: For news about New Mexico and more, point your browser to http: 821-1111 WEATHER 988-5151 SF WEATHER CAROL COOPERRIDER JOURNAL www.abqjoumal.com 6III142565II00010I See U.S. on PAGE A2 See FBI SEEKS on PAGE A2.