The News Journal from Wilmington, Delaware • Page 3

EVENING JOURNAL Thursday, May 15, 1980 A3 Latest matchuo: Gordy vs. du Pont "liiBiiv I 'AC' mm tyWchwdtudu Staff wrttw II W' WnJJAM J. GORDY li the Democratic II Party i gubernatorial candidate of the week. The party to think ninning, giving him threedayi Ponfnr 10 tak- Plerre s- The Jfcyear-old Sussex County grain and livestock farmer wouldprovide Delaware voters a marked contrast to the patrician, Princeton- and Harvard-educated governor. Gordy Is still thinking about it "I am not a candidate," he said yesterday.

There's 62 repre-sentatlvei and senators in Legislative Hall," Gordy said. "Don you think that every one of them has thought about npntag at some time or another?" Now, he said, it's his turn to think about running. lof of P1 to to'" "M- 0" Person Gordy to Jj his wife, Marian Lee, who reportedly isn't thrilled about the idea. In an effort to win her over, the party sent Laurel's elder stateman, former Gov. Elbert N.

Carvel, to see Mrs. Gordy. Gordy said Carvel was at the farm on Monday. I told them I'd give them an answer In two or three days," Gordy. Asked what he thought of his chances against the popular governor who's scared off many other potential candidates Gordy said, "It wouldn't be an easy battle.

I'd go in as an underdog, like most everybody else. That's why there isn't a candidate." Staunchly political in almost everything be does, Gordy has a good command of the workings of state government and has been rather successful at getting what be wants through the General Assembly. The party has turned to a downstater hoping his appeal might keep Kent and Sussex countians from supporting the governor. Gordy would seem a natural to hold on to the Kent and Sussex vote. But, his personal political maneuvering over the past few years could cause him some problems in his home area.

He didn win many friends when hejoined the move to oust former Attorney General Richard R. Wier Jr. Gordy't opposition to Wier angered one upstate faction. Kent County Democrats aren't all thrilled with Gordy, who's never had much love for their favorite LL Gov. James D.

McGinnls. Perhaps because he's looking at the political realities of his candidacy, Gordy doesn't seem overly enthusiastic. When asked whether one should bet that he will run against du Pont, Gordy replied: "If I were going to bet, I'd bet the other way." The short-lived candidacies of Democrats considering the governor's job are all part of a "secret plan to waste du Font's campaign money," one Democrat suggested last week. "He used a lot of money researching Mulvena," said the Democrat, referring to the three-week candidacy of John J. Mulvena III, the former juvenile corrections chief.

"They got a lot of dirt on him, and then he dropped out." And. the Democrat said, "du Pont used more money getting a lot of dirt on Martin." That's Sen. Roger Martin, who was in the race for lesthan a week before he dropped out. "When we come out with our real candidate for governor," the wishful thinker said laughing, "all of (du Pont's) resources will have been expended. Stall photo by Ron Dubck StSSp tlcp3 Groundskeeper Mark Christian wouldn't mind the grass on this sharp incline on the Lancaster Avenue side of having a pair of brakes on his shoes.

Once a week he has to mow Cathedral Cemetery. WH A audit leads to crime probe 'Certain items forwarded for federal office confirms By Michael Jackson other department. All I can tell you is that we are investigating." Burke refused to comment on the exact allegations that were brought to his office and wouldn't say when the investigation would be completed. He also said if the investigation does uncover criminal activity, that doesn't guarantee that the case will be prosecuted. "Many times the U.S.

attorney's office will not think the charge is serious enough to prosecute, he said in an interview Monday. William C. Carpenter assistant U.S. attorney for Delaware, said the office here has not received any reports from the inspector general's office, and he said normally such a contact would be made in a criminal matter. "Once they the inspector general's office finish their initial investigation, they would normally come to us because they don't have the staff to continue to investigate," Carpenter said.

Staff writer Auditors examining the Wilmington Housing Authority's books from 1974 through 1978 have asked for an investigation of possible criminal activity, according to a spokesman for the U.S. inspector general's office in Philadelphia. Truman Burke, investigative supervisor in the inspector general's office, said, "Certain items have been forwarded from the auditors for investigation." "We don't get referrals unless they deal with criminal activity," he said. "But we don't know how serious these things can be. Time will tell." The audit started last fall, is to be released later this month.

Burke said a referral to his office, such as the one involving WHA, often concerns possible fraud or false documentation. "Sometimes it can involve the FBI, the Internal Revenue Service, Labor or some Carpenter said his office conducted an investigation of the WHA months ago and its findings resulted in a recommendation that the Department of Housing and Urban Development ask for an audit. After the audit and the investigation by the inspector general's office, Carpenter said, any findings would be referred to the U.S. attorney. "If they refer it back to us, we would then request manpower assistance from the FBI or turn it over to a federal grand jury for investigation," Carpenter said.

"If, however, it is merely an administrative problem, normally that would be handled by HUD." The audit originally was scheduled for release in March. The release date was postponed until April, then early May. HUD officials now say the report will be issued May 23. While it isn't clear what the auditors reported to the investigative arm of the inspector general's office, HUD officials confirmed they had referred to the auditors examples of what they considered irregularities in bidding practices. Nicholas Caruso, now acting executive director of the WHA, said he was not aware of the criminal investigation, but said it could involve a discrepancy in time cards.

"We had some time cards that were falsified," Caruso said. "Some of the cards were inked out, but I was told it wasn't a big problem." Kester Crosse, chairman of the WHA board of commissioners, said although he didn't know about the investigation until told by a reporter, he wasn't entirely surprised. "We the commissioners have always thought that there were things wrong," he said. "That's why we were looking forward to this audit report." Crosse said there had been many problems with the agency over the years. He noted previous allegations of mismanagement and misuse of funds, referred to by HUD in a 1974 audit of WHA and again in a 1976 audit report by Peat Mar-wick and Mitchell Co.

Thornton C. Carroll, Crosse's predecessor, said he also has been aware the investigation was "a very great possibility." Glover Jones, another former board chairman, said the investigation serves to justify actions be took while chairman. "The inspector general's office pretty much corroborated what I said more than a year ago," Jones said. "Following my own investigation, I entered a resolution in 1979 asking for an audit of the authority. "Under the circumstances, however," he said, "I can't comment further until the inspector general's report has been released." Japan announces N-waste plan radioactive cesium or strontium than old glass containers, Fujiki said.

He said the new method also could be cheaper than existing Associated Praia TOKYO Japan has discovered a chemical compound that may provide safer underground disposal of nuclear wastes, a government scientist says. Dr. Yoshinori Fujiki, a ceramics expert leading a research group at the National Institute for Research in inorganic materials, said the new compound traps radioctive material in crystal "tunnels." The compound, potassium titan-ate, allows less leakage of intensely 1 News Journal Pn-ttzzM tpscbl prfct on tot ckzsic botttho BALE I mm so 2BS When he made bis formal re-election announcement address to city Democrats, Mayor William T. McLaughlin ticked off the accomplishments of his administration. He patted himself on the back for keeping taxes down, saying his administration lowered the wage tax by 20 percent and even posted a percent cut in real estate taxes.

When the mayor mentioned those changes as he has before be left out some key information. The wage tax cut wasn't all McLaughlin's idea. The cut was pushed through the council to appease anti-busing suburban legislators who wanted to eliminate the 1.25 percent wage tax And, the mayor wasn't quite straight when be spoke about the percent tax cut The fact is, the "tax cut was also related to disbanding the Wilmington School District which, before it was merged with 10 other New Castle County districts, had the highest school taxes in the county. When the merger was announced, and a county-wide tax rate determined, the new tax was 07 cents lower than Wilmington's. So, the city tax had to go down.

The combined tax rate should have dropped from $4.10 per $100 of assessed valuation to $3.23 per $100. But the city, claiming it needed the money to offset the wage tax cut raised the non-school portion of the tax until the new tax rate became $3,895 within 5 percent of the original tax bill, a substantial increase In municipal services taxes. The mayor and his staff declared the change a 5 percent "tax cut" and issued the appropriate press release. A spokesman for McLaughlin says that "the way we look at it" the total tax bill went down, so "we view it as a tax reduction." But when asked if the tax change wasn't really a tax increase, the spokesman chuckled and said, "There is that school of thought" At one point in his speech, McLaughlin patted himself on the back for instituting a program to clean tie Utter from vacant lots. That problem, be said, reminded him of his economic development trip to Chile in January 1978.

One of the Chilean cities had the cleanest streets he'd ever seen, McLaughlin said. He couldn't help asking the mayor "how be can keep the streets "Of couse," McLaughlin interjected, "some of his people walk the streets carrying guns. The mayor of fiat Chilean city told Wilmington's mayor "Your problem is that you have a democracy." The clean streets really impressed McLaughlin, who told the Wilmington crowd last week: "I think I'd rather trade some of that democracy for some clean streets." Sen. Francis J. Reams of Stratford has announced he's not seeking re-election because "I have too many things to do." An administrator at the state public defender's office, Kearns said he's going to get involved in some other "investments." But he wouldn't say what investments he was getting into.

Kearns had toyed with the idea of running for both New Castle County Council president and for lieutenant governor. He never really got into either race. Now that the word is out that he's quitting, several people have scrambled for his seat First on the list is Richardson Park Democratic Rep. David McBride, who handed out press releases yesterday. If McBride gets the Democrats' rapport it's said that Donald Byrd of Hsmere, whose brother Robert was unseated by McBride, is thinking about running for the House.

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