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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 26, 2005)
| Global update | Representative denies $20,000 mistake BY BRAD CAIN THE ASSOCIATED PRESS SALEM — New questions were raised about Rep. Dan Doyle’s truthfulness Tliesday when a con sultant said he was never paid $20,000 by Doyle during last fall’s election campaign. It was the latest development in an unfolding state investigation that could jeopardize Doyle’s position as the powerful co-chairman of the Leg islature’s budget-writing committee. The Salem Republican listed expen ditures of $20,000 to Salem consultant Thomas Mann’s firm in an amended campaign finance report he filed with the state Friday after questions were raised about his earlier report. However, Mann on Tliesday direct ly contradicted Doyle. “Did I get paid? The answer is no,” Mann said. House Speaker Karen Minnis on Tliesday forwarded a copy of a let ter she received from Mann on the subject to the secretary of state’s office, which on Monday launched an investigation into possible V election law violations by Doyle. Asked whether the controversy could lead Minnis to remove Doyle as co-chairman of the Joint Ways and Means Committee, Min nis’spokesman Charles Deister said, “She has not made a decision regarding that at this time.” A spokeswoman for the House ma jority office, Fawn McNeely, said Doyle would not comment. “Because it’s an ongoing investiga tion by die secretary of state, he won’t be able to comment until the investi gation’s conclusion,” McNeely said. On Monday, the secretary of state’s office said the inquiry would focus on whether Doyle diverted re-election campaign money to personal use, which is prohibited by state law. Doyle denied putting campaign mon ey to personal use. State Elections Director John Lind back said that in view of Mann’s con tradiction of Doyle’s claims, the state also will look at whether Doyle inten tionally made false statements on his campaign finance report — which would be a criminal offense under state campaign finance laws. “This makes it a bigger investiga tion with more ground to cover and potentially larger penalties,” Lind back said. The state began its inquiry after re ceiving complaints from two Salem residents about possible problems in reports filed in October by Doyle’s re election campaign. One complaint cited Doyle’s list ing of payment of $9,200 to Com cast cable for television advertising — even though no Doyle ads ran on Comcast. In response, Doyle filed amended campaign reports last Friday deleting the payments. The other complaint questioned the existence of another company listed on Doyle’s report as having received $20,000 from the Salem lawmaker. Doyle initially listed the company as Redcell Inc. But in his amended re port filed last Friday, he changed the name to Red Cell Enterprises — the company owned by Mann — and said he had paid the company $20,000 for consulting services to his campaign. In an interview Hiesday, Mann said he hand-delivered a letter to Doyle’s Salem home on Saturday to try to set the record straight — that he had nev er received any payment from Doyle. Mann said he sent a copy of the letter to the House speaker’s office late Monday after Doyle continued to publicly insist he had paid Mann the $20,000. The campaign finance reporting flap isn’t the first problem Doyle has had regarding his own finances. In June, Doyle’s license to prac tice law was suspended for 30 days after Oregon State Bar concluded that for a time he had failed to re- j turn money and pursue the claims of one of his clients. In March, the (Salem) Statesman Journal reported that three liens I were placed on Doyle’s home. The main one was filed by the Internal Revenue Service when Doyle failed to pay $32,366 in federal income taxes for 1995 and 1996. He even- J tually paid all his back taxes before | he took office in 2001. BUS SERVICE MAY CEASE ON FEBRUARY 1st, 2005. LTD Wants to Make Sure You Still Have a Way to Go. As early as February 1st, the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU), Local 757, may go on strike. Lane Transit District (LTD) will not be able to operate bus service during the strike. Once a settlement has been reached, LTD will be committed to getting buses back on the road as quickly as possible. LTD’s Guest Services office will be closed but if you call 687-5555 we will have staff to assist you. What you can do: ► Register at ltd.org for carpool-matching. It’s easy and fast. Sign up to drive as well as ride. ► RideSource will continue to run and serve those passengers who are eligible. We expect demand to increase significantly. Medical appointments may be given priority over other trips. ► Go to the LTD website for information on ways to get around and links to the City of Eugene for Bike Path Maps and links to PeaceHealth and other major employers. Please plan ahead. For further information, log onto www.ltd.org or call LTD at 687-5555. Lane Transit District IN BRIEF Indonesia struggles to report tsunami death toll JAKARTA, Indonesia — With work ers still finding bodies under mud caked rubble a month after a tsunami, Indonesia’s Health Ministry revised its casualty count Tliesday, lowering con firmed deaths to 96,000 but raising the number of missing, and presumed dead, to 132,000. Officials conceded a precise total would never be known, and the min istry said its death count now included only buried bodies and excluded any missing. People still missing after a year will be declared dead, it said. The Health Ministry’s new proce dure brought its numbers in line with another government agency tallying the dead, the National Disaster Relief Coordinating Board. But there were still discrepancies over deaths in both Indonesia and Sri Lanka. Government ministries have provided conflicting figures, re flecting the difficulties of finding, identifying, counting and burying the bodies from the Dec. 26 disaster. The latest figures put the overall death toll —■ excluding the missing — across the 11-nation disaster zone between 143,877 and 178,081. European leaders pay tribute to Auschwitz victims BERLIN — German Chancellor Ger hard Schroeder expressed shame Tues day over the horrors of the Nazi era, acknowledging that Adolf Hitler’s regime enjoyed wide support among Germans and promising that his coun try will always try to keep alive the memory of the Holocaust. Across Europe, commemorations ahead of the 60th anniversary of the Red Army’s liberation of the Auschwitz death camp on Jan. 27, 1945, were tinged with the pain of memories and concern that anti-Semi tism lives on. “I express my shame in the face of those who were murdered and, above all, you who survived the hell of the concentration camps,” a somber Schroeder told an audience at a Berlin theater that included Auschwitz survivors. Some 1.5 million prisoners per ished in gas chambers or died of star vation and disease at Auschwitz. In all, 6 million Jews were killed in Nazi camps, along with several million others, including Soviet prisoners of war, Gypsies, homosexuals and polit ical opponents of the Nazis. — The Associated Press l/U'edvie&dloui, i'i ^bate Nifylit $26 p,e*i Go-u^le A Night To Remember • bruschetta • caesar salad • choice of our pasta-for two dishes • amaretto creme brulee • full bottle of Oregano's house wine
