| 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
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