Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, June 13, 1973 (1/2)
Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, June 13, 1973 (1/2)
[00.11.47--gavel by Sen. ERVIN] Senator ERVIN. The committee will come to order. Senator Gurney. Senator GURNEY. Thank You, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Stans, You testified yesterday about four large cash payments which you either made or you knew about. Did You make any other cash payments to anyone and if so, to whom and how much and when? TESTIMONY OF MAURICE R. STANS-Resumed Mr. STANS. I made a note last night of cash payments after April 7 of which I had any knowledge, and the first one was to Alexander Lankler in the amount of $50,000. There was one which I am not sure was mentioned yesterday but which has been reported to the General Accounting Office, a cash payment of $10,000 to Max Fisher for traveling expenses that he incurred on behalf of the campaign. senator GURNEY. Who is he? Mr. STANS. Max Fisher of Detroit was a cochairman of the finance committee He spent. a great, deal of his time in the course of the campaign working with the Jewish community in the. United States on behalf of- Senator GURNEY. This had nothing to do with Watergate? Mr. STANS. No, nothing whatever. Senator GURNEY. Go on. Mr. STANS. Then, there was an item of $22,000 that I mentioned yesterday which was given at the request of John Dean in order that he could rebuild the $350,000 fund that he had- Senator GURNEY. That was one of those four that I said Mr. STANS. Yes. I do want to say one thing here. I misspoke myself yesterday and said that Gordon Strachan was the man who picked up that money. Actually, it was Fred Fielding. Senator GURNEY. You are talking now about the $350,000 or $22,000? Mr. STANS. No, about the $22,000. Fred Fielding picked up the $22,000. Fielding worked in the office of John Dean and it was not Gordon Strachan at that point. Now, as to payments beyond that I mentioned the $81,000 that Mr. Sloan and I gave to Fred LaRue late in June, and $17,000 that I gave to Fred LaRue in January of this year. Senator GURNEY. What was that for? Mr. STANS. It was money that I had received in cash from a contributor, and I gave it to LaRue in part payment on the $30,000 that he had given to me so I could return the money to the Philippine contributor, hoping that, thereby I could help LaRue to rebuild his $81,000 fund because at that point we were talking about the desirability of LaRue accounting for the $81,000 and perhaps turning it in to the committee. Now, those are the only items that I recall of cash payments after April 7. Senator GURNEY. I think that you did testify on this but do you know what LaRue used the $81,000 for? Mr. STANS. I do not know what he used the $81,000 for. Senator GURNEY. I understand, Mr. Stans, that cash was kept in a safe in your office from time. to time. Is that not true? Mr. STANS. That is not true. There was no safe in my office. I would like to give you the entire story however. There was no safe in my office. There was a safe in the office of my secretary. [Laughter.] During the time that there was money in that safe, the only people to my knowledge who had access to the safe were Mr. Sloan and myself. Originally, the concept was that money would be accumulated there, and as Sloan needed it, he would draw upon it. But actually it did not work that, way because when I received cash from a contributor I gave it immediately to Mr. Sloan if he was available. I would call him to my office and hand it to him or walk to his office and give it to him. The only cases in which money was put in that safe, at all were when Mr. Sloan was not available, and I would put it in overnight and give it to him the next, day. If it was the weekend, I would put it in over the weekend and give it to him the following week and, to the best of my recollection there was only one time at which there was more than one contribution for more than a day or so. It was toward the end of the campaign when I think there were three, contributions in the safe that came in close together. That safe, 'was Dot used for anything but a way station for temporary periods. Mr. Sloan had custody of the entire cash fund and I did not pay out any money out of that, fund that Mr. Sloan had until we came to the end when We divided up the $81,000 and I handed $40,000 of it to Fred LaRue [00.17.14]