Aug 5, 2002 5 min read

WASHINGTON (AP) – In what a Democratic congressman called “an appalling display of cronyism,” a friend of Attorney General John Ashcroft who tried to win government compensation for Oklahoma City bombing victims also lobbied Ashcroft’s Justice Department to pursue an antitrust case on behalf of a client, officials said. The friend, attorney Charles Polk, met and discussed the matter with at least two Justice staffers in Washington. The department referred the request to a career government lawyer in Chicago and ultimately rejected it last week.

Justice spokeswoman Barbara Comstock said Friday that all the decisions about Polk’s request to help client James Helenthal, an Illinois newspaper publisher, were made by career lawyers, not those appointed by Ashcroft.

“This decision has gone through normal channels. No one in the attorney general’s office, including the attorney general himself, was aware of the antitrust matter,” she said. She said Ashcroft and Polk have not had contact this year.

However, Comstock said Polk did contact two Justice staffers in Washington, one with longtime ties to Ashcroft, to discuss the antitrust matter.

Polk, a prominent Republican lawyer in St. Louis, is a family friend who advised Ashcroft during the attorney general’s contentious Senate confirmation. The two have known each other since Ashcroft served in the Senate from Missouri.

A Democratic congressman asked Friday for an investigation by the Justice Department’s inspector general’s office into Polk’s contacts on behalf of Oklahoma City victims.

Michigan Rep. John Conyers, top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, wrote Ashcroft that he was concerned Polk “attempted to use his close relationship with you and your staff to profit from Oklahoma City bombing victims.”

Conyers said the revelation that Polk managed to talk to Justice officials about both Oklahoma City and the antitrust request smacked of “a breathtaking and appalling display of cronyism.”

“Catering to someone who was simultaneously trying to make a fast buck from Oklahoma City bombing victims is stunning,” he said.

The Associated Press reported Thursday that Polk signed up Oklahoma City bombing survivors as clients with a promise to use his connections to win them government compensation in exchange for 10 percent to 27.5 percent of the proceeds.

About 120 survivors and victims’ relatives from the 1995 bombing, which killed 168 people, signed up for the lobbying campaign. The intent was to win a share of the hundreds of millions of dollars set aside for families of victims of the Sept 11 attacks. It fell apart last month amid lawsuits and an ethics complaint involving Polk.

Justice officials said Ashcroft was unaware of Polk’s financial arrangement with the victims, but Polk may have mentioned his interest in the issue with other Justice officials, including Ashcroft adviser David Israelite.

Polk and his attorney were not immediately available for comment Friday but said in a statement to the AP on Thursday that Polk worked as Helenthal’s general counsel on the antitrust matter and “was to lobby all relevant parties to help Mr. Helenthal.”

Polk said he cleared all of his actions with lawyers and believed they were legal.

Comstock said Friday that Lori Sharpe Day, an official in Justice’s intergovernmental affairs office and Ashcroft’s former chief of staff in the Senate, had a discussion with Polk about the antitrust matter but took no action and never mentioned the contact to Ashcroft’s office.

Comstock said Joseph Gibson, who worked in Justice’s legislative affairs office, had met Polk during President Bush’s inauguration and also had a conversation with the St. Louis lawyer. They discussed both the antitrust matter and Oklahoma City, but Polk did not know beforehand what the meeting was to be about, Comstock said.

Comstock stressed that the two officials did not intervene in the antitrust matter. Polk’s request had already been sent to the Chicago antitrust division field office, she said.

Comstock said Justice career lawyers, not those appointed by Ashcroft, refused last week to open a case.

The decision reached as high as a deputy assistant attorney general, but Charles James, the chief of the antitrust division, had no involvement and was unaware of the matter, Comstock said.

At the same time they pursued the antitrust matter, Polk and Helenthal worked together on the Oklahoma City effort under a deal in which they agreed to split proceeds 55 percent to Polk, 45 percent to Helenthal, court documents state.

Helenthal and Polk have since had a falling out and have sued each other. Their venture, Fairness for OKC, fell apart before victims won any compensation.

In his lawsuit, Helenthal alleges that Polk brought him into the Oklahoma City venture through the antitrust case.

Helenthal’s lawsuit alleges Polk told him in March that “it might be beneficial to his antitrust claim to fly to Washington, D.C., to visit further with government officials.”

On that trip, Polk told Helenthal “that he would be perfect to be in on” the Oklahoma City lobbying venture and “if he were to go out to Oklahoma and sign people (victims) they would ultimately be included in compensation comparable to 9-11 NYC victims,” the suit alleges.

Helenthal’s suit says he picked Polk and his firm for the antitrust matter because they informed him “he had a meritorious claim for unfair competition” against a competitor and they could “be helpful toward successful prosecution of his claim.”

Polk called Helenthal’s lawsuit “legal fiction” and said he simply worked as a lawyer and lobbyist. “Mr. Helenthal and I met with numerous parties on several occasions in such effort,” Polk’s statement said.