Friday, September 21,1984/The Battalion/Page 13
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Prosecutor finds no crime
Edwin Meese is clear
United Press International
WASHINGTON — A special
prosecutor Thursday found no
criminal wrongdoing in an investiga
tion of Edwin Meese, and President
Reagan said if re-elected he will re
nominate Meese to be attorney gen
eral.
Special prosecutor Jacob Stein, in
a 385-page report to a special court,
said an exhaustive 5-month investi
gation of the White House counselor
concluded there was “no basis” for
prosecuting Meese for any of the 11
allegations against him.
The White House issued a written
statement by Reagan. At the same
time, Meese appeared in the White
House press room to say “it’s been a
long ordeal over several months.”
Meese, who refused to take ques
tions after making his statement,
said he looks forward to the resump
tion of the Senate confirmation pro
ceedings on his nomination.
“The experience has been a diffi
cult one,” Meese said. “But it was es
sential for it cleared the air and af
firmed what my family and I have
always known: that we have lived
honorable lives, that we have paid
our debts with our own money, and
that we have never taken advantage
of official position to obtain private
gain.”
PUF
(continued from page 1)
L
are eligible for PUF and AUF pro
ceeds.
Those A&M institutions are
Texas A&M-Galveston, the Texas
Engineering Experiment Station at
locations other than College Station
and the Texas Transportation Insti
tute.
The UT units to be added to the
PUF will be UT-Arlington; UT-Dal-
las; UT-Permian Basin; UT-San An
tonio; UT-Tyler; UT Health Cen-
ter-Tyler; UT Health Science
Center-Houston including the Medi
cal School, the Allied ITealth Sci
ences School, the Nursing School
and the Speech and Hearing Insti
tute; UT Health Science Center-San
Antonio and the UT Institute of
Texan Culture.
While A&M is spreading its one-
third portion of the fund over 12 in
stitutions with only one additonal
academic unit, UT will be spreading
its two-thirds portion over 15 units
with 14 new academic units, three of
which are medical schools.
The usage of PUF bond proceeds
will be expanded to include major
repairs and rehabilitation of existing
buildings, purchase of capital equip
ment, purchase of land and acquis-
tion of library books and materials.
Prairie View A&M also will re
ceive added benefits if the amend
ment is approved. Prairie View will
receive a special appropriation of $6
million each year for 10 years to be
Reagan told reporters, “It’s always
gratifying when the honor of a just
man is vindicated and that’s exactly
what has happened with the report
of the independent counsel on Ed
Meese.”
Reagan said that Meese “is one of
the most decent and honorable men
I’ve ever known so I’m not surprised
by the outcome ....
“I intend, if I am re-elected, to re
submit his nomination as soon as
Congress convenes in January.”
Reagan nominated his longtime
friend for attorney general, but con
firmation hearings were delayed
when questions were raised about his
finances and friends in government.
Senate Judiciary Committee
Chairman Strom Thurmond, R-
S.C., postponed the confirmation
hearings until next year because of
the political overtones.
Stein found no criminal wrong
doing in Meese’s activities — includ
ing his failure to report on his finan
cial disclosure statement a $15,000
loan from a personal friend, Edwin
Thomas, who later got a White
House post.
The report disclosed that
Thomas, on his second interview
with investigators, acknowledged
that he had told Meese in February
1981, when they were preparing
drawn from the UT portion of the
AUF.
If the new amendment passes, the
state legislature also will provide
$100 million from general revenues
to be dedicated for use by the 26
state universities not receiving PUF
money.
Any excesses, up to $2 billion,
may be placed into a permanent
Higher Education Fund structured
like the PUF, Southerland said.
“The goal is to have another
PUF,” he said.
Before 1981, state universities
other than A&M and UT received
funding from a state ad valorem
(property tax), but in 1981 the tax
was repealed and the institutions lost
their dedicated source of funds.
Since that time, the schools have
had to make special legislative re
quests each time funds are needed to
build classrooms or laboratories.
Since there is no assurance that
money will be available when
needed, non-PUF schools have not
been able to develop long-range
plans.
Non-PUF schools are Angelo
State University, Corpus Christi
State University, East Texas State
University, East Texas State Univer
sity at Texarkana, Lamar State Uni
versity, Lamar State University at
Port Arthur, Laredo State Univer
sity, Midwestern State University,
North Texas State University, Pan
American University at Edinberg,
and Pan American University at
Brownsville.
their financial statements, “not to
forget” the loan to Meese’s wife. It
said Meese did not recall the re
minder.
Stein stressed in the report that it
was not his job to draw conclusions
about the propriety of Meese’s activ
ities or his fitness to serve as attorney
general.
Sen. Howard Metzenbaum, D-
Ohio, who spearheaded the effort to
block Meese’s nomination in the
Senate, said the Stein report is “re
plete with contradictory statements”
and added there appeared to be
“numerous cases” where testimony
given to Stein was at variance with
testimony given to the Judiciary
Committee.
He said, however, that the “ques
tion of criminality and the pressing
of charges are matters which have
now been determined by Mr. Stein.
“However, there is no doubt in my
mind that the sum total of the report
fully confirms my previous
statements that Mr. Meese should
not be confirmed to be attorney gen
eral of the United States of Amer
ica,” Metzenbaum said.
The five-month investigation in
cluded questioning 200 witnesses.
Other non-PUF state universities
include Sam Houston State Univer
sity, Southwest Texas State Univer
sity, Stephen F. Austin State Univer
sity, Sul Ross State University
including the Uvalde Study Center,
Texas A&I University, Texas Col
lege of Osteopathic Medicine, Texas
Southern University, Texas Tech
University, Texas Tech Health Sci
ences Center, Texas Woman’s Uni
versity, University of Houston-Uni-
versity Park, University of Houston-
Clear Lake City, University of Hous-
ton-Victoria, University of Houston-
Downtown and West Texas State
University.
II the proposition fails, the non-
PUF universities again will have no
dedicated fund to lean on for long-
range planning. There also is the
possibility that an injuction would be
brought against the PUF, freezing
any spending and halting all con
struction, Southerland said.
“We would have a crisis in higher
education,” he said.
Southerland also said that if the
proposition was defeated, higher ed
ucation possibly would be put under
a scrutiny that it has never had be
fore, much like the scrutiny of public
education by the committee headed
by H. Ross Perot.
So far, the Texas A&M Board of
Regents, the University of Texas
Board of Regents, the Coordinating
Board of the Texas College and Uni
versity System, Governor Mark
White and several other public offi
cials have come out in support of
Proposition 2.
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