Fred Thompson said he didn't recall the details of the case.

October 18, 2007

Thompson Sought Inspector's Removal

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 7:20 p.m. ET

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- A Tennessee state inspector had cited a coal

company repeatedly for environmental violations. Fred Thompson, the

inspector says, got him removed from the case.

It was one episode, early in the legal career of the man who would go on to

become an actor, a senator and now a Republican presidential candidate. It

still resonates in his home state.

At the time of the 1980 case, Thompson was known for fighting government

abuse, first in the Watergate investigation and later as an attorney for a

Tennessee woman wrongfully fired by the Democratic governor.

And he had political connections.

The state inspector, who was put back on the coal case after the episode was

publicized, told The Associated Press in a recent interview that he believes

Thompson used his influence with then-Tennessee Gov. Lamar Alexander, to

have him removed.

Alexander now is a U.S. senator.

Thompson ''hooked up with a company that was crooked, but I guess he didn't

know it at the time,'' said former inspector Francis Baker, who retired from

the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation in 2006 after 28

years. ''They were playing politics as much as they could -- they'd go to

the governor rather than to anyone else.''

In response, Thompson said he didn't recall the details of the case.

''I'm sure that I've never tried to use my influence to get anybody fired

from anything,'' Thompson said in a telephone interview with The Associated

Press. ''I vaguely remember the name of the company and the fact that I

represented them. I suppose sometimes people can reach -- I have no idea

where that's coming from and I certainly didn't do anything to get anybody

fired.''

Alexander couldn't recall whether he had heard from Thompson about the

Carbonex Coal Co. when he was governor, said Lee Pitts, the senator's

spokesman.

In 1980, as a private attorney, Thompson represented Carbonex, whose strip

mines located near Dayton in rural eastern Tennessee had been cited by Baker

for environmental violations, according to state records viewed by the AP.

Among the violations were mine waste that polluted streams and inadequate

cleanup of sites after coal was mined.

In an April 1980 memo to his superiors, Baker -- then 27 years old -- listed

violations at the Carbonex mines and added that his descriptions ''cannot

express how bad these sites really are.''

''It is evident that this company willingly ignores their mining plans,

notices of noncompliance, the department's designee and the state law,''

Baker wrote.

Carbonex officials complained vigorously to state officials about Baker,

demanding he be removed from the case. Baker's superiors defended his

actions, writing in one memo that he was ''to be commended for keeping the

pressure on.''

Requests for removal of an inspector had ''often come up before with

companies who have a tendency to violate the law and regulations,'' Arthur

Hope, then assistant director of the state's surface mining office, wrote in

a May 1980 memo.

''Such changes, in my opinion, are diversionary tactics to win a reprieve

while another inspector is becoming familiar with the operation, then the

same tactics will be tried again,'' Hope wrote.

In June, Thompson arranged for state conservation officials to be flown to

the mining sites on a Carbonex plane to meet with company officers. Shortly

afterward, records show, Baker was removed from the case and an order to

cease operations was lifted because state officials said reclamation work

had begun.

C.C. McCall, then director of the surface mining division and one of the

state officials who attended the meeting at the mine with Carbonex officers

on June 11, 1980, wrote a Carbonex executive in a letter two weeks later

that he had named a new inspector at the mine even though he still

considered Baker to be ''one of my finest inspectors.''

The change was made ''in an effort to start afresh and adhering to your

request for a new inspector,'' McCall wrote.

Thompson had close ties to Alexander. Both men were proteges of then-U.S.

Sen. Howard Baker of Tennessee. Thompson had served as Alexander's campaign

treasurer and then as legal counsel after he was sworn into office.

When the episode became public, there was a backlash over inspector Baker's

removal and he was put back on the Carbonex case. The coal company ceased

operations in September 1980 after it was discovered it hadn't paid

severance taxes over its entire year in operation and had failed to follow

reclamation rules set by the state.

The following year, Carbonex's former president, John E. Keller, was sued by

the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, accused of being part of a

scheme to sell illegal coal futures, according to court records. Keller was

banned from selling coal contracts linked to future prices.

Baker says he was undaunted by Thompson's criticism.

''At that time, I hadn't been working but a year or two, so I didn't have a

lot built up to lose or anything like that,'' Baker recalled. ''And I'm

pretty stubborn, and truth is truth, and you stand to your guns.''

Thompson, in newspaper interviews at the time, was dismissive of criticism

that he had tried to use his close relationship with Alexander to get a

favorable result for his coal client. ''I can't quit practicing law because

I have some friends in the administration,'' he told The Tennessean in

Nashville.

Thompson also complained about negative media coverage in a letter to the

Department of Conservation, saying the Carbonex mine had been singled out

because of his connections to the Republican administration.

''Mr. Thompson is just wrong about that,'' Brooks Garland, a lawyer for the

state's surface mining division, responded to The Tennessean. ''We have had

trouble with Carbonex ever since they came into Tennessee.''

Baker said Thompson threatened to sue him ''because I had said they'd tell

me one thing and then I'd go up and just find out it was another lie.''

''It was the first time I had ever gotten into anything like that, where

politics was actually playing a part in it,'' Baker said. ''But nothing

really changed, and I came out on top of every one of the issues.''

Thompson's legal work has been deeply entwined with his political ties

dating to the earliest days of his career. Indeed, Thompson, now 65, has

attributed his success to becoming involved in Republican politics shortly

after joining a law firm in his hometown of Lawrenceburg, Tenn., in 1967.

He had been practicing law only a year when he managed a Republican

candidate's unsuccessful congressional campaign against Democrat Ray

Blanton.

The following year, he was hired as a federal prosecutor in Nashville

because he was one of the only Republican lawyers working the state,

Thompson told the Nashville Bar Journal in 2003.

After three years in the U.S. Attorney's Office, Thompson was one of the

managers for Howard Baker's re-election campaign. It was Baker, then the

Senate minority leader, who selected the 30-year-old Thompson to become the

top GOP lawyer on the Senate Watergate Committee in 1973.

The role brought Thompson a measure of fame and a reputation as a tough

investigator. However, National Archives' tapes of Oval Office conversations

show President Nixon and his attorney viewed Thompson as an ally in their

effort to discredit former White House counsel John Dean. It was Thompson

who tipped off the White House that the Senate committee had discovered the

existence of the Oval Office tape recordings later known as the ''Watergate

tapes.''

In 1974, Blanton -- Thompson's adversary from the 1968 congressional

contest -- was elected governor in a race against Alexander. Three years

later, attorney Thompson represented Marie Ragghianti, chairwoman of

Tennessee's Board of Pardons and Paroles, against Blanton, whom she accused

of firing her for refusing to go along with a cash-for-clemency scheme.

Thompson won Ragghianti's reinstatement and $38,000 in back pay. The case

became the subject of a Peter Maas book and the 1985 movie ''Marie,''

starring Sissy Spacek. Thompson was cast as himself in the film -- a role

that launched his acting career.

Sid9 wrote:

> October 18, 2007

> Thompson Sought Inspector's Removal

> By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

> Filed at 7:20 p.m. ET

>

> NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- A Tennessee state inspector had cited a coal

> company repeatedly for environmental violations. Fred Thompson, the

> inspector says, got him removed from the case.

>

> It was one episode, early in the legal career of the man who would go on to

> become an actor, a senator and now a Republican presidential candidate. It

> still resonates in his home state.

>

> At the time of the 1980 case, Thompson was known for fighting government

> abuse, first in the Watergate investigation and later as an attorney for a

> Tennessee woman wrongfully fired by the Democratic governor.

>

> And he had political connections.

>

> The state inspector, who was put back on the coal case after the episode was

> publicized, told The Associated Press in a recent interview that he believes

> Thompson used his influence with then-Tennessee Gov. Lamar Alexander, to

> have him removed.

>

> Alexander now is a U.S. senator.

>

> Thompson ''hooked up with a company that was crooked, but I guess he didn't

> know it at the time,'' said former inspector Francis Baker, who retired from

> the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation in 2006 after 28

> years. ''They were playing politics as much as they could -- they'd go to

> the governor rather than to anyone else.''

>

> In response, Thompson said he didn't recall the details of the case.

He's more qualified to be a Republican Attorney General.

>

> ''I'm sure that I've never tried to use my influence to get anybody fired

> from anything,'' Thompson said in a telephone interview with The Associated

> Press. ''I vaguely remember the name of the company and the fact that I

> represented them. I suppose sometimes people can reach -- I have no idea

> where that's coming from and I certainly didn't do anything to get anybody

> fired.''

>

> Alexander couldn't recall whether he had heard from Thompson about the

> Carbonex Coal Co. when he was governor, said Lee Pitts, the senator's

> spokesman.

>

> In 1980, as a private attorney, Thompson represented Carbonex, whose strip

> mines located near Dayton in rural eastern Tennessee had been cited by Baker

> for environmental violations, according to state records viewed by the AP.

> Among the violations were mine waste that polluted streams and inadequate

> cleanup of sites after coal was mined.

>

> In an April 1980 memo to his superiors, Baker -- then 27 years old -- listed

> violations at the Carbonex mines and added that his descriptions ''cannot

> express how bad these sites really are.''

>

> ''It is evident that this company willingly ignores their mining plans,

> notices of noncompliance, the department's designee and the state law,''

> Baker wrote.

>

> Carbonex officials complained vigorously to state officials about Baker,

> demanding he be removed from the case. Baker's superiors defended his

> actions, writing in one memo that he was ''to be commended for keeping the

> pressure on.''

>

> Requests for removal of an inspector had ''often come up before with

> companies who have a tendency to violate the law and regulations,'' Arthur

> Hope, then assistant director of the state's surface mining office, wrote in

> a May 1980 memo.

>

> ''Such changes, in my opinion, are diversionary tactics to win a reprieve

> while another inspector is becoming familiar with the operation, then the

> same tactics will be tried again,'' Hope wrote.

>

> In June, Thompson arranged for state conservation officials to be flown to

> the mining sites on a Carbonex plane to meet with company officers. Shortly

> afterward, records show, Baker was removed from the case and an order to

> cease operations was lifted because state officials said reclamation work

> had begun.

>

> C.C. McCall, then director of the surface mining division and one of the

> state officials who attended the meeting at the mine with Carbonex officers

> on June 11, 1980, wrote a Carbonex executive in a letter two weeks later

> that he had named a new inspector at the mine even though he still

> considered Baker to be ''one of my finest inspectors.''

>

> The change was made ''in an effort to start afresh and adhering to your

> request for a new inspector,'' McCall wrote.

>

> Thompson had close ties to Alexander. Both men were proteges of then-U.S.

> Sen. Howard Baker of Tennessee. Thompson had served as Alexander's campaign

> treasurer and then as legal counsel after he was sworn into office.

>

> When the episode became public, there was a backlash over inspector Baker's

> removal and he was put back on the Carbonex case. The coal company ceased

> operations in September 1980 after it was discovered it hadn't paid

> severance taxes over its entire year in operation and had failed to follow

> reclamation rules set by the state.

>

> The following year, Carbonex's former president, John E. Keller, was sued by

> the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, accused of being part of a

> scheme to sell illegal coal futures, according to court records. Keller was

> banned from selling coal contracts linked to future prices.

>

> Baker says he was undaunted by Thompson's criticism.

>

> ''At that time, I hadn't been working but a year or two, so I didn't have a

> lot built up to lose or anything like that,'' Baker recalled. ''And I'm

> pretty stubborn, and truth is truth, and you stand to your guns.''

>

> Thompson, in newspaper interviews at the time, was dismissive of criticism

> that he had tried to use his close relationship with Alexander to get a

> favorable result for his coal client. ''I can't quit practicing law because

> I have some friends in the administration,'' he told The Tennessean in

> Nashville.

>

> Thompson also complained about negative media coverage in a letter to the

> Department of Conservation, saying the Carbonex mine had been singled out

> because of his connections to the Republican administration.

>

> ''Mr. Thompson is just wrong about that,'' Brooks Garland, a lawyer for the

> state's surface mining division, responded to The Tennessean. ''We have had

> trouble with Carbonex ever since they came into Tennessee.''

>

> Baker said Thompson threatened to sue him ''because I had said they'd tell

> me one thing and then I'd go up and just find out it was another lie.''

>

> ''It was the first time I had ever gotten into anything like that, where

> politics was actually playing a part in it,'' Baker said. ''But nothing

> really changed, and I came out on top of every one of the issues.''

>

> Thompson's legal work has been deeply entwined with his political ties

> dating to the earliest days of his career. Indeed, Thompson, now 65, has

> attributed his success to becoming involved in Republican politics shortly

> after joining a law firm in his hometown of Lawrenceburg, Tenn., in 1967.

>

> He had been practicing law only a year when he managed a Republican

> candidate's unsuccessful congressional campaign against Democrat Ray

> Blanton.

>

> The following year, he was hired as a federal prosecutor in Nashville

> because he was one of the only Republican lawyers working the state,

> Thompson told the Nashville Bar Journal in 2003.

>

> After three years in the U.S. Attorney's Office, Thompson was one of the

> managers for Howard Baker's re-election campaign. It was Baker, then the

> Senate minority leader, who selected the 30-year-old Thompson to become the

> top GOP lawyer on the Senate Watergate Committee in 1973.

>

> The role brought Thompson a measure of fame and a reputation as a tough

> investigator. However, National Archives' tapes of Oval Office conversations

> show President Nixon and his attorney viewed Thompson as an ally in their

> effort to discredit former White House counsel John Dean. It was Thompson

> who tipped off the White House that the Senate committee had discovered the

> existence of the Oval Office tape recordings later known as the ''Watergate

> tapes.''

>

> In 1974, Blanton -- Thompson's adversary from the 1968 congressional

> contest -- was elected governor in a race against Alexander. Three years

> later, attorney Thompson represented Marie Ragghianti, chairwoman of

> Tennessee's Board of Pardons and Paroles, against Blanton, whom she accused

> of firing her for refusing to go along with a cash-for-clemency scheme.

>

> Thompson won Ragghianti's reinstatement and $38,000 in back pay. The case

> became the subject of a Peter Maas book and the 1985 movie ''Marie,''

> starring Sissy Spacek. Thompson was cast as himself in the film -- a role

> that launched his acting career.

--

There are only two kinds of Republicans: Millionaires and fools.